Following the spate of military coups in six African countries between 2020 and now, the Nigerian military declared its support for democracy and described the call for a military take-over in some quarters as highly unpatriotic and wicked.
On September 1, the federal government, through Mohammed Idris, the minister of information and national orientation, further dismissed fears of a possible coup in Nigeria. Idris said that the country had gone past a forceful takeover of government.
The federal government stressed that Nigerians had fully embraced democracy and the country’s democratic institutions were becoming stronger.
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Idris also said that the fact that some African countries, including neighbouring Niger Republic, witnessed a coup in recent times did not put Nigeria in any form of fear or danger.
Sani Abacha
Between 1966 and 1999, and apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Nigerian Republic that lasted for just four years (1979 to 1983), Nigeria was ruled by the military without interruption.
During that period, the country experienced a handful of coup d’états and alleged coup plots.
Here is how the last alleged coup plot played out:
THE ARREST OF DIYA, OLANREWAJU AND OTHERS
Oladipo Diya
In December 1997, Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, a former deputy head of state, was arrested by the Sani Abacha-led military government for an alleged coup plot.
Apart from Diya, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, a former communications minister, and Major General Abdulkarim Adisa, a former works and housing minister, were also arrested for the same offence.
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At the same time, Abacha arrested top military officers like Colonel Daniel Akintonde, Colonel Edwin Jando, Colonel Peters Alinyode, Colonel Emmanuel Shode and Major Olusegun Fadipe.
Civilians were not left out as Femi Odekunle, who was said to be Diya’s political advisor, and Niran Malaolu, Editor of The Diet Newspaper, were also arrested by the military head of state.
DIYA INSISTED HE WAS INNOCENT
Tajudeen Olanrewaju
While in incarceration, Diya insisted he was innocent and went on to describe the reason for his arrest as “a phantom coup” devised by Abacha to eliminate him.
Diya also claimed he became a threat to Abacha, whom he used to be a second-in-command to, when he would not buy into the latter’s plans of transmuting into a civilian president from his position as a military head of state.
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“All the soldiers guarding us, including Adisa and Olanrewaju, were from Abacha. So, how do you plan a coup when the soldiers guarding you are from the head of state? It is not done. That was enough to show that it was a phantom coup,” said Diya in an interview years later.
Abdulkarim Adisa
“And, in any case, which other coup have we seen that people would be recording even before the coup was executed? It was obvious that all those that were planning the coup were there in government, not those that were suspected.”
A week before his arrest, Diya had narrowly missed becoming the victim of a bomb explosion at Abuja Airport. The explosion led to the death of two of his military aides.
THE VICTOR MALU-LED TRIBUNAL
Victor Malu
On April 29, 1998, after spending five months in military detention, Diya, Olanrewaju, Adisa and three other military officers were sentenced to death by a tribunal headed by Major General Victor Malu, a former commander of a Nigerian-led peacekeeping force in Liberia.
Four other defendants, including Malaolu, were also sentenced to life in prison by the same tribunal.
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The convicted coup plotters would remain on death row until things took a dramatic turn in June 1998.
ABACHA’S DEATH
The Malu-led Tribunal
On June 8, 1998, news broke that Sani Abacha had died in Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He was buried on the same day according to Islamic religious rites without an autopsy. The hasty burial of the military dictator fuelled speculations amongst Nigerians that Abacha may have been assassinated.
Till date, the actual cause of Abacha’s death remains highly disputed.
EVENTUAL RELEASE OF COUP PLOTTERS
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Abdulsalam Abubakar
On March 3, 1999, Diya, Olanrewaju, Adisa and others were eventually released after General Abdulsalam Abubakar, Abacha’s successor, granted them amnesty.
Before this, Olusegun Obasanjo, who had also been accused of plotting a separate coup by the same Abacha government in 1995, had been released by Abubakar in 1998.
The post How the Most Recent Alleged Coup Plot Played Out in Nigeria appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.
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