Some family members have alleged that Lt. General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, the late Chief of Army Staff (COAS) may have been killed through diabolical means due to a land dispute in his hometown. This is just as the head of the Lagbaja family, Pa Tajudeen Lagbaja expressed regret for obtaining admission form to the Nigerian Defence Academy (where he began his military career) for the deceased. Pa Tajudeen, the younger brother of the late COAS’s father, stated that he would not have bought the form had he known it would lead to his death.
According reports, In 2023 a dispute arose in Ilobu, the headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area in Osun State (where the late COAS hailed from), when representatives of the Nigerian Army planned to establish a hospital in the community. The family members alleged that individuals who are against General Lagbaja’s action might have been behind the spiritual attack that led to his death.
Speaking with TheNation over the untimely death of the late Army Chief at 54, Pa Tajudeen said “Everyone who is born must die. We give glory to God. The year that I obtained NDA form for him, if I had known that he would die before me, I would not have done so. I regret obtaining the form for him. But it is destiny. The death that killed Taoreed Lagbaja ought to take me. I took him as one of my children. We are greatly bereaved, we are sad. He constructed a borehole in his father’s compound and other places in the community.”
“We can never forget him, his death is so shocking to us. I have accepted the fate, all the promises he made to me have hit a brick wall. He always gave us hope in the family, despite the sorrow, I give thanks to God,” the family head said.