THE 1997 PHANTOM COUP AND MAJOR SEUN FADIPE ROLE - Oluranti Afowowe. THE search for social relevance and economic survival in the face of daunting economic challenges that Nigerians daily confront is assuming dangerous dimensions. It has degenerated to the level that some Nigerians even declared themselves HIV positive when they are not, simply to access international monetary supports. For perceived economic and perhaps political gains, Nigerians have been known to tell outrageous lies against people who were hitherto their confidants and political bosses. The key witness against Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the infamous treasonable-felony trial of 1962 was the man Chief Awolowo established his law firm/chamber with. This possibly explains why Dr. Wale Okediran contendedthat ’many more politicians have been destroyed by their supporters than by their opponents’. It is within this purview that the view expressed by Major Seun Fadipe in his interview with The Nigerian Tribune of Saturday 23rd of March, 2013 has meaning. As Jean Paul Richter posited with benefit of hindsight, a man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another.” To say the least, Major Fadipe in the reported interview portrayed himself as a political novice. True, Major Seun Fadipe has a right to his own opinion, no matter how jaundiced the opinion may be. What is distasteful is for the man to conceal his personal grievances and political ambition under the banner of public discourse. Permit me to be specific. The caption of the interview is a direct quotation of Major Seun Fadipe’s words - ‘We planned coup against Abacha’. In other words, Major Seun Fadipe acknowledged implicitly that he joined others to plan the purported 1997 coup against the regime of late General Sani Abacha. In the same interview Major Fadipe contended that he did not know when the coup was being planned by the Army Generals. Let me quote his words: “When General Diya and the other Generals decided to remove Abacha, was I there? No I wasn’t there. When they started their plans, I was not there…” Major Fadipe, what should we believe? In one breath, you said WE (emphasis mine) planned coup against Abacha. Yet, you admitted that you never attended any meeting where coup was planned against Abacha. This inconsistency clearly depicted Major Fadipe as a man who is economical with the facts’. He was apparently a victim of circumstances and power configuration dynamics that he never really comprehended. To put this discourse in proper perspective, it is very apposite at this juncture to briefly examine what Gen. Oladipo Diya stands to gain from the court of Nigerian public opinion by insisting that the 1997 coup d’état was contrived against his person. Suffice it to say, at the time of the purported coup d’état in 1997, Gen. Abacha’s leadership has been sufficiently discredited in Nigeria and in the international community that a coup would be undoubtedly welcomed by all sundry. Again, Gen, Abacha played prominent roles in several coups in Nigeria. Is it therefore morally wrong to organize coup against him? In a nutshell, Gen. Diya stands to lose nothing by admitting that he planned a coup against Gen. Abacha. Obviously, Gen. Oladipo Diya’s position that the 1997 purported coup was a set-up, was not informed by any perceived personal gain for him. This is what made it pertinent to re-examine Gen Diya’s position on the coup story.It is a historical fact that Gen. Diya’s position that the 1997 coup was contrived against his person was not an after-thought. He has maintained this position from the very first day he was arraigned before Gen. Malu tribunal in Jos. Let me quote Gen Diya’s famous statement on January 21st, 1998 at the opening session of the tribunal: “Where is Bamayi? I am surprised that the Chief of Army Staff is not here. He is the mastermind, the executioner and the planner of this incident. I am not going into details of that now because this is a clear case of set up. I am the target and it is organised right from the top. Sixteen years after, nobody has contradicted this statement or has any principal actor in the coup saga denied the truthfulness of the statement. From simple logic, if Gen. Ishaya Bamayi was the chief planner of the coup saga and he was never tried nor was he removed as the Chief of Army Staff throughout Gen. Abacha’s regime, does that not suggest that the coup was a set up from the very top as stated by Gen. Oladipo Diya? Again, can one in good conscience suggest that Major Fadipe was too daft to recognise the methodology of Gen. Abacha for eliminating his perceived enemies (real or imagined)? So Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Sheu Yar’Adua, Col Bello Fadipe, Col. Yakassai, Major Akinyemi, Mr. Niran Malaolu, Dr. BekoRansomeKuti, to mention a few, planned coups against Gen. Abacha? The pertinent question that will agitate the mind of any objective reader of this present discourse is why should Major Seun Fadipe persistently insist that the 1997 coup was not a set up against his erstwhile boss Gen. Oladipo Diya? The answer to this important question is not far-fetched. First, during the famous Oputa Panel sitting, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the notorious Chief Security Officer to Gen. Abacha openly declared that Major Seun Fadipe was his ‘boy’ and that he planted him on Gen. Diya. Evidently, Major Fadipe was a member of the ‘inner circle’ of Major Mustapha notorious cohort. Indeed, after Major Fadipe was released from prison, it is on record that he went to live with another ‘inner circle’ member of Major Mustapha cohort who became Governor in one of the Southern Nigeria states between 1999 and 2007. In other words, Major SeunFadipe was merely doing the biddings of his masters who callously set up Gen. Diya in the first instance. Second, Major Fadipe had to insist that there was a coup in order to conceal his role in the entire coup saga. In spite of all that happened between Gen. Abacha and Gen. Diya, (including assassination attempt on Gen Diya’s life on December 13, 1997), It is on record that Gen. Diya has never for once used uncharitable words to describe his erstwhile boss- Gen. Abacha even when Gen. Abacha is dead.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:55:24 +0000
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