_Excerpts from Kunle Idiagbon’s interview with Punch newspaper_
In 1982, I attended Military School, Zaria, and my father also schooled there.
_Then, the discipline in military school was top-notch._
My father was back in Lagos then. He was a Military Secretary and a Brigadier General in the army.
_But to me, he was just a daddy._
In three weeks, the place was like hell but I managed to stay.
_I remember one day we were being drilled and some soldiers called me to go to the commandant’s house, that my father was there to see me._
My father was quite friendly with the then Commandant.
_They were family friends and I thought I would use the opportunity to escape the drilling._
I quickly left the place and went to the commandant’s house.
_When I got there, he was sitting outside with my father and they were reading papers._
My father wore his uniform and I was excited to see him.
_When he saw me, he stood up and I rushed to him._
The normal thing I should have done was to salute him, because I was in uniform and he was also in uniform.
_I was caught up in emotion and I just hugged him._
He hugged me for a second too. But the next thing, he used his left hand to push me back a bit and as he did so, his right hand came on my face.
_He gave me a hard slap and I saw stars. I wondered what I did wrong when I regained consciousness._
The next thing he did was to look at the commandant and said, “Charles, is this the way you train your boys? A boy will see a General in the Nigerian Army and he will not salute.”
_That was when the commandant called the people in charge of discipline and told them to lock me up._
They removed my belt, cap and started punishing me right in his front and he didn’t worry.
_That was the day that I knew apart from being my father, he was also a General in the army….._
Gen. Tunde Idiagbon’s son.
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