麻豆社

Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari was one of the first Africans ever to train at the British Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in the UK, and he became Nigeria's first professional army officer.

But in January 1966 he was killed by junior officers during Nigeria's first ever coup d'etat that brought Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi to power.

Haruna Yahaya Poloma has written a biography called The First Regular Combatant, Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari. He told Veronique Edwards that Brigadier Maimalari was the first in his family to have a western education and he was a "brilliant student".

(Photo: Nigeria's Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari. Courtesy of Haruna Yahaya Poloma)