Brigadier David Mark's interview 1
GJAIYEOLA
Netters,
Brigadier David Mark's interview with Newswatch has been mentioned a lot
lately since General Diya was arrested for allegedly planning a coup. A
netter has forwarded the interview to me.
I will post in two parts.
Ganiyu Jaiyeola
=======================================================
From: Udemezuo Onuora Nwuneli <un...@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: naij...@MIT.EDU
Subject: Newswatch: David Mark article
Hope Betrayed
Newswatch, 4/11/94, cover story
* Retired Brigadier-General David Mark, former minister of
communications, in an interview with Newswatch, charges that the Abacha
coup is a departure from the original plan.
(typed in so any spelling errors are probably mine) - Mezuo.
Note: You might want to print this out for easy reading.
--------
Newswatch:
What have you been doing since your retirement last November?
Mark:
I have been on holiday since my retirement in November 1993. I
had always wanted to write so whilst on holiday I thought I should take
some extra time to work on my memoirs.
Newswatch:
We believe you know the controversy surrounding your
untimely retirement from the army. There are two speculations, one of
which is that all the 17 of you who were retired were Babangida Boys.
The public tends to believe this because most if not all of you, were
very close to the former head of state and were known to be very
powerful in his administration.
Mark:
I don't know about being very powerful in IBB's administration
but I certainly served in his administration up to 1990. I am however,
surprised to hear on my return, that we were retired because we are
'Babangida Boys.' I am compelled by circumstances to clarify this issue
within the limits of decency, since I believe the people are entitled to
know the true reasons for our retirement. The accusation is to say the
least, most unfortunate, and is totally an unnecessary fabrication. I
appreciate the fact that the administration has credibility problems,
but that cannot be used by the administration as an excuse to start
telling lies, simply to gain cheap points; or is the administration
acting true to character by confirming what people already suspect, but
would not want to believe? If there are any so called 'Babangida Boys'
then for obvious reasons General Abacha was General Babangida's right
hand man. He was chief of army staff, chief of defense staff and later
his honourable minister of defense. For eight years General Abacha was
indeed the defacto number two person in Nigeria. Those who were in
Babangida's caucus would remember vividly that it was General Abacha who
single handedly removed Commodore Ukiwe simply because there was an
arguement between Abacha and Ukiwe as to who should be the second in
command. It is also a well known fact that General Abacha undermined
Aikhomu's patriotic intentions and actions during his tenure as the
Vice-President. General Domkat Bali, one of the finest officers in the
history of the Nigerian Army, was similarly removed only to pave way for
General Abacha, who was Babangida's staunch loyalist, confidant and
right hand man to become the Minister of Defence. Nowhere in the world
would a head of state appoint an enemy to the sensitive position of
Minister of Defence. Clearly, as head of state, particularly in a
military government one would only appoint his most trusted confidant to
that position. Babangida did not only leave Abacha behind when he left
with the service chiefs in August but made Abacha the number two and
most powerful person in Shonekan's lameduck government. Indeed if there
is anybody who should be called a Babangida Boy, General Abacha amply
qualifies to answer that name; or is this a case of the pot calling the
kettle black or giving a dog a bad name to hang it? If all these don't
qualify him to be a Babangida boy then I don't know what else should.
General Diya who is the number two person in the country today and
who appears to be in the forefront of this misinformation, commanded a
division in the Babangida administration. He was also the commandant of
the highest infantry school in Nigeria (NASI) under General Babangida.
He was the commandant of the highest armed forces institute, the
National War College, under General Babangida. He rose from the rank of
colonel up to the enviable rank of Lieutenant-General under General
Babangida. He was also a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council
under Babangida. Yet his paid image makers would want the nation to
believe that he was ant-Babangida. Haba!
I think the period of lying to the public and the entire
international community should be over now and we should get down to
frank talk about what happened and what is really going on. The truth
is that we were retired because we supported democracy and we were
totally opposed to another extended period of military intervention.
The only way that General Abacha and Diya could get their way to
perpetuate military rule once more was to retire us. Is their
administration saying that only 17 officers served in the Babangida
administration? If not what of the rest? The propagandist did not do a
very good job for the administration; did he? But that is not
surprising judging from the way the administration is going. I know it
was a populist strategy to gain acceptability, but not surprisingly it
was very badly handled by this administration.
Newswatch:
That brings us to the second speculation about your
retirement. And that is that you and the others were retired because
you were responsible for the annulment of the June 12 presidential
election which aborted the return of democracy to Nigeria. The story is
that you and some other senior officers held Babangida hostage and
forced him to annul the election. But you are now saying your
retirement had to do with our support for democracy. Do you mean that
you did not support the annulment of the election?
Mark:
Although I was a Brigadier General, I was not part of the
administration at that time. I was not a member of the National Defence
and Security Council, NDSC, or of the executive council. I had been
assigned as Director of Strategic Studies at the nation's War College
and in fact was lecturing on the role of the military in a democratic
society. If there was such a grand design, I was certainly not a party
to it nor was I aware of it. On the contrary I was always in support of
transition to democracy. I am not even sure that Babangida was a major
player in the annulment of that election. There are all sorts of
rumours that some of us went and held a pistol to Babangida's head.
That is all false. If I was resonsible and I was supposedly retired
because of that, why aren't those who purportedly supported democracy
doing anything about it now that we have left? They are enjoying power
and have forgotten democracy now, is it?
Newswatch:
Are you suggesting that Babangida was used to annul the June
12 election?
Mark:
I am suggesting that the main beneficiary of the annulment is
General Abacha.
Newswatch:
How?
Mark:
Is it simple. Had the transition to democracy been successful,
Abacha would have retired with Babangida's administration and would not
have become the Head of State today.
Newswatch:
It is said that you were involved with the military's return
to power on November 17 with General Abacha as head of state. What do
you say to that if indeed as you said you are for democracy?
Mark:
It is not yet time for me to say who was involved and who played
what role but suffice to say for now that Abacha's regime qualifies for
a space in the Guinness Book of Records as the greatest betrayal of the
century. It is a betrayal of the military officers involved, it is a
betrayal of the CD and CLO people and it is a betrayal of hope and
aspirations for all Nigerians. It is a betrayal of democracy. It was
not a coup against the ING but as it turned out it was a coup against
democracy; supported and nourished by politicians who behave like
chameleons. Surprisingly it was Abiola's close associates who were
urging Abacha to take over. They dined with Abiola in the afternoon but
in the night urged Abacha to seize power and forget June 12. I never
believed that human beings could be so treacherous, unprincipled, and
shameless.
Newswatch:
Can you elaborate?
Mark:
It is a betrayal because what the administration is doing now is
the exact opposite of what we agreed and what we set out to do. It is a
complete turn around. I am so disappointed that I had to write a letter
to General Diya on it.
Newswatch:
What happened?
Mark:
When we saw that things were getting out of control in the
country and it had become obvious that the interim government could not
hold an election and the ship of state was drifting precariously, we
reluctantly decided that the military should again intervene. When we
met we considered three possible options. The first option was to give
Shonekan and his team the teeth to be able to bite and conduct the
presidential election successfully as was in the transition programme.
The second option was to go for a short but full military regime for six
months and conduct only the presidential election thereafter. And the
third option was a mixed grill, a diluted military regime for no more
than one year, culminating again in a presidential election.
Most of us favored option one for obvious reasons. We believed that
Nigeria at that time, was not in the mood for a military regime. People
were no longer prepared to tolerate the military. In addition, most of
us were acutely aware that the entire world was moving toward democracy.
The dramatic effects of the last few years - the collapse of the Soviet
Union, and the rise of democratic movements around the world clearly
galvanised that point. Besides we had covered considerable distance in
our tortuous march towards democracy; to do otherwisee would amount to
reversing the hand of the clock. The CD and CLO had gained so much
popularity that it would be difficult for the military to rule
effectively without bloodshed. The military had been seriously
fragmented, disgraced and politicised so much so that Nigerians no
longer trusted its impartiality nor respected its air of authority. The
military needed to return to the barracks to put its house in order, and
address the much neglected welfare problems of the troops. Sadly, our
soldiers live in slums. They are totally ill equipped and untrained, in
spite of all the money gulped by the Ministry of Defence. The reasons
for these were not far fetched. It was an open secret among soldiers
and soldiers' wives, unfortunately, to the embarrassment of the
officers, whose conditions were not any better. These, amongst others,
informed our decision in favour of option one.
Newswatch:
How were you to accomplish this?
Mark:
We were to accomplish option one by openly telling the nation
that the military was strongly behind Shonekan and his team in their
effort to complete the transition programme successfully. General
Abacha was to make the announcement and warn the State Governments that
were not cooperating that they risked being removed and state of
emergency being delcared in their states. We were to be emphatic and
unequivocal in our support for Shonekan and his team. But surprisingly
the Governors did not want Shonekan to succeed. They made Abacha's home
their pilgrimage point and urged Abacha to take over power.
The second option was a short full fledged military regime for six
months - we discarded this for obvious reasons, some of which I have
already told you. This option presented more problems than we could
handle at that time. The problems included possible economic sanctions
from the western would, head on collision with the international
monetary and financial institutions; if at that late stage in our march
towards democracy we returned to military government again, it would
completely undermine our leadership role in the African continent. And
more importantly there was the possibility of being disgraced out of
office by a civilian uprising. We were not even sure that the soldiers
in the barracks who had also witnessed the move toward democracy around
the world, would be supportive. Why should they anyway when their
condition is worse off in a military regime? And we realised sadly too
that the solution to our economic and political problem could not be
solved by simple military decree.
The third option, which was a longer one, was a diluted military
arrangment for no more one year. Within this one year we were to
conduct all the elections from local government chairmanship to the
presidential. After all, Obasanja Yar'Adua did their elections in one
year therefore there was no reason why we could not have done the same.
In all the three options, there were a few constants. The two
political parties were to remain, although they could be renamed if the
politicians so desired, government was to stop funding the political
parties. Parties were to fund themselves, the parties were not to be
treated as government parastals. The parties were to refund N100
million each back to the government. Independent candicacy was to be
allowed in all the elections and as much as possible each of the two
political parties was to nominate a southern presidential candidate for
obvious reasons.
Newswatch:
By southern Presidential candidate do you mean a Yoruba?
Mark:
No not necessarily, I mean a candidate from the southern part of
Nigeria. He could be Igbo or any southern minority.
........................
{end of Part 1}
---- WILL BE CONTINUED ........ ----------
o. kasirim nwuke
Ganiyu:
Thanks for posting. I hope that one OKO...@aol.com who crossposts
Bolaji's and NDM propaganda materials to Rivnet and all the other regional
or ethnic nets will cross-post this also. I have been waiting for this
"fictitious" OKO...@aol.com to cross-post the David Mark interview to the
other nets almost as long as Christians have been waiting for the second
coming of Jesus Christ. "Fake" netters know no boundaries.
okn
----------
> .........................
GJAIYEOLA
okn,
Thank you for thanking me. Really, all the thanks should go to that netter
who forwarded the article to me in a private mail. The netter saved us all
the trouble of checking our archives. I am afraid I consider private mails as
very private so I cannot mention the name of the netter.
Take care.
Ganiyu Jaiyeola
