NNDJ ISSUES - November 22,1999: ISSUE: General Bamaiyi and His Many Troubles

Mobolaji E. Aluko

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Nigerian News Du Jour ISSUES
November 22, 1999
ISSUE - General Bamaiyi and His Many Troubles

Features:

1. A Season of Prison Notes
2. My Testimony (Against Bamaiyi) - Brig.-General Marwa
3. Marwa Berates Bamaiyi Over Allegations
4. Fighting for Freedom
5. Bamaiyi's Self-Serving Claims - General Sami (Retd.), Sardauna of Zuru

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Nigeria
A Season Of Prison Notes
The News (Lagos)
November 22, 1999
By Tayo Odunlami

Lagos - Abacha's henchmen, most of them facing government
investigators, mount image burnishing missions

It is a season of prison notes and denials. Since the
begining of probes and trials of persons believed to be major actors in
the dastardly activities perpetrated during the regime of late General
Sani Abacha, the media have been awash with stories of
self-righteousness.

Conspicuous in the self-cleansing are Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi
(retd), Lt-Col. Ibrahim Yakassai and Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. The three
are all former henchmen of the late tyrant. Late last year, Yakassai, a
member of Abacha's dreaded Strike Force was reported to have detailed
how Al-Mustapha, the influential Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Abacha
connived with Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, former National Security Adviser,
to hasten the death of Gen. Shehu Musa Yar'Adua.

Yakassai was alleged to have killed Yar-Adua by injecting
him with a lethal dose of poison. He has already been charged to court,
together with Al-Mustapha, for the murder of Yar'Adua. In his prison
notes, Yakassai denied the allegation.

Al-Mustapha, now reduced to jelly, has also been whinning on
his "innocence." To the Nguru-born former demi-god, whatever he did
while serving Abacha was done purely in the course of duty. His sole
responsibility, according to him, was to protect Abacha. To do this
effectively, he had to step on toes. Mustapha traced his present ordeal
to the machinations of Gen. Bamaiyi, who was until last May, Chief of
Army Staff (COAS). The former CSO said Bamaiyi just had a pathological
hatred for him because he (Mustapha) frustrated several attempts by the
former COAS to overthrow Abacha. Al-Mustapha also said that when the
despot died, he ignored Bamaiyi's pleas for support to become the head
of state.

Now caught in the Karma rage, Bamaiyi himself has been
writing his prison notes. The ex-COAS reportedly swore that he could
easily have succeeded Abacha if he wanted to, without Mustapha's
support. Of course, he would not admit he was privy in any way to the
human rights abuses committed while Abacha ruled.

Bamaiyi, who was once quoted by ThisDay newspaper to have
boasted "I'll do it again" as regards the setting-up of Lt.-Gen. Oladipo
Diya, former Chief of General Staff, in the celebrated December 1997
'arrangee coup' saga, would now not admit he actually set up Diya. In
his own purported notes, Mustapha reportedly admitted that Bamaiyi was
kitted with microphones and directed to lead Diya to the slaughter slab.
Bamaiyi's notes are sketchy on the issue: "If we hadn't done what we
did, nobody knows how many years Diya would have stayed in power had his
coup succeeded." He would rather confront Diya eyeball-to- eyeball on
the issue.

As powerful men of yesterday came tumbling down, more
disclosures are expected. A common thread that runs through the prison
notes are various attempts at back-stabbing and counter-accusations.
Fellow conspirators of the Abacha era are now turning on one another to
save their individual heads.

As events unfold, the nation is waiting for the prison notes
of the Kano-born Brigadier-General Halilu Akilu and Okeho-born Col.
Kunle Togun, both now retired. Both men have been freely mentioned as
neck-deep in the 19 October 1986 brutal killing of Dele Giwa, founding
editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine. The two men, who served former
self-styled military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, were recently
questioned over the matter.

Already, the public is being treated to some name-dropping
on the issue. Recently, it was reported how a meeting was held in 1986
to decide Giwa's murder. One of the officers mentioned as present at
that meeting is Col. Stephen Idenheren, then a captain. The News
investigation, however, revealed that the recent report could have been
mischievously made. Idenheren, it was discovered, was neither serving at
the Directorate of Military Intelligence at that time nor was he a
lieutenant-colonel, as reported. He was then chief instructor and deputy
commandant at the Nigerian Army Intelligence School, Tego Barracks,
Apapa.

Idenheren was also not in the country when the bomb parcel
that killed the journalist was sent. The officer, a Bachelor of Arts
graduate of French Studies from the American College in Paris, had left
the country 30 July 1986, for a senior staff French course at the French
Command and Staff College in France.

So, contrary to the assertion in the report that Idenheren's
nomination for the 1986 course in France was a compensation for his
conspiratorial role in the murder of Dele Giwa, every evidence points to
a nomination done purely on merit. He had been nominated and had
travelled out of the country long before the purported meeting held.

The true details of the plotting of the murder and how it
was hatched may be unravelled within the next few months. The matter has
already been handed over to the police who have reopened the case file.
Knowing who and who killed the ace writer can only be a question of
time.

Publication date: November 29, 1999

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Guardian
Monday, 22 November 1999

My testimony, by Buba Marwa

UNTIL my trusted aides mailed the written press statement of Lt. Gen.
Ishaya Bamaiyi in NEWSWATCH magazine to me in London, with their
advice added that I respond to those portions concerning me, I never
looked forward to a day like this, when I would be compelled to raise
my voice against any of my erstwhile superior officers; let alone a
past Chief of Army Staff. But what alternative do I have?

In all my service years, I did not once in public or in private have
cause or occasion to contradict or challenge a superior officer. But
when I read the fabricated and disconnected statements against me by
retired Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, as held together without logic or
respect for truth, I feared that, alas, Bamaiyi may indeed have been
afflicted by the dreaded mad cow disease. I kept asking myself: who
have we here? What have we here? Is it the devil incarnate himself?
Many have also wondered: why is Bamaiyi so obsessed with Marwa? Why is
he after him even in retirement? Why this single-minded hatred by a
three-star general against his junior? What has Marwa done to Bamaiyi?

It is common knowledge in the Nigerian Army that Ishaya Bamaiyi's
appointment as Chief of Army Staff badly diminished the status of that
esteemed office, once held by officers and gentlemen of the likes of
Lt. Gen. T. Y. Danjuma and the incumbent international peacekeeping
hero, Maj. Gen. S. V. L. Malu. Perhaps known or unknown to Bamaiyi, he
had lost the respect of the rank and file of the Army long before his
retirement, particularly after the celebrated allegations from his
elder brother, Maj. Gen. Musa Bamaiyi. Indeed, Ishaya Bamaiyi was the
butt of jokes in the officers' mess who recognised in time that he had
neither the intellectual capacity, sagacity, competence nor the mental
strength to cope with the demands of that office. No one was
surprised, therefore, that Bamaiyi ended up a sheer disaster as Chief
of Army Staff, managing in the process to make himself public enemy
number One. Remember the statement of Col. Ajayi in a recent edition
of TELL magazine? Those who witnessed handing/taking over ceremony
between Bamaiyi and General Malu remarked that they were shocked that
no one clapped after Bamaiyi's farewell speech at the ceremony. In
unison, everyone present appeared to have silently muttered: "Just go,
good riddance to bad rubbish". What a pitiful and inglorious exist!

Recent newspaper reports in Nigeria have suggested that Bamaiyi may
even be undergoing a process of investigations over suspected acts of
wickedness and brutality to fellow human beings while in office as
Chief of Army Staff.

While I cannot confirm these reports, I can at least confirm that I am
personally aware of several instances of the wickedness of Bamaiyi,
and I had continuously pondered: What sort of crawling creature is
this Ishaya Bamaiyi? How could a human being have so much capacity for
bringing misery to others? Once, for example, a Major General in the
army, of the corps of engineers (names withheld) was paralysed in
service, Ishaya Bamaiyi, without any human compassion promptly sent
armed soldiers and ejected the paralysed Major General from his
official residence. The paralysed general was in my office in Alausa
to solicit for assistance on his medical treatment overseas as Bamaiyi
had denied him his privilege also. There was yet another Major General
of infantry who hailed from old Bendel State (name again withheld) who
upon retirement from the army was forcibly ejected from his official
residence by Bamaiyi despite all pleas and entreaties to allow the
General only a few weeks to complete his personal house in Lagos and
move in with his family. I was so embarrassed, then as a Colonel, to
listen to a two-star general, whom I held in high esteem, plead (with)
so passionately for assistance with even a two-bedroom apartment to
temporarily accommodate his family for a few weeks only, as they had
no where else to go. I promptly authorised a decent alternative
accommodation for the General who, true to his word, stayed there less
than six weeks before moving to his completed personal house. Now, I
have spoken about two generals; need I speak too about the colonels
and below who were ejected from their quarters and thrown out onto the
streets? And yet we speak of esprit-de-corps. It takes a fully grown
beast to mistake brutality for authority.

I have no clue as to why Ishaya Bamaiyi has been so intent on
destroying me nor do I have the spare time to analyse the warped mind
of a nitwit. No sooner I resumed duty in Lagos than it became apparent
to everyone that I was a Daniel in a den of Lions. Once, I was a
direct target of a bomb attack which by the grace of God missed me by
a whisker, though my escort's car was hit and several soldiers were
badly injured. Until today, Bamaiyi has never commiserated with me,
nor even mentioned the bomb incident by way of a word of concern or
compassion not to mention solidarity. Not a word! His loud silence
over the incident left us all wondering as to whether he was happy or
sad that they missed their target, or better still whether he knew
those who were after my life (take note, Oputa panel).

Paradoxically, the same Ishaya Bamaiyi actually had the temerity to
tell NEWSWATCH, in his totally unnecessary reference to me, that he
did not trust me and that he harboured suspicions by way of malice
toward me, for no reason that he stated throughout his "interview"
with NEWSWATCH. Now, anyone should be happy not to require the trust
of a cobra. In my own case, I am better for it.

Now to the issues. Bamaiyi told NEWSWATCH that on his arrival at the
Presidential Villa in the morning of that fateful June 8th, 1998,
presumably at about 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., he saw me inside the Villa,
"discussing with Sabo and some other officers about selecting a new
Head of State from amongst ourselves". Now, how low can't Ishaya
Bamaiyi get in a cesspool of lies? The truth of the matter is that
throughout the morning of June 8th, I was in my office in Lagos,
attending to normal government business and receiving scheduled
courtesy visits from myriad groups, being totally unaware of the
passing away of the Commander-In-Chief in Abuja. I remember quite
clearly that among the official callers on me at precisely 10:00 a.m.
that morning was a delegation from the People's Bank of Nigeria led by
its managing director, Mrs. Hamra Imam. The record of this visit will
be found in the visitors' book at Governor's office, Alausa, for
verification.

When I was hinted just after 11:00 a.m. by one of my aides that an
untoward event had been rumoured to have occurred in Abuja, I
immediately placed a call to the Presidential Villa and was surprised
that the person who answered my call in the residence of the Head of
State was Chief Imam of the Villa, who confirmed upon enquiry that
indeed General Abacha had passed away. I alerted my officials and in
time proceeded to the local airport in Ikeja.

On arrival at the Presidential Lounge of the airport just before noon,
I found the place brimming with PRC members. Among whom I can recall
seeing were Chief of Air Staff, then AVM Eduok, Chief of Defence
Intelligence, AVM Idi Musa, Rear Admiral Odedina, etc, all waiting to
board a special flight from the presidential fleet to Abuja. Bamaiyi
was not in the airport as he was already in Abuja. Because of
inadequacy of seats in the aircraft, I was offered only one seat on
their flight. I politely declined and chose to fly commercial to Abuja
with my entourage. We left Lagos for Abuja at about 1:00 p.m. that
afternoon, long after the presidential jet conveying the PRC members
had departed. I did not get into the Villa until some minutes before
3:00 p.m. Bamaiyi, therefore, lied when he said he saw me at the Villa
in Abuja in the morning discussing with Sabo and some others on how to
choose a new Head of State. Up until 1:00 p.m. of that day, I was at
the Ikeja airport in the presence of key PRC members before they left
for Abuja ahead of me.

When I arrived at the Villa that afternoon, an emergency session of
the PRC was getting ready to commence as members were already getting
seated, waiting for the entry of the then Chief of Defence Staff,
General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Service Chiefs and Inspector General of
Police. I waited patiently by the entrance to the chambers. As General
Abdulsalami Abubakar approached the Council Chambers, deliberately
choosing not to enter through the Head of State's private entrance, I
politely stepped forward and requested for one minute of his time as
he entered the chambers. He obliged me (I should mention in passing
that I enjoyed an excellent interpersonal relationship with General A.
Abubakar long before my appointment as Military Administrator of Lagos
State and always felt completely free to speak my mind to him). I then
told him that, notwithstanding what the PRC was going to decide in the
meeting, I wanted to let him know my position, which was that the
standing hierarchy had made the job for the selection of a new Head of
State easy, and he should be prepared to shoulder the mantle of
leadership as Head of State and C-in-C. I remember very clearly what
he said to me. He said, "Mohammed, may God choose who is best for our
country." For the records, I had earlier shared the same thoughts
privately but separately with the then Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral
Mike Akhigbe and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Nsikak Eduok in the
corridors before the meeting. I avoided Bamaiyi like the proverbial
plague for obvious reasons. It is clear from the foregoing, therefore,
that Bamaiyi was at his lying best when he insinuated that I was at a
meeting to canvass support for myself, when, on the contrary, I had
from the time I stepped into the Villa explicitly put all support
behind military order and hierarchy, to wit, General A. Abubakar. I
was not at any meeting with Sabo or anyone else to "consider the
appointment of a Head of State amongst ourselves."

Indeed, looking at the entire scenario of our so-called meeting as
presented by Bamaiyi, I just wondered how Bamaiyi even got appointed
as Chief of Army Staff in the first place, when he even lacked the
elementary knowledge of determining what is practicable from what is
not. Imagine the scenario: the entire PRC of about 40 officers are all
seated, including the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, GOCs,
flag officers and air officers commanding, Admirals and Air Marshals
with the whole place bristling with their security details comprising
surely nothing less than two hundred armed men, orderlies, escorts and
bodyguards. Then the six or seven of us crazy mutineers would then
have walked into the PRC chambers, naked as hell, and then announced
with glee to all the services chiefs, generals, marshals and GOCs
present: "excuse us, you can all go home because we already have
selected a new Head of State from among ourselves: by the way, hello
to your families for us; don't even wait for the burial of Gen.
Abacha, we will take care of that. Thank you, just go home". I am sure
every right thinking person would know that only a harebrained dunce
could think up a ridiculous idea such as alleged.

On this unfortunate allegation by Bamaiyi, I have instructed my
lawyers to examine the libel laws and advise me about suing him for
libel because of imputation of treason.

Bamaiyi also told NEWSWATCH that he invited (commanded?) me to go to
Kano for General Abacha's burial. That is another lie in the series.
This is what happened. All the Military Administrators present, on our
own volition and free will, agreed to escort General Abacha's body to
Kano for burial because it was the right thing to do. None of us was
left behind. A situation of compelling me or anyone else to go to Kano
for the burial, therefore, did not arise. I sat throughout the flight
next to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Eduok. In Kano, I
reflected further on the implication of the inconclusive PRC meeting
held earlier in the day as regards the matter of appointing a new head
of state. I concluded that the omen was bad. Immediately after the
burial on the same night in Kano, I moved close to General Abubakar
and whispered a request to him for a few minutes of his time before we
got to Abuja. He said he would talk to me later. At about midnight we
all finally departed Kano for Abuja. Whilst airborne, and this would
be about 12.30a.m, General Abubakar, recalling my earlier request to
speak with him, sent a member of the flight crew to summon me. In his
usual humility, he stood up from his chair in the executive lounge of
the plane and beckoned me to a corner in the aisle to ensure privacy.
There, I suggested that, in my humble opinion, it would be in the best
interest of peace and stability of Nigeria if he were sworn in that
same night as Head of State upon arrival in Abuja, definitely before
morning. He thanked me for my statement but did not indicate his
acceptance or rejection of the advice. Now, I have no idea whether our
encounter gave him food for thought or whether, indeed, a similar
proposal of a swearing-in that night had already been considered. All
I am saying is that I made such a proposal to General Abubakar
mid-flight to Abuja from Kano that night. The esteemed former Head of
State lives in Minna and could be reached for verification.

Upon landing in Abuja, I drove straight to my official lodge to catch
some sleep. I was only to learn the following morning that the
swearing-in had, indeed, taken place in the wee hours.

What about the so-called "all powerful security group" to which I
allegedly belonged which committed all the human rights atrocities of
the Abacha era? I ask Ishaya Bamaiyi: when Kudirat Abiola was
murdered, General Akinrinade's house fire-bombed, and Chief Ibru's
life attempted, etc, was I serving in New York or Lagos? He knows it
was New York. If such a security group existed, then I am unaware of
it. Perhaps, he Bamaiyi was chairman of the phantom group. Talk about
a wounded viper looking desperately for whom or what to sting before
giving up the ghost. Someone should please tell Ishaya Bamaiyi that if
he is being snared today into the trap he set for others in his hey
days, he should face it like a man (and a General at that) and stop
looking for innocent victims to be buried along with him.

I strove throughout my service years to be a true professional
soldier, serving my country with all my strength, defending her unity
and upholding her honour and glory, unswayed by the political current
of superiors, friends or foes.

With all modesty and humility, I make bold to say that anyone is
welcome to check my track record of hard work, diligence and
performance, not just in public office throughout my service years,
and you could start right from my days in high school (Nigeria
Military School) or Cadet in the Nigerian Defence Academy, thank you.
In the military school, I was among the few in the history of the
school who sat and passed WASC exam (Grade 2) in under four and half
years. Does Ishaya Bamaiyi have WASC? or GCE? Where is his
certificate? As a young officer, I worked extremely hard and excelled
in all military examinations, standing first in the Lieutenant to
Captain practical promotion exam (President of the exam panel was
General Akinrinade, exam held in 1975 in Enugu); first in the Captain
to Major written promotion/staff qualifying exam (President of exam
was Gen. M. Buhari, exam held in 1981 in Kaduna); first in the RSO
Course; first in the junior division of the Staff College Course
(creating a record there of the first B grading in the history of that
course), and first again at the Staff College Senior Division Course
(Commander then was Gen. Domkat Bali). Did Bamaiyi pass promotion
exam? After how many attempts? Check! Did he pass Staff College? With
what grade? Check! What did he do to further professionalism in the
army? I have three publications to my name, one of which I found time
to revise during my tenure as administrator of Lagos State. Check with
Spectrum Books. How many books did Bamaiyi publish? What about higher
education pedigree? I schooled in the University of Pittsburgh and the
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. I have my
certificate. Which schools did Bamaiyi attend? School of lies,
brutality and skulduggery?.

I was never reprimanded, not even throughout my service years, and I
stood up for excellence and merit at all times. Indeed, when the time
came for the newly acquired T-55 tanks to be employed for the first
time in the history of Nigeria Army in an operational setting in our
then restive border with Chad, in December 1980, I was privileged to
have been selected by my superiors (then I was Captain and BM 21
Armoured Brigade Bauchi) to command the T-55 company in support of the
infantry brigade (Colonel Baba Jibrin in Command) our task being to
seal the Nigerian border against any ingress. We deployed, but our
adversary lost his nerve and did not cross into Nigeria. Ishaya
Bamaiyi was the Brigade Major and we got on very well then because
half of the time I was at the brigade headquarters coaching him in
model preparations, the techniques of overlay operations orders,
infantry/armour coopertion, appreciation, and basic tactics in the
field.

When the Camerounians attacked and killed our men in the creek during
the Shehu Shagari era, I personally forwarded a proposal to the
Director of Army Staff and Plans (then Major General IB Babangida, who
encouraged officers to think rather than remember), suggesting that we
launch an immediate counter-offensive in a second Front somewhere in
the North ( I gave a specific location then) spearheaded by elements
of the newly formed 3 Armoured Division and I volunteered to serve in
the campaign. In the event, the Shagari administration balked, and
chose pacifism instead. As Commanding Officer of 233 tank battalion,
Azare in 1986, my battalion was selected to conduct the army level FTX
(Field Training Exercise) for that year with full complements of tanks
and armoured fighting vehicles. That FTX was adjudged by the umpires
and army authorities as the best since the end of the civil war. Check
the record! I served twice as Military Attache, itself a record of
recognition by my superiors. Ask Ishaya Bamaiyi, what international
exposure or experience did he have? What contribution did he make?
Where did he excel? Tell me, what is the pride in this man? While in
public offices as Governor of Borno and Administrator of Lagos, I
resisted the excess of power and feared no one but God. I murdered no
soul for power nor caused sorrow to anyone in order to retain it. I
did not order the arrest of any activist or indeed anyone throughout
my tenure in Lagos State, enjoyed an excellent relationship with the
media and kept my peace with NADECO who thankfully left me alone to
face the daunting task of governing Lagos. I recall one occasion
during the disturbances that accompanied the death of Bashorun MKO
Abiola when a group of students from UNILAG, LASU and other
institutions of higher learning, numbering about 80 were arrested for
riotous behaviour. I personally visited and set them free, as was the
case when I ordered that the Police command drop the charges against a
prominent Lagos lawyer and human rights activist who had breached the
law. My deeds were my armour of strength and the good Lord took care
of me.

Bamaiyi wishes me dead, but I do not owe my life to a scoundrel. After
the bombing of my convoy in Lagos, I told Bamaiyi as a matter of
courtesy, that I will be relocating to the residence of previous Lagos
Governors.i.e the Marina State House, the House being separated
coincidentally from Bamaiyi's by a wall. In other words, we were about
to be neighbours! Bamaiyi resisted the relocation plan for reasons
which became clear to me in hindsight as events unfolded. He usually
told me then that those wishing to kill me would find Marina more
convenient. He gave the example of the multi-storey office building
belonging to the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports located directly
overlooking the Marina Lagos House from where, he suggested, I could
be attacked by sniper fire. Rather than drop my relocation plan, I
went to Abuja where I obtained permission that the Lagos State
government take over the building from the Sports Ministry, to enable
us secure it from infiltrators. Now with the approval from Abuja, I
sent soldiers from amongst my security detail to go and secure the
place.

To my bewilderment, Bamaiyi within 12 hours sent three times the
number of soldiers I had sent. They took over the building and sent my
guards away. He also ordered the arrest of the contractors who were
awarded the job of fortifying the walls around Lagos House with barbed
wire. Again he prevented workers from the State's Ministry of Works
from constructing the entrance gate into Lagos House. All these
harassment, are verifiable with Ministry of Works, Lagos. This man did
not lay off his harassment to prevent my relocation until I sought
General Abacha's intervention.

When all his intimidation appeared to have failed, Bamaiyi now changed
tactics after I had moved in. What he did next was to raise alarm that
his bedroom had been shot at and his wife narrowly missed.
Investigators from the military intelligence swiftly carried out a
thorough investigation. The investigators found no bullet hole
whatsoever. At any rate, no rifle or pistol shot would penetrate a 9
inch wall from that range. Again Bamaiyi lied.

It then occurred to me to add up the sum. Why did Bamaiyi lie about
his bedroom being fired at? Why was Bamaiyi vehemently against my
moving residence after a bomb attack on my life? Why was Bamaiyi
against my protecting a building from which I could be attacked. I now
deduced that, if I were successfully shot at (God forbid), would
Bamaiyi not have a perfect alibi that he was not a suspect, because he
had reported that his own house too had been shot at? I am sure
Bamaiyi did not calculate that there are people who think and could
see through his little scheme from a mile off. It was at this point
that I made the news conference on April 1, 1998 to bring that out.

In concluding, I think the time is now ripe for me to let the Nigerian
public into another blood-thirsty attribute of the creeping crawler
called Ishaya Bamaiyi, which matter I had kept to myself all these
years. This concerns his role in the 1995 trumped-up coup charges and
kangaroo trial of our incumbent President Obasanjo, General Yar'Adua
and others.

After the military tribunal passed judgment, which included the death
penalty for many of the accused, several world leaders raised their
voices for commutal of the death sentences. One of those voices at the
time, indeed the most sustained, was former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter's. Carter, well known for his human rights posture, had
intervened personally with a proposal to General Abacha on certain
actions he could take to the mutual benefit of both countries (Nigeria
and US) in return for commuting the death sentences and reducing the
jail terms. How I got involved in this matter is not important at this
time. What is important is that I acted as a go-between President
Carter and General Abacha (recall I was Defence Adviser to our Mission
to the UN at the time). I had the rare privilege of meeting with
President Carter for about 90 minutes at his modest residence in
Plains, Georgia, after which I received his proposals and in time flew
to Abuja and presented them to General Abacha. I was to meet again
with President Carter in his office at the Carter Centre at a later
date.

General Abacha confided in me after studying the Carter proposal that
he found it acceptable and actually welcome it. However, he would need
to get the positive consent of certain key officers in the
administration before tabling the matter of commuting the death
sentences before the PRC. He doubted if the officers concerned would
support the Carter proposal. I asked him who those officers were and
sought his permission to allow me meet with them, reason with them on
the Carter proposal and feed him back. He agreed and gave me the names
of the officers as follows: Maj-Gen.. Ishaya Bamaiyi, then Lagos
Garrison Commander; Maj-Gen. T. Olanrewaju, Minister of
Communications; late Maj-Gen. Gumel, Minister of Transport; then Brig.
Gen. Bashir Magashi, Commander Brigade of Guards and then Brig-Gen.
Abdullahi, GOC 1st Division, Kaduna. I was surprised that the
President of the coup tribunal, Brig-Gen. Aziza, was not among them.
An aircraft was detailed to me and I took off from Abuja at about 2
p.m. I met Generals Bamaiyi, Gumel and Olanrewaju in Lagos together.
We were at it for over an hour. I next flew to Kano arriving there at
about 7 p.m. to meet with Magashi who unfortunately was there to bury
his father. I condoled him and discussed business. By 10 p.m. I was
with General Abdullahi in Kaduna and by 1 p.m. I was with Abacha
briefing him on the outcome of my mission.

The details of my discussions with the generals will have to wait for
another time. What is remarkable is that 4 out of the 5 Generals
accepted the commutation of the death sentence as proposed, as well as
reduction of jail terms, including General Obasanjo's. It is a great
pity that the only General who insisted on the death sentence being
carried out was Ishaya Bamaiyi! In fact, I recall quite clearly that
Bamaiyi was so agitated by the proposal and ensuing discussions that
he tried to use the Holy Bible in defending his position. He told me
that even the Christian Holy Bible insists on an eye for an eye. I
could not immediately cite a corresponding verse from the Bible on
human compassion to Bamaiyi because the man was beyond reason already.
Glory be to God that in the end, Bamaiyi's position was rejected and
blood was not spilled.

This then is my testimony in response to the Bamaiyi tissue of lies
concerning my person as found in his statement on the pages of
Newswatch magazine. It is painful that I have had to respond this way
against a former Chief of Army Staff. However, he invited this kind of
response upon himself as he has tried to destroy me over and over and
over again since 1996 when I was appointed Military Administrator of
Lagos State and he is still at it, even after we have both left the
service on retirement. Each time I have turned the other cheek.. What
is my offence? But for the fact that Ishaya Bamaiyi is a former
service chief, I would have said that he is beneath contempt. But I
will not say that. Instead, I will urge him to strive to rise above
himself and be somebody instead of being what he is today: a nobody.

May the blessing of Almighty God be upon us all and may humanity be
saved from the agony of the dreadful Ishaya Bamaiyis of this world,
Amen.`

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Guardian
Monday, 22 November 1999

Marwa berates Bamaiyi over allegations

By Chukwudi Abiandu, Political Correspondent

FORMER Lagos State Administrator, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd)
has dismissed allegations against him by retired Chief of Army Staff,
Lt.-Gen. Ishaiya Bamaiyi as lies told in a desperate bid to cover his
(Bamaiyi's) alleged misdeeds.

Palpably upset, Marwa, in a scathing reply to what he called the
"fabricated and disconnected statements" by Bamaiyi, accused the
former army chief of nursing a sustained hatred for him.

In the statement entitled: "My testimony," Marwa wrote: "Until my
trusted aides mailed the written press statement of Bamaiyi in
Newswatch magazine to me in London, with their advice added that I
respond to those portions concerning me, I never looked forward to a
day like this when I would be compelled to raise my voice against any
of my erstwhile superior officers; let alone a past Chief of Army
Staff. But what alternative do I have?"

Describing Bamaiyi as a "nitwit" and a "scoundrel" Marwa said the
former army chief had neither the intellectual capacity nor the moral
competence to cope with his former office.

One major allegation contained in Bamaiyi's Newswatch statement which
Marwa addressed was the former army chief's claim that he (Marwa) in
concert with some other officers selected a new head of state on June
8, 1998, when the late Gen. Sani Abacha died.

Describing the allegation as lies, "He said: How low can Bamaiyi get
in a cesspool of lies? The truth of the matter is that throughout the
morning of June 8, I was in my office in Lagos, attending to normal
government business and receiving scheduled courtesy visits from a
myriad of groups, being totally unaware of the passing away of the
commander-in-chief in Abuja. I remember quite clearly that among the
official callers on me at precisely 10.00 a.m. that morning was a
delegation from the People's Bank of Nigeria led by it's Managing
Director, Mrs. Hamra Iman. The record of this visit would be found in
the visitor's book at governor's office, Alausa for verification.

"When I was hinted just after 11.00 a.m. by one of my aides that an
untoward event had been rumoured to have occurred in Abuja, I
immediately place a call to the Presidential Villa and was surprised
that the person who answered my call in the residence of the Head of
State was the Chief Imam of the villa, who confirmed upon enquiry that
indeed Abacha had passed away. I alerted my officials and in time
proceeded to the local airport in Ikeja.

"We left Lagos for Abuja at about 1.00 p.m. that afternoon, long after
the presidential jet conveying the PRC members had departed, I did not
get into the villa until some minutes before 3.00 p.m.

"Bamaiyi, therefore, lied when he said he saw me at the villa in Abuja
in the morning discussing with Sabo and some others on how to choose a
new head of state. Up until 1.00 pm.. of that day, I was at the Ikeja
airport in the presence of key PRC members before they left for Abuja
ahead of me."

Marwa said Bamaiyi's claim that he invited him (Marwa) to Kano for
Abacha burial was also untrue.

"That is another lie in the series," he said, adding: "this is what
happened. All the military administrators present on our own volition
and free will, agreed to escort Abacha's body to Kano for burial
because it was the right thing to do. None of us was left behind. A
situation of compelling me or any one else to go to Kano for the
burial therefore did not arise."

On the "all powerful security group" to which he is alleged to have
belonged, and which allegedly committed all the human rights
atrocities of the Abacha era, Marwa said: "I ask Bamaiyi: When Kudirat
Abiola was murdered. General Akinrinade's house fire bombed, and Chief
Ibru's life attempted etc., was I serving in New York or Lagos? He
knows it was New York. If such a security group existed, then I am
unaware of it.

"Perhaps, he Bamaiyi was chairman of the phantom group. Talk about a
wounded viper looking desperately for whom or what to sting before
giving up the ghost.

"Someone should please tell Bamaiyi that if he is being snared today
into the trap he set for others in his hey day, he should face it like
a man (and a General at that) and stop looking for innocent victims to
be buried along with him."

Contrary to Bamaiyi's claims against him, Marwa said throughout his
service years he was a true professional soldier, who served his
country with all his strength, defending her unity and "upholding her
honour and glory, unswayed by the political current of superiors,
friends or foes."

Debunking the claim that he wanted to be Head of State after Abacha,
Marwa also narrated how he actually supported due process of hierarchy
in the military and consequently the emergence of General Abdulsalami
Abubakar as the Commander-in-Chief.

He continued: "While in public office as Governor of Borno and
Administrator of Lagos States, I resisted the excesses of power and
feared no one but God. I murdered no soul for power nor caused sorrow
to anyone in order to retain it. I did not order the arrest of any
activist or indeed anyone throughout my tenure in Lagos State, enjoyed
an excellent relationship with the media and kept my peace with NADECO
who thankfully left me alone to face my daunting task of governing
Lagos."

Pointing out that Bamaiyi wished him dead, Marwa said, that he does
not owe his life to a "scoundrel."

The former Lagos Administrator also alluded to Bamaiyi's role in the
trumped up coup charge levelled against President Olusegun Obasanjo
and which led to his conviction and incarceration, along with the late
Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua and others.

Marwa said he acted an intermediary between former U.S President Mr.
Jimmy Carter and the late Abacha during an attempt by Carter to
convince Abacha to commute the sentence on President Obasanjo and
others.

According to Marwa, when contacted, Abacha said he needed the consent
of certain officers including Bamaiyi, the late Maj.-Gen. Gumel,
Maj.-Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju, Brig.-Gen. Bashir Magashi and
Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Abdullahi.

All the officers, Marwa noted, were favourably disposed to a
commutation of the sentences, except Bamaiyi.

"It is a great pity that the only general who insisted on the death
sentence being carried out was Bamaiyi," he said.

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Nigeria

A Season Of Prison Notes
The News (Lagos)
November 22, 1999
By Tayo Odunlami