Major Donatus Okafor (died July 1966) was a Nigerian army officer, Commander of the Federal Guards Brigade, and one of the principal plotters of the January 15, 1966 coup, an event that derailed Nigeria's nascent democracy and introduced military rule to Nigeria.
[2] As Commander of the Federal Guards Brigade, a unit tasked with providing security to Nigeria's Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Okafor was critical to the January 15, 1966 coup conspirators considering his intimate knowledge of the Prime Minister's routine.
[1] On the night of January 15, 1966, Major Okafor led Federal Guard soldiers to Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari's residence at Thompson Avenue in Ikoyi.
Author Max Siollun, notes that PM Balewa would have witnessed Maimalari's murder because he had been abducted by Ifeajuna earlier on in the evening.
[4] Soldiers of northern origin who mutinied during July Counter Coup broke into Abeokuta prison where Okafor was detained.