Col.
Olusegun Oloruntoba (retd.), one of the military officers arrested, jailed and
tortured by the regime of Gen. Sani Abacha for the 1995 phantom coup, tells Punch about his
view of Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi’s book, calling it a tissue of lies
When did
you join the Nigerian Army?
I
belonged to the Nigerian Defence Academy Combatant Army Corps 11. I joined the
Nigerian Army as a cadet of the Nigerian Defence Academy in January, 1972 and I
had a very successful career in terms of performance and promotions in the army
until I was falsely accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the government of
Gen. Sani Abacha – a coup that never was. It was a phantom coup.
How were
you involved in that phantom coup?
I
think I was implicated as an organiser of the coup out of sheer malice and
blackmail. In 1993, our brother, Chief MKO Abiola, won the June 12, 1993
presidential election, which was peaceful, free and fair but was annulled
anyway. In the army, I was singled out as one of those officers who were highly
and vehemently opposed to that annulment.
Did you
make your stance public?
Yes.
I was one of the officers in those days that questioned the military hierarchy
concerning the annulment of the June 12 election. We wanted to know what led to
the annulment of the election. I remember my then General Commanding Officer at
Jos; he is still alive, Brig Gen. Ahmed Baku (retd.). He called all of us who
were commanders and commanding officers and told us on a particular day that he
wanted our views on the annulment; that he was going to attend the Armed Forces
Provisional Ruling Council meeting.
I
was one of those who made an observation that the then Head of State, Gen.
Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, who annulled the election, should make a very clear
broadcast to the nation if he had cogent reasons for annulling the election.
And, if there were no reasons, he should call Prof. Humphrey Nwosu (Chiarman of
the defunct National Electoral Commission) to announce the results of the
election. That observation of mine was supported by most of the military
officers present at the meeting – in 1993.
I
think from that period onward, it appeared I had been labelled as somebody who
was not friendly with the military government. Therefore, when it was time to
frame up people in 1995, it did not take them a second to add my name to the
phantom coup plotters’ list. Back in 1993, I think shortly after the annulment,
there were series of meetings.
Then,
towards the end of 1993, I was posted from Jos because they felt it was
dangerous for me to remain a commander. They then posted me to Jaji to teach.
It was while I was a teacher in Jaji that a gang-up occurred and my name was
put on the list of alleged coup plotters trying to oust Abacha’s government.
But
all I had as a soldier was my marking pen and my students. Then, as an alleged
coup plotter, I wonder how I would have organised troops and weapons to execute
the coup by invading Aso Rock. I was accused of being the one to actually
capture Abacha. As of that time, I had never set my foot in Abuja. How could a
commander capture a city which he didn’t even know the direction (of)? You can
see that it was a clear case of malice and blackmail.
What do
you know about Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi?
I
served with Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (retd) when I was in the army; he was my
brigade commander in Ikeja, Lagos State. I am surprised about what he wrote in
his book (Vindication of a General) that the 1995 coup was real and not a
phantom coup.
Left
to me, what would anybody have expected from Gen. Bamaiyi who was the
mastermind of the phantom coup of 1995? But be that as it may, anybody can
access the Oputa Panel report on the Internet and see what Oputa said. Oputa
stated categorically that after a very thorough investigation, it was very
clear that there were no coup plotters; that it was nothing but a power play
and an attempt to eliminate some people considered as enemies of the
government.
For
Bamaiyi, who was a former chief of army staff, if I were to meet him face to
face, there were certain questions I would want him to answer if there was a
coup plot: One, were he and his group able to confirm that few or more people
discussed a coup plot? The answer is no. Two, were they able to identify what
we call ‘O’ group (that is, Order group); people who are given order or
administrative instruction of an impending coup? Three, was there any
coordinating conference by any set of people or officers? Four, was there any
operation order for the so-called coup? And five, was there any task allocation
document?
Once
you are going for an operation, people must be given information on what to do.
Then, was there any target or hit list found on anybody during their search of
officers and their homes? Was there any contingency plan found in anybody’s
house? And, was there any indication that there was an attempt to mobilise
troops? How could you carry out a coup without having troops?
Next
question is: was there any indication of any set of troops deployed as of the
time we were arrested? Because they claimed we were to strike the following
day. I don’t know how I would have carried out such an operation without the
necessary things being put in place. Then, there is something we call H-hour
(time of operation) and D-day (date of operation); did they see any of such
document during their search?
Did
they find such document on anybody? Was there any weapon retrieved from anybody
that suggested preparation for a coup? The last question I would ask Bamaiyi
is: what were the findings and recommendations of Oputa panel in relation to
the 1995 phantom coup? Oputa stated very clearly that there was nothing like
coup plot by anybody, and he made some far-reaching recommendations for the
Federal Government to grant us appropriate compensation. And not only that,
when Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar took over the reins of power, what action did he
take?
He
gave orders for all of us to be released immediately. After that, Abdulsalami
gave instructions to the army headquarters that the four years we were detained
in prison should be converted to active years of service and all our
entitlements be paid. If indeed there was any coup by anybody, would such an
instruction come from the then head of state?
Do you
think Gen. Bamaiyi wrote the book to draw attention to himself?
If
Gen. Bamaiyi wants to draw attention to himself, there was no reason for him to
come out and claim that the 1995 phantom coup was real. Bamaiyi should know
that a coup d’état isn’t a tea party, neither is it a disco party – it is not a
picnic. A coup d’état is a dangerous and serious business which can result in
death. For Bamaiyi to come out and give such submission is very unfortunate,
uncalled-for and unbecoming of a senior military officer. For the fact that he was
my former commander, and for the fact that he retired as a lieutenant general,
I will have to reserve some of the comments I would have made. I wouldn’t talk
much.
To
me, for any general to come out (to say what he said in his book) after the
revelation of the Oputa panel on the phantom coup is sad. Since he was part of
Abacha’s government, what do you expect him to say? In the wake of that coup
allegation, initial investigation revealed that there was no coup and that all
of us should be released back to our units. A second investigation was set up
and I was visited in my torture cell by Maj. Gen. Muja Pero. He said,
‘Oloruntoba, you’d better tell us the truth.’
I
replied, ‘Sir, you’re a brigadier-general and as one, for the past 90 days you
have been searching for evidence of a coup plot and you couldn’t get any. Sir,
even me, as a colonel, if I am given such a stupid assignment, I would have
turned it down and would have told Abacha that there is no coup anywhere. Why
must there be a coup plot?’ I added, ‘I am ashamed of you as a
brigadier-general.’ He’s alive; let him come out and contradict what I have
said.
There
was one Col. Omenka and others who tried to force me to implicate Gen. Olusegun
Obasanjo, Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua, and Gen. Kazir. They said that if I could
implicate Obasanjo and others, they would turn me into a state witness. I said,
‘Jokers! If you don’t know me, Col. Oloruntoba, go and find out.’ I told them
that I was not the one they would use to implicate anybody.
They
threatened to ‘waste’ me and I urged them to go ahead. I told them, ‘At my age
(I was 40-something then), I could not be threatened with death.’ They are all
alive. I long for a day, in a conference, where I can meet with all these
jokers – all those Goebbels and mistakes of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
After
Gen. Abdulsalami had ordered for our release, can you believe that some of
those devilish, so-called army generals were planning to gather all of us
accused of the coup in Lagos, put us in an aircraft to take us to Abuja to meet
with the then head of state. Their real plan was to blow us up in the aircraft
and blame everything on Abdulsalami. But that plan leaked. I know them; I’ll
just assist them by not mentioning their names.
Was
Bamaiyi among those who conspired to blow up the aircraft that would have
conveyed you and others?
Let
us give him the benefit of the doubt. If the occasion arises, we will name all
those devilish plotters who wanted to kill all of us for no reason.
Was Hamza
Al-Mustapha one of the plotters?
At
the appropriate time, we will let Nigerians know them. So, Abdulsalami was
informed about the plot. He was advised never to allow us to be brought to him
in Abuja for any briefing. It is stupid for anyone to come out and be opening
old wounds – we knew what we went through. Up till now, I am still nursing the
injuries I sustained while being tortured in prison.
Please
share the experience.
At
a time, I was being interrogated, while they were looking for a coup plot at
all costs; there was no type of torture I didn’t go through. Several times, I
was suspended in mid-air; they tied my left leg to my left hand and I was
suspended like a fowl for roasting for a very long time. My wrist and ankle
were completely battered in a bid to have me implicate people in a coup that
never existed. But I was determined to put them to shame to the extent that
whenever I was let down, I would walk like I had not been tortured at all,
singing heartily, ‘Who go suffer? Na dem go suffer!’ with my colleagues joining
in the chorus. There was nothing they didn’t do to us.
Though
Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was also a victim of the phantom coup, he was said not
to have cared for the welfare of his co-accused after he became a civilian
president. What do you know about that?
Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo was twice our commander-in-chief; first as a
military head of state and later as civilian president after our release from
detention. It was unbelievable and beyond any reason whatsoever that the same
Gen. Obasanjo that was detained along with us would become president and
commander-in-chief and all the reliefs recommended by the Oputa Panel, he did
not implement them. It was very sad and unfortunate.
I
am very sorry to say: if it were Gen. Yar’Adua that found himself to be president
after our release, we won’t be begging anybody for compensations. Yar’Adua
would have implemented everything (Oputa panel recommendations) in our favour.
I shared the same ‘Death Cell’ with Gen. Yar’Adua. He told us, ‘Gentlemen, be
assured that nobody can kill you but be ready to face torture for some time. No
matter how long it takes, those of you who want to go back to the Army will be
allowed to do so. And if anyone of you does not want to go back to the army,
we’ll find better jobs for you.’
If
such a person were to be alive and was to become the nation’s president, there
would have been no need for any panel in the first place. All the
recommendations made in our favour were purely administrative. Gen. Obasanjo
didn’t need any panel to compensate us adequately. He knew what we went through
but for reasons best known to him (he never did that) for eight years that he
was in power.
There
was a particular year that he invited us all for a dinner – that should be
February 2006. He assured us that the government would take good care of us,
urging us to be patient. He even promised that July 14, which happened to be
the day we were all sentenced to death, the government would invite all of us
and our family members for a state dinner and that after the dinner, the
Federal Government would then unveil its plans for us. Well, for the dinner
(and the plans), maybe that will happen tomorrow, I don’t know – nothing
happened. It is unfortunate. I know though that if God says we’ll be duly
compensated, no human can stop it.
Do you
think that you and others can get justice from the Federal Government under the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari?
Our
President and Commander-in-Chief, Muhammadu Buhari, is known to be highly
principled and honest. He is not somebody who will condone injustice against
anybody, from the little we know of him when we were in the army, though he was
far ahead of us. We are urging him to flip through the files of the
recommendation of the Oputa panel and grant all the reliefs recommended in our
favour. I am personally convinced that if he looks through the document, he
would cause justice to be carried out on our behalf because he too was a victim
of injustice – after his dethronement as a military head of state, he was
detained for about five years. I appeal to him to please ask for that document.
Do you
regret making your view known to the army establishment concerning the June 12,
1993 presidential election?
If
another June 12 comes up and another set of cabal decides to annul it, as a
retired officer, I will still rise up to speak against such a development.
Concerning Gen. Bamaiyi’s phantom coup, my greatest regret is that at the time
we were all shipped off like chickens, there was no comprehensive plan of a
coup by anybody and for the fact that a fellow Nigerian, Chief MKO Abiola, was
deprived of his victory and not only that, they went ahead to imprison him
until he died in detention. If there was a well-coordinated plan to sack Abacha
as of that time, I would have been 100 per cent ready to be part of that. If I
were captured in action in 1995 and had to die, I wouldn’t have given a damn.
But it’s unfair and immoral to sentence people to death over a packaged tissue
of lies.
Let
Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi go to the Army Headquarters and search for the letter
written by the Army Headquarters on our behalf that we remained serving
officers of the Nigerian Army from the day we were arrested in 1995 till March
4, 1999 and all our entitlements should be paid and those years we were incarcerated
should be converted to active years of service and Gen. Abdulsalami, a godly
man, ensured that was done. Abdulsalami would have been retired by Abacha; he
knew what injustice meant. But there are other reliefs the Federal Government
has yet to implement.
Gen.
Bamaiyi claimed in his book that Gen. Abdulsalami has a case to answer
concerning Abiola’s death. Do you believe that?
I
will consider Bamaiyi’s word on that as loose talk. I don’t expect a general to
talk in that manner. But if he has concrete evidence against Gen. Abdulsalami,
let him tell Nigerians, instead of asking the nation to ask Abdulsalami about
how Abiola died in detention.
Source:Punch
Tags
Politics