This headline will shock a lot of peole..it definitely shocked me.You would expect that Lt-Gen. Oladipo Diya (rtd),would be the last person to say Abacha was a kind soft man,find out exactly why Lt Gen Diya,who has held senior military postings and commands
among which is as a former Chief of General Staff and former military governor of Ogun State said so. Gen Diya, who recently turned 70, in this interview reflects on his life, career, the late Gen. Abacha and the late MKO Abiola.
Nigerians would be very interested in this. The impression Nigerians had of the then head of state, General Sani Abacha was that he was a very tough man, very difficult; for someone who was close to him and worked with him for a long time, how would you describe the late C-in-C?
If you asked me, Oladipo Diya about General Abacha, I’d say he was a soft man, kind; a man who would take the trouble to listen to you and then whatever you arrived at becomes a decision binding. So I have no complaint about him. It is very difficult to explain so many of the things that eventually transpired. But I will say that I had no problem with the person of General Abacha. In fact, if there was anybody that had any problem with General Abacha, I was in a position to even intercede.
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| Oladipo Diya wife |
So what went wrong?
What went wrong? The truth is that even I cannot explain it. But I know one or two things eventually went wrong. It was when things started happening that I myself started seeing cracks. I mean there is no point
hiding things unnecessarily. Like when the late Chief MKO Abiola was arrested, I didn’t know. I was on tour in Enugu. It was the late CC Onoh, who told me that Abiola had been arrested. I ended my tour and left Enugu the following day. It was when I got back (to Abuja) that I was now told of the arrest. But then, the story told me was not complete, because I was not told where he was arrested, where he was being kept…. So I just felt that maybe I would be told at the appropriate time. But three days later, a detention order was brought to me to sign, and I refused. I said I was not going to sign a detention order for somebody who had already been arrested without my knowledge. And again, I asked, “Where is he being kept?” |
| Diya and the infamous pic of him allegedly begging Abacha for his life. |
If you are very accustomed with the rules, the Chief of General Staff was the only person who had the power to arrest and detain; and that order was changed the following day and instead of the Chief of General Staff being in charge of arrest and detention, the IG was vested with the resp.onsibility. So it was the IG that signed the detention order. I thought that was a crack. Maybe one or two other issues again, but that was not enough for me to describe Abacha as anything different from the impression I already had of him.
At that point, didn’t you think that a signal was being sent? You are from Ogun State and the late Chief Abiola was also from the state; and he took away the power to arrest and detain, probably on the premise that ‘Oh he is refusing to sign the detention of his brother’.
Well, I really didn’t think something might be coming in that sense. I just felt that there was a crack. That detention order should have been signed by me; but since it has been changed by law, then it’s a law. Once there is a decree signed by the head of state; then it’s a law.
This crack that you talk about, did you ever think that it would get to a level where you would be accused of planning a coup?
Anybody can be accused of planning a coup. Under civilian dispensation, it’s not so easy to accuse somebody of such a crime because the processes are not easy. In fact, you cannot accuse somebody and still be the judge or be the executioner. In a military regime, it is different. The person who accuses you is the person who will constitute the court, he’s the one who will constitute the investigation and once the court finishes, they would even submit the verdict to him for approval. And once he approves, then it is carried out. So you should recognise the limitation of the military regime.
You went to detention over a coup allegation, but did you envisage that you would regain freedom as quickly as you did? And how did you survive?
The detentions are there. I have always believed that once anything has been sanctioned by God to happen, it will happen. I would not be the first person to be accused of planning a coup. In fact, I cannot remember any of my seniors who had not gone through what I went through. General Olusegun Obasanjo was also accused of the same offence and tried; in fact by the same set of people, Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi, Gen Patrick Aziza…. So it was nothing new. What actually was new was the fact that one survived. That was indeed a miracle.
Apart from yourself and General Sani Abacha, one very notable figure who seemed to have some kind of mythical image was Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. Was he as powerful as he was made to be?
With all due respect, I don’t want to talk about Major Al-Mustapha because he is extremely junior to me. I mean take a look at the gap between a Major and a General. The only thing that touched me was one tape he was circulating and I was just surprised when I saw the tape. And it made me imagine the level of the inquisitiveness of our press men. How could you be playing a tape that had no voice? Not a single word came out of that tape. So you could see that the tape was the imagination of somebody just to flag off an idea, amplify it and blow it out of proportion, as if it truly existed. It is true I had a discussion with General Abacha, when these officers were arrested. And these officers while going to the State House passed through my house, because there is no way you will go to the State House without passing through the house of the Chief of General Staff.
And all we were discussing then was that the military should leave. And we were talking of leaving in October and these officers said they were going to tell Abacha. And they were all in mufti. So when I learnt that they had been arrested, I was stunned. I went to Abacha and said ‘These officers came to me and said they were coming to discuss such and such matter with you.’ And I said ‘Please release them. I am responsible.’ How that tape now came out now and turned out that I was begging Abacha. Up till now, nobody can say that they heard a single word from that tape. Now, what I was afraid of was what actually happened on the day of the trial, because I only saw General Olarewaju and General Adisa. I was stunned.
And that was when I now asked, ‘Where is Bamaiyi, where is Aziza, where is Muda…’ can’t remember now. The other Mudashiru was a GOC of 2 Division, because the impression given to me was that they were all arrested. And when I now got to the court and only saw Olanrewaju and Adisa; that was when I now knew that this is truly a conspiracy and it was organised from the top. And I, Oladipo Diya was the target. That was what broke the camels’ back; and the news went all over the world. So naturally, I was stunned. I was expecting that if you think that we have said something, or that we were planning something, then you put us on trial and let us all defend ourselves. And these people that have been arrested were all guided by the Abacha people: all the soldiers in my house were Abacha’s men; all the soldiers in Olanrewaju’s house were Abacha’s men; all the soldiers in General Adisa’s home were all Abacha’s men; so who was planning the coup and with what. So the phantomness of the coup just came out glaringly for everybody to see. So we thank God.
Did General Abacha ever tell you that he was planning to transform from a military head of state to a civilian President?
What I can say was that we had a one-on-one discussion, where he asked for my view: ‘Do you think we should continue?’ That was his question? And like I was telling you, I joined the army as a boy and I do not know any other world; I don’t know how to lie, I don’t know how to deceive people. Even when I’m talking to my children, I’m always very frank. When a child is doing well, tell him or her that they’re doing well. And that is my life. If you ask a question, I will give him the answer. The correct answer was ‘no, don’t let us continue.’ Then he said why don’t I discuss it with the other service chiefs? Let’s have their opinion. That was the first feeling I had that he probably wanted to continue. And I called these service chiefs and met with them. And I now went back and told him that, ‘No, none of them told me that we should continue.’ But maybe what they were telling me was different from what they were telling him. I don’t know and I leave that to God. But it was later that I now discovered that one of the service chiefs was carrying a tape recorder in the back of his uniform, apparently giving me the impression that something was fishy. But again, when you go through a travail and you go through it successfully, you don’t want to bear any grudge.
One of the most challenging periods of your government was the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and the other Ogoni activists, how sensitive was the military administration to the international pressure that was coming in? Did it have an impact on decisions you were taking?
You see, I have to tell you this. If you go through the details of the incident that actually happened, you will remember that we had the Ogoni four. The Ogoni four were all prominent sons of Ogoni and they were killed. And the people who were alleged to have killed the four, turned out to be the Ogoni nine. And in fairness to General Abacha, he arranged a court, headed by a judge of the Court of Appeal in Abuja. As I’m talking to you, that man has even been recognised and promoted as a Supreme Court judge or a judge of the Court of Appeal. And again, when the Ogoni nine were being tried, they had access to legal support. In fact, the late Gani Fawehinmi was the lawyer of Ken Saro Wiwa. And again, the then President of the Bar Association, Mr. Daodu was the plaintiff. Anyway, the point I’m just trying to make is that all these fall within the purview of the law.
It was really a bit out of fashion with military style. If Abacha had appointed a military officer to be president of the court, people would only have shouted. But the fact that he could appoint a judge to be in charge was a plus for him; and also allowing the accused access to a lawyer. At the end of the day, that court sentenced Ken Saro Wiwa to death. So it was not a military arrangement in any form. All these people that I’ve mentioned (apart from Gani Fawehinmi) are still alive. The only thing that I will just hold a bit was that the ruling council went through the proceedings and approved judgment of the court and then nobody was told about the time of the execution. That is the only thing I will hold against Abacha. He did not allow anybody, including me to know the time of the execution. But again he could counter me that the military law does not state that once an execution has been approved by the ruling council, the head of state should now come back and tell you when the execution would take place.
What do you think of President Jonathan politicising your pardon, because people felt he only used it as a guise to legitimise the other pardons. Secondly, did it come with reinstatement of certain benefits and entitlement?
You see when the pardon was mentioned, I was in London on a short trip. I was interviewed and I tried to explain that there is a difference between amnesty and pardon. What we were granted initially was amnesty and that only set us free from our respective places of detention. And all of us were included in that amnesty, including the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But later his own amnesty was turned into pardon and all the benefits that he was entitled to were restored. We were granted amnesty, it was not pardon. But when President Jonathan now turned it into a pardon, I had a press conference and I tried to explain the difference between pardon and amnesty. What we were now going to be enjoying was pardon as pronounced by the President. And since then, we have started enjoying the benefits of the pardon. My entitlements were restored; my military entitlements were restored and the president himself now addresses me as General Oladipo Diya Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). So there is a mile’s difference between pardon and amnesty.
You still look vigorous, even at 70; what do you do with your time now? As a qualified lawyer, are you practising law or are you a full time pastor?
All are encompassed. Luckily, I had the privilege of reading law and I was called to Bar at 32. I also thank God that three of my children are lawyers; three of them again are medical doctors and two of them are chartered accountants. So I just feel so relaxed in their midst. One of my brothers is actually running my chambers, so anytime there is any term of argument, we sit in my office and talk and iron things out. Thereafter, I’d say ‘Now you will go to court (general laughter).’ I also have one or two small outfits that also keep me busy.
Source The Nation