Former ECOMOG Commander, Gen Joshua Dongonyaro Dies At 80

 

The former Field Commander of Economic Community Of West Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), Maj Gen Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro is dead. He was 80 years old.

Dogonyaro was famous for the broadcast on radio to toppled the military administration General Muhammadu Buhari’s military junta and brought in the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida junta on August 27, 1985.

He reportedly died in Jos on Thursday morning, 13th May, 2021 from an undisclosed ailment after been ill for sometime.

The late Gen Dogonyaro was born on the 12th September, 1940. He attended Boys’ Secondary School, Gindiri, Jos.

He enlisted into the Nigerian Army as a Cadet of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, 1964-67 and was commissioned a Second-Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps in 1967.

Dongonyaro was trained in the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji; Armour Officers Course, USA; Armoured Car Troop Leaders Course, UK; Command and Staff College, Jaji; Defence Resources Management Course, USA, and National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.

 

Dogoyaro served in many capacities before his retirement from the Nigerian Army in 1993.

Positions he held included Officer Commanding, 1 Recce Squadron, NA, 1967-69; Quartermaster General, I Infantry Division (Main), 1969-70; Chief Instructor and Adjutant, Recce Training School, NA, 1970-72; Commanding Officer, I Recce Regiment, NA., 1972-76; Principal Staff Officer, Headquarters, Nigerian Army Armoured Corp, 1976-77; Commanding Officer, 24 Armoured Brigade, NA., 1977-79; Task Force Commanding Officer, 203 Armoured Battalion, Peace-keeping Force in Chad.

Others included Director of Manning (Army), Army Headquarters, ‘A’ Branch, NA, 1984-85, and Director of Armoury, 1985; General Officer Commanding 3 Armoured Division, NA, Jos, 1985-87; member, Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), 1985; General Officer Commanding 2nd Mechanised Division, NA, Ibadan, 1987 and a former Field Commander, ECOMOG in Liberia.