He underwent secondary education at the government college, Okene.
He enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1958 shortly after completing his school certificate examinations.
He passed the army selection examinations and thereafter was despatched to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK, the British Army’s initial officer entry academy.
In 1962, Lt. Adekunle became Aide-de-Camp to the governor of the eastern region, Sir Akanu Ibiam.
When he returned he was briefly appointed Adjutant General at the Army Headquarters in May 1965 to replace Lt. Col.
He later handed over the position to Lt. Col.
James Pam and was posted back to his old Battalion in Enugu as a Company Commander.
Adekunle later assumed command of the Lagos Garrison earning the name “The Bloodhound” as a substantive Lt. Col and then Colonel after the Bonny landing.
The 6th and 8th battalions of the Lagos Garrison subsequently took part in operations to liberate the Midwest following the Biafran invasion of August 1967.
Colonel Adekunle did not think the name “3 Infantry Division” was sensational enough nor did it project the nature of the unique terrain in which his men had to fight further naming it the ” 3 Marine Commando (3MCDO).
After the war Adekunle was put in charge of decongesting the Lagos port that was having a chronic problem of clearing imported goods.
He held this position until being compulsorily retired on August 20, 1974.He also blamed his problems during and after the war to his rivals in the army.
He had large followings in both the army and public at large and was the most popular military commander during the war, apart from Obasanjo, who succeeded him and brought the war to an end with the same ‘3MC’. Adekunle led the Third Marine Commando Division with such great panache and determination that the foreign media, in looking for a human angle on the Biafran war, found him a ready source of news.
He died on 13 September 2014 and was buried in the Vaults and Gardens, Ikoyi, Lagos[
