A fulfilled Soldier-Statesman, Entrepreneur & Philanthropist, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma [Rtd.] obtained his professional education in Nigeria and overseas. He was a pioneer Cadet Officer of the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna, and subsequently earned his commission as a Second Lieutenant of the Nigerian Army in 1961. He holds qualifications from Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, UK; The School of Infantry, Hythe & Warminster, UK; Special Warfare Centre, Fort Bragg, USA; and Army Staff College, Camberly, UK.
General TY Danjuma saw action from his early years as an Officer. Between 1961 and 1962, he served two tours – in Katanga and Kasai Provinces — with the United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces in the Congo. During the Nigerian Civil War, he was initially posted to the Nsukka Front as 1 Sector Commander of the 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, where he excelled as a model front-line Officer reputed for professionalism and effectiveness.
Posted to 1 Division Headquarters as Chief of Staff until the end of the War, our Celebrant held several other strategic appointments for the Armed forces and for Nigeria. He was Chairman, Special Military Tribunal in Trinidad & Tobago; and General Officer Commanding, 3 Infantry Division [where he systematically tackled the endemic corrupt practice of padding the pay-roll with names of dead soldiers and sharing the extra money between Commanders and pay officers].
Appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1975, General TY Danjuma in his four-year tenure bravely and squarely took on the challenging issue of post-War Demobilisation. With the Army’s war–time size of 250,000 personnel, there was the need for rejuvenation through fresh recruitments and concomitant demobilisation of those that no longer fit it; particularly the World War 2 veterans still in service in old age. Thus, some 50,000 personnel had to go.
It was also during his tenure as Chief of Army Staff that Command Secondary Schools were established in each of the Army Divisions. Then came the Army Command & Staff College, which ensured that officers of the rank of Major attended compressed two courses to enhance their academic and professional competencies. In his adjunct capacity as Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, General TY Danjuma not only encouraged the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force to enroll their officers in the College, but also laid the foundation to upgrade the Nigerian Defence Academy to a degree-awarding institution.
Our Celebrant formally retired from the Army in October 1979 at the age of 41; following the military hand-over of political power to the newly-elected civilian government under President Shehu Shagari.
Still on Public Service, General TY Danjuma was to serve as Minister of Defence in the first term of the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was his Commander-in-Chief under military regime. Under the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who had become indisposed, the Presidential Advisory Council was set up with our Celebrant as Chairman. Working with the National Assembly, the “Doctrine of Necessity” was invoked to confer on the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan the title of Acting President; thus enabling him to reconstitute the Federal Cabinet and his staff.
In private life, our Celebrant has been actively involved in entrepreneurship and business. Aside from Board memberships of some publicly-quoted companies, he direct investments included a shipping line with an Italian businessman as a partner, a bank, an insurance company and stocks. Though nearly all his investments in companies run by Nigerians were mismanaged and totally lost, he biggest break was the acquisition of a crude oil mining lease, part of which he sold to pay for his own share of the production cost.
As a Philanthropist and Community Developer, our Celebrant has made waves. He initially endowed the sum of 100 million United States Dollars to the TY DanjumaFoundation, which he established to cater to the rural population in terms of education, primary healthcare, income-generation as well as eradication of neglected tropical diseases like leprosy, river blindness, elephantiasis and the like. To date, the Foundation has disbursed over US$41 million in grants to support 340 projects impacting over 10 million lives across Nigeria. Among others, he also made a personal donation of US$10 million to the Victims Support Fund, which he chairs.
Deservedly, General TY Danjuma has been variously acknowledged. These include the Nigerian National Honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger [GCON]; National Honours from the Republic of Somalia, Benin Republic, Poland and France; Honorary Doctorate Degrees from 15 Universities in Nigeria as well as from University of Liberia and Lincoln University in the USA; and many Traditional Chieftaincy titles.
He is married with children.
Ladies & Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that we invite Lieutenant-General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma [Rtd.] to receive the Hallmarks of Labour Role Model Life-Time Achievement Award for Exemplary Philanthropy & Charity.
Hearty Congratulations, Sir!