Begging General Dies
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Former Nigerian deputy head of state General Oladipo Diya who was seen begging for his life from the late dictator General Sani Abacha dies
Nigeria’s former deputy head of state General Oladipo Diya, 78, has died in a Lagos hospital during the early hours of Sunday his family announced in a statement Sunday.
“On behalf of the entire Diya family home and abroad; We announce the passing on to glory of our dear husband, father, grandfather, brother, Lt- General Donaldson Oladipo Oyeyinka Diya (Rtd) GCON, LLB, BL, PSC, FSS, mni. Our dear daddy passed onto glory in the early hours of 26th March 2023. Please keep us in your prayers as we mourn his demise in this period. Further announcements will be made public in due course.” The statement read.
Diya is famously remembered for his role in the attempted restoration of the June 12 mandate. He was implicated in a December 1997 coup plot with other senior Yoruba military officers for attempting to overthrow the head of state General Sani Abacha. Military administrators and traditional rulers were invited to Abuja to watch his confessions and him begging for his life after he was arrested on video-tape. If the coup had succeeded the plan was to install the late Moshood Abiola the presumed winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election as president.
After the election was annulled by the General Ibrahim Babangida regime, the country spiralled into political crisis with the south west region from which Abiola hailed from became restive leading to many South easterners return back to the south east region due to the ensuing violence. In August Babangida “stepped aside” and handed power to an Interim National Government (ING) headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan a south westerner. The strikes and violence continue and a court order proclaiming the ING as illegal led to the coup orchestrated by Abacha and Diya in November of 1993. The self installation of General Abacha as head of state and Lieutenant General brought back a semblance of law and order.
In December 1997 , he was arrested for attempting to overthrow the Abacha regime in a bloody coup. The military administrators and traditional rulers were convinced after seeing Diya begging and weeping for his life to be spared. In one clip he was shown speaking with Abacha before kneeling down and begging for his life. While he wept, Abacha gave him tissue paper to the general to wipe his tears.
Appearing before a military tribunal he was stripped of his rank and sentenced to death with his fellow conspirators. Before the sentence could be carried out Abacha died unexpectedly in June of 1998. The new head of state General Abdulsalam Abubakar released Diya from prison. An unrepentant Diya refused to co-operate with the Oputa Panel instituted by the civilian administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo to probe excesses during his time as deputy head of state, but focused on recovering his assets seized by the Abacha regime. Assets he could not explain how he got on a modest salary of a lieutenant-general.
Diya fought in the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s as an infantry officer. He was Commander 31, Airborne Brigade, after the war. Appointed Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985 then General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigeria Army in 1985 and was Commandant, National War College (1991–1993) and then appointed Chief of Defence Staff following the 1993 coup.
Akowe reports from Lagos
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