Bamayi’s Contentious Account of History
Since the public presentation of his autobiography on Thursday, March 30, Major-General Ishaya Bamaiyi (rtd.) has rekindled rather avoidable controversies of the past. Omololu Ogunmade writes
Major-General Ishaya Bamaiyi (rtd.), a hitherto obscured and seemingly forgotten henchman in the five-year reign of former military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, launched his way back to reckoning last week when he presented a 243-page memoir titled: “Vindication of a General” in Abuja. Contrary to initial thoughts that the retired controversial general might have learnt his lessons and opted to write a book in search of atonement for his many perceived sins, Bamaiyi, according to reactions which trailed the book launch, only rekindled his old character in a way that seemed to affirm a Biblical reference: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spot?”
Bamaiyi, who was the Chief of Army Staff between 1996 and 1999, in his book, came up with impossible tales and attempted to rewrite history. But it took just hours after the presentation for various personalities, who read the book or its excerpts and were privy to history to dismiss it as nothing but moonlight tales.
For instance, renowned journalist and author, Mr. Dare Babarinsa, in his reaction, described Bamaiyi as one man, who “has often benefitted from profitable mendacity.” Babarinsa, who said he had neither seen nor read the book but excerpts, said he was sure that upon seeing it, he would “not be disappointed by it.”
Rather than seek forgiveness for the many havocs he was believed to have wreaked on the society, Bamaiyi who stood trial for attempted murder of the late publisher of The Guardian, Mr. Alex Ibru, was according to Babarinsa, accused by the leader of the assassination team which killed Kudirat Abiola on June 9, 1996 as “part of the Abacha killer squad.”
Babarinsa recalled how Bamaiyi reportedly stated during the public presentation of the book that Abacha, who allegedly stole and stashed away over N2 trillion of Nigeria’s money in foreign accounts, was a honest man. More provocative to others was Bamaiyi’s declaration that the huge sum of money allegedly stolen by Abacha was done in the nation’s interest.
Against this background, Babarinsa stated: “Since 1999, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo became our President till now, more than 130 Abacha accounts have been discovered all over the world. More than five billion dollars (at least 2 trillion naira) have been recovered from these accounts so far.
“With the help of Interpol and other international security agencies, the federal government continues the endless search for Abacha stolen billions. Bamaiyi, one of Abacha’s closest collaborators, has now confessed that the monies were stolen in national interest.”
Given this remark, the perceived audacious declaration of Bamaiyi alone might have portrayed the book as nothing but garbage of lies.
Second, the retired Army general appeared to be so mindless when he set out to sow a seed of discord between the family of Abiola and eminent Nigerian men, who staked their lives for the actualisation of Chief MKO Abiola’s June 12 mandate. Bamaiyi claimed that the men who formed National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) with the sole intention to fight the injustice done to the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Abiola, betrayed him.
Bamaiyi also accused NADECO leaders of pushing the late MKO to declare himself as president in 1994 in Epetedo, Lagos, only to run away from the declaration ground. He accused them of paying mere lips service to Abiola’s mandate.
But the allegation ran foul of historical record as some of NADECO leaders were brutally killed in the struggle. Others were imprisoned while quite a number of them went on exile when it was clear they could no longer escape the assassin’s bullet. Chief Alfred Rewane, for instance, was murdered in cold blood at his Ikeja residence on October 6, 1996 while NADECO leader, Chief Abraham Adesanya, escaped assassin’s bullet by the whiskers.
Also, NADECO General Secretary, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, was remanded in Kuje prison for many months, where he suffered permanent damage to his health, while other notable leaders such as Chief Anthony Enahoro went on exile and did not return until 2000 after the take-off of civil rule.
But despite this known fact, Bamaiyi claimed that their support for Abiola was nothing but mere lips service while he portrayed himself to be more patriotic than them by leading the way for Abiola’s release. He also claimed that they still betrayed Abiola even in death.
“A lot has been said about the late Chief Abiola’s arrest and efforts towards his release. The fact remains that NADECO members paid only lips service to Abiola’s release after deceiving him into declaring himself president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If they were sincere and actually supported him, they would have accompanied him to where he declared himself president.
“It is also obvious that Abiola was abandoned after his death, which some people suspected that it had the support of some NADECO members. After Abiola’s death, one would have expected some reactions at least from Lagos, but there was no reaction anywhere,” he claimed.
But in its reaction, Aferenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, described Bamaiyi’s claim as nothing but “a revisionist outburst by one of the evil generals that held Nigeria to ransom under the Abacha junta,” adding: “It is on record that Afenifere played prominent roles under the administration of the late tyrant, Gen. Sani Abacha.”
According to Afenifere’s spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Bamaiyi’s autobiography was “an attempt to reverse history and de-odourise the evil plot that stalled Nigeria for five years and Bamaiyi was a leading participant.”
He also said Bamaiyi’s claim was at variance with the account of Gen. Oladipo Diya, who was accused of plotting a coup against Abacha. He recalled that Diya stated during his trial that “Bamaiyi was the mastermind of the coup contrary to what Bamaiyi himself claimed.”
In the same vein, a NADECO stalwart and former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, who said the group was steadfast to the end, explained that NADECO men only missed Abiola’s declaration contrary to Bamaiyi’s claim because they were not carried along.
“The leaders of NADECO were not carried along. Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele, also deceased, was then in charge of the arrangement for the declaration, not NADECO,” Osoba said.
Bamaiyi also said in the book that General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded Abacha after his sudden death on June 8, 1998 along with retired generals such as Babangida, former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau, and former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, masterminded the emergence of Obasanjo as an elected president in 1999 despite his (Bamaiyi) preference for Chief Olu Falae, the joint presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Peoples Party (APP) in the 1999 election.
“My stand did not go well with the generals and General Abubakar started feeling unsafe,” he added.
But in their separate reactions, they dismissed Bamaiyi’s claims that Obasanjo was imposed on the party as a tissue of lies. While Abubakar who said he was out of the country during a telephone conversation with a national daily said he would put the issue in proper perspectives, Babangida in a statement by his spokesman, Kassim Afegbua, said indeed they supported Obasanjo but ensured that he went “through the primaries of the PDP in Jos and was made to face Nigerian electorate at the election.”
But in his reaction, Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju said Bamaiyi’s book only revealed the author’s true identity. “Ironically, the new book can open the eyes of all Nigerians to see the footprint of an ambitious soldier that Bamaiyi epitomises as detailed in every account of power play, which appears unfavourable to him, but favourable to both General Abdulsalaam Abubakar as Abacha’s successor and General Olusegun Obasanjo as 1999 civilian president. He lost out in the power play,” Olarewaju stated.
In all, Babarinsa’s remark that Bamaiyi might have conceived the thoughts of writing a book because he had no peace as a result of his past misdeeds may be food for thought.