Oladipo Diya

General Donaldson Oladipo Diya (born 3 April 1944) is a Nigerian general who served as Chief of the General Staff, was the de facto Vice President of Nigeria under military head of state General Sani Abacha from 1994 until his arrest for treason in 1997.[1] He previously served as Chief of Defence Staff and was Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985.

Oladipo Diya
9th Chief of General Staff
In office
1993–1997
Head of StateSani Abacha as Military Head of State
Preceded byAugustus Aikhomu
Succeeded byMike Akhigbe
Chief of Defence Staff
In office
1993–1993
Preceded bySani Abacha
Succeeded byAbdulsalami Abubakar
Governor of Ogun State
In office
January 1984 – August 1985
Preceded byOlabisi Onabanjo
Succeeded byOladayo Popoola
Personal details
Born (1944-04-03) 3 April 1944
Odogbolu, Western Region
British Nigeria
(now Odogbolu, Nigeria)
NationalityNigerian
Alma materNigerian Defence Academy
Military service
Allegiance Nigeria
Branch/service Nigerian Army
Years of service1964-1997
RankLieutenant General
Battles/warsNigerian Civil War

Early life

Donaldson Oladipo Diya was born on 3 April 1944 at Odogbolu, Ogun State, then Western Region, Nigeria. He was educated at the Methodist Primary School, Lagos, the Odogbolu Grammar School.

Military career

Diya joined the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna[2] and fought 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 bar as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.[1]

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

Chief of General Staff

He was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1993 and Vice Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council in 1994.[1] 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.[1] His Principal Staff Officer during this period was Bode George.[3]

1997 coup plot

In 1997 Diya and 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 jailed. Diya was tried in a military tribunal and was given the death penalty. Upon the untimely death of Abacha in 1998, Diya was pardoned by the late Head of State's successor, Abdusalami Abubakar.[4]

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 in the streets, using bombs. But most analysts said that 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.[5]

Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a leading Nigerian human rights campaigner, said: Almost everybody mentioned in the alleged coup had been an Abachaboy, an Abacha henchman, so the situation is very funny. The facts are not clear to us. We want the whole truth. Late Chief Fawehinmi was quoted in The Post Express, a Lagos daily.[6]

The fact that General Diya and almost all of the others arrested were ethnic 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.[7]

Death sentence

After his arrest, a military tribunal sitting in the Nigerian town of Jos sentenced six people including Lieutenant General Oladipo 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 hand and foot during the proceedings. In a dramatic statement at the outset of the trial, General Diya asserted that he had been entrapped by another officer close to General Abacha, Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, who approached him with the idea of mounting a coup. Given the explosive nature of the charge, the government then closed the trial to the public.

The head of the military tribunal, General Victor Malu, the former commander of the West African regional peacekeeping force ECOMOG, responding to Lieutenant General Diya's defence that people at the very top framed him, said it was not necessary to know who had initiated the conspiracy. He noted that all Lieutenant General Diya had to do was prove that he had not been part of the plot at any stage. General Malu assured the defendants that they would be given a fair trial and unlimited access to information they needed to defend themselves. "This tribunal will not conduct or tolerate a trial by ambush", he said.[8]

The South African government questioned the secrecy surrounding the trial and warned of the probability that there could be an unfavorable reaction, both in Nigeria and internationally, to a carrying out of the sentences. The sentence was later commuted by the head of state, Abdusalami Abubakar, who succeeded General Abacha.[9]

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

Later career

Following his release, General Diya has refused to co-operate with any investigations by Oputa Panel into his activities while he was vice president. He has spent most of his time attempting to recover possession of various properties seized by the government on his arrest. He has made no attempt to explain how he purchased these lavish properties on the salary of a lieutenant general.[10]

On the 18th of May 2020, General Diya lost his second wife Folashade Diya a few days to her 65th birthday.[11] It was reported that she died from COVID-19 complications and his first wife is said to be COVID-19 positive as well.[12]

References
  1. "Lt. General Oladipo Diya Chief of General Staff (1993–1997)". Federal Ministry of Information and Communications. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  2. Nigeria, Media (2018-06-06). "Biography Of Oyewole Diya". Media Nigeria. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  3. Jide Ajani (October 27, 2009). "Night of long knife for Bode George...a news analysis". Vanguard News. Archived from the original on January 11, 2018. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  4. "Abacha's henchman al-Mustapha sings briefly about "Abubakar-Diya Coup" plot, the killing of Abiola, NADECO and other issues". USAfricaonline. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  5. French, Howard W. (1997-12-24). "The Enemy Within". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  6. April 3rd, admin on; 2020. (2020-04-03). "Oladipo Diya Celebrates His 76th Birthday Today". Kesere Muzic. Retrieved 2020-05-29.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. Kaulman, Micheal. "NEW CHAPTER IN NIGERIA: THE OBITUARY; Sani Abacha, 54, a Beacon of Brutality In an Era When Brutality Was Standard". NT Times. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  8. "ABACHA'S FORMER DEPUTY, OLADIPO DIYA TURNS 76 TODAY – Abuja Reporters". abujareporters.com.ng. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  9. Press, Associated. "Nigeria Arrests General Accused in a Coup Plot". NY Times. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  10. Press, Associated. "Nigeria Arrests General Accused in a Coup Plot". NY Times. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  11. siteadmin (2020-05-20). "Nigeria's Ex-Chief Of General Staff, Oladipo Diya, Loses Wife". Sahara Reporters. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  12. "Diya's younger wife, Shade, dies of COVID-19 as second wife down with virus". Businessday NG. 2020-05-20. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
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