Oladipo Diya: The Exit of a General

Former Chief Of General Staff during the military regime of late General Sani Abacha, Lt General Oladipo Diya (rtd) died in the early hours of Sunday. Segun James writes that the Ogun State born three-star general was an exemplary military officer and a complete gentleman.

They are now regularly being decimated by death. Not at wartime as you would expect of combatant soldiers, during which as officers, they led the nation out of a fratricidal civil war that claimed over two million lives, thereby ensuring that the nation remains one. But  now through death at old age.Which is the prayer of every man.

One by one, they are exiting and bringing an era in Nigeria to a close. So it is now with the military officers that led Nigeria to the most critical stage of its existence – the period between 1966 and 1979 and the intervening period between 1983 to 1999.

Death is a curious thing; it strikes when least expected and sometimes in rapid succession. This was the situation when Major General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd) and  Brigadier-General Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia (rtd) died in rapid succession within 24 hours. Only to be followed by the death of former military governor of Lagos state, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu; and now Lt General Oladipo Diya has joined the league of a fast-disappearing generation.

Diya, an elder statesman and leader died at 78, a week shy of his 79th birthday on April 3.

It says a lot about your trustworthiness when soldiers of the other rank at risk to their lives, whispered to you that you have been marked for assassination by your boss; and that any attempt to fly in the presidential aircraft you are about to take is suicidal.

He was completely detribalized and a complete gentleman. That was Lt General Donaldson Oladipo Diya, a quintessential military man.

Military officers are not generally made for the limelight, but in 1984, Diya, a lifelong Nigerian Army officer was appointed military governor of Ogun state. This was taking him out of his element. For the first time, he was pushed into the political field.

His was a daunting task. Diya was not only from Ogun state, he was taking over from a political colossus in the person of Chief Olabisi Onabanjo. A man who had in four years achieved so much that Diya cannot even fault his rule in the  Gateway state. To meet up with the achievements of his predecessor, Diya built roads, the most by any military governor, linking all parts of Ogun state and ensuring the beautification of the capital city, Abeokuta.

Diya never discriminated in his efforts to develop his state, hence when he was accused of being party to a military coup against General Sani Abacha, his traditional ruler, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, stood by him, despite threat of a deposition. That says a lot about the integrity of the General.

Diya was born on 3 April 1944 at Odogbolu, Ogun State in the then Western Region of Nigeria. He was educated at the Methodist Primary School, Lagos and Odogbolu Grammar School where he had his West Africa School Certificate.

He joined the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, the nation’s prestigious military school before being drafted to fight during the Nigerian Civil War. He later attended the US Army School of Infantry, the Command and Staff College, Jaji (1980–1981) and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

While serving in the military, Diya studied law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained an LLB degree, and then at the Nigerian Law School, where he was called to the bar as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

He was Commander 31, Airborne Brigade and was appointed Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985. He became General Officer Commanding, 82 Division, Nigeria Army in 1985.  Diya was Commandant, National War College (1991–1993).

He was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1993 and Vice Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council in 1994. As Chief of the General Staff, he was the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Sani Abacha military junta from 1994 until he was arrested for treason in 1997. His Principal Staff Officer during this period was Navy Commodore Bode George now retired.

In 1997,  Diya and some dissident soldiers in the military allegedly planned to overthrow the regime of Sani Abacha. The alleged coup was uncovered by forces loyal to Abacha, and Diya and his cohorts were tried and convicted.

Diya was tried in a military tribunal and was given the death penalty. Upon the death of Abacha in 1998, Diya was pardoned by the late Head of State’s successor, General Abdusalami Abubakar.

Most people believed that the much-hyped coup was, in fact, a ploy by Abacha to do away with Diya, who was increasingly becoming popular among the elite and opposition parties, for his moderate views on the situation in Nigeria.

Earlier on, Abacha’s loyalists had twice attempted to assassinate Diya, once at the airport and then on the streets, using bombs. But most analysts said  whether motivated by a real coup plot or not, the arrest of General Diya signalled deep divisions within the Nigerian military and reflected rising tensions over General Abacha’s apparent intention to remain in office by engineering his own election as President.

The fact that General Diya and almost all of the others arrested were Yoruba from the already deeply disaffected Southwest was seen by some as a virtual provocation at a time when a country of powerful regional rivalries was entering into a period of renewed civilian politicking. General Abacha, like his inner core of senior officers and much of the army’s rank and file, was a Hausa-speaking northerner of Kanuri origin.

After his arrest, a military tribunal sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital sentenced six people including Lieutenant  Diya to death by firing squad in April, 1998. The accused were brought to the main military barracks in Jos for the trial. Security was tight, and the men on trial were chained at their ankles during the proceedings.

In a moving statement at the commencement of the trial, General Diya asserted that he was set up  by another officer close to Abacha and Chief of Army Staff, Major General Musa Bamaiyi, who approached him with the idea of staging a coup. Given the explosive nature of the charge, the government then closed the trial to the public.

The head of the military tribunal and former Commander of the West African regional peacekeeping force (ECOMOG), Major General Victor Malu, while responding to Lieutenant General Diya’s allegation that people at the very top framed him, said it was not necessary to know who had initiated the conspiracy.

He noted that all  Diya had to do was prove that he had not been part of the plot at any stage. Malu assured the defendants that they would be given a fair trial and unlimited access to the information they needed to defend themselves. “This tribunal will not conduct or tolerate a trial by ambush”, he said.

The South African government questioned the secrecy surrounding the trial and warned of the probability that there could be an unfavourable reaction, both in Nigeria and internationally, to the carrying out of the sentences.

The sentence was later commuted by the head of state, Abdusalami Abubakar, who succeeded General Abacha.

Diya, was not only released but also discharged from the army, stripped of his rank, and barred from using his military title.

Following his release, Diya refused to cooperate with any investigations by Oputa Panel into his activities while he was ChiefofGeneralStaff.

He spent most of his time attempting to recover various properties seized by the government upon his arrest.

In May 2020, General Diya lost his second wife Folashade, a few days before her 65th birthday. It was reported that she died from COVID-19 complications and his first wife was said to be COVID-19 positive as well.

Since his narrow escape from the Abacha gulag and return from prison, Diya never ventured into politics. He remained a statesman till the end.

Lamenting the death, the Principal Staff Officer to  Diya as Chief of General Staff, Commodore Olabode George said  “the Lord that giveth and the Lord taketh away. May God give him eternal rest and may his memory be a blessing to his family and friends. He ran his race to the best of his calling and we must leave the rest for the pages of history. Good night sir till the resurrection morning when we shall meet to part no more. May the Angels sing you to your resting place. My deepest condolences to his family, especially Simi.”