In this interview with Punch’s Godwin Ofulue, a former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar, comments on burning national issues and tells the untold story of the June 12 election annulment and the games late head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha played to seize power.
What’s your attitude to the agitation for power shift to the North?
When you talk of power shift, I don’t believe in it because there has been no evidence that it benefits the people. If you take the North, for instance, there is no sign that power has ever been in the region. When people talk of poverty, the people in the North are the most wretched; when people talk of education, the North is the most disadvantaged, yet the region held power for years. So, if this power does any good to a region, the North won’t suffer any deprivation today. I think what power shift does is that it is dangerously dividing Nigeria along ethnic lines. The politicians are pursing power shift as long as it satisfies their personal interest, it has nothing to do with the well-being of the people.
What then should be the right approach?
What I think is that power should reside with good people and good people abound in all parts of this country. I want to appeal to our politicians to desist from pursuing their narrow personal interest by agitating for power shift, thereby heating up the polity. They need to remember that many lives were lost to preserve the unity of this great country.
How would you score the Federal Government in terms of tackling insecurity in the land?
President Goodluck Jonathan should be treated as a war-time President. He needs the support and cooperation of all well-meaning Nigerians. This is no time for destructive political campaigns. Stakeholders should take cognisance of the fact that conflicts have dire consequences on the country. Then the President should show maturity and magnanimity in dealing with people and issues. Whatever the situation, it will be nice to see the President, in his next trip abroad, go with governors like Rotimi Amaechi and other persons in the opposition.
Talking about scoring, I’ll score the Jonathan government high up in its effort at tackling security challenges. Tackling security challenges can drown a whole government. He has done so well. If not for the security forces, the whole of Nigeria today would have been overrun by the Boko Haram insurgency. So, it is no mean achievement that this is not happening.
And on the war against corruption…
I think the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission must act decisively. When they arrested Sule Lamido’s children on account of money laundering, this kind of thing should go round the children of other governors. The agency should not create the impression Sule Lamido is being targeted because he is a member of the opposition.
Some Nigerians see Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the messiah that will liberate Nigeria from all her woes. How do you perceive him?
No doubt, Gen. Buhari has a pedigree. There is no doubt also that he has the requisite for leadership. For example, he vigorously fought against corruption. This is one reason why he has remained a favourite to many Nigerians. But it will be unfair to a country of over 150 million people to think that only one person has a monopoly of such trait.
I will stress that being a successful president will take more than the ability to prosecute and send offenders to jail; it requires both character and intellectual capacity. What Nigeria requires is zero tolerance for corruption as well as the intellectual capacity to understand very complex issues and be able to make the right decisions and follow up with implementation. To lead a complex, heterogeneous country like Nigeria, we need a consensus builder.
Your reactions so far stand you out as a highly detribalised Nigerian. What informs your broad-mindedness?
First, I thank God for the kind of family I come from. It taught me to see humanity rather than dissect human being into tribes or religions. I was brought to see common humanity that we share. What I wish for an Hausa man I wish for a Yoruba and an Igbo man.
Of course, there is also the military training. I doubt if any military officer, a regular combatant officer, will want to discriminate on the basis of religion or tribe. A true soldier does not discriminate.
Now to military matters. Politicians easily blame Nigeria’s woes on military rules in the country.Would you agree with them?
You should ask Nigerians if they are better off under politicians or under the military in the level of corruption, insecurity and other aspects of governance. It is Nigerians that should answer that question. Nigerians should judge, not politicians.
As a former governor of Kaduna State (August 1985 – June 1988), can you boast of any legacy you left behind?
When you talk of legacy, what readily comes to mind is structures, infrastructure but enduring legacy is far more than that. What Nelson Mandela is being celebrated for today are not the roads or airports he built in South Africa, he is remembered for liberating South Africa from apartheid. During my administration, I was able to win the minds of the Southern Kaduna indigenes and I made sure we removed discrimination in whatever form. That was exactly my achievement. Peace prevailed.
You were opposed to the annulment of the June 12 election; what informed your position?
When I was appointed a military governor in 1985 by the Ibrahim Babangida administration, he told me that if I found anything wrong, I should not hesitate to let him know. So, when he announced the transition-to-civil rule programme, I counselled that he should ensure that the date he fixed was sacrosanct, the date should not be changed under any circumstance. Soon after the announcement in January 1986, things started unfolding. To cut the long story short, by 1992, the primaries were about to be annulled, I wrote a letter to IBB that the election was losing credibility, that there was the need to hurry up and handover.
By December 1992, at the Chief of Army Staff Conference, I raised the issue under other matters that since we were being embarrassed, there was the need to conclude the transition programme. Gen. Sani Abacha asked me to see him in his house. I went to Abacha’s house in company of the current National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki. What General Abacha told me then was that they were all eager to see that power was handed over to civilian administration but it looked like IBB was dilly-dallying, that he didn’t want to go. But what I discovered later was that that was not correct. Anyway, we moved to the June 12 election. When the primaries of the two parties(National Republican Convention and Social Democratic Party) that was created by IBB held, and Moshood Abiola and Bashir Tofa emerged candidates, I kept putting pressure on IBB to conclude the transition and hand over but Abacha kept telling me that IBB was not committed to the election and that we should keep putting pressure on him. I kept going to IBB and he kept assuring me he was on course.
About two weeks to the election, IBB called to say that some military boys were putting pressure on him not to hand over because the Structural Adjustment Programme had not achieved results and Nigeria was in a precarious situation.
In the meantime, Abacha was saying if IBB did not hand over after the June 12 election, we should move against him, topple him and hand over to whoever wins the election.
The election was held, we realised Abiola was going to win, I dashed to Abuja, met with the chairman of the electoral commission. He told me he had received 22 states and it looked like Abiola was coasting home to victory. I pleaded with him to ensure that he announced the results. Abacha invited me. He told me that IBB would not allow the results to be announced. He said we should go ahead, topple him and hand over to the winner. He sent me on a wild goose chase; he said I should get the army boys ready for any eventuality. Of course, I went round the country, we got our boys ready. What was agreed was that the person that would announce the overthrow of Babangida would announce the result of the elections and hand over to the winner. We got all the boys in all the regional headquarters ready. Abacha said he was going to call the GOCs to let them know that the military had decided to let the winner of the June 12 to take over.
On the eve of the coup, we went for a coordinating conference, all the boys were alerted. The conference had current NSA, Col Dasuki, Col Gwadabe among other officers to coordinate the last minute of the take-over. Gen. Abacha was to join us later but he failed to appear. An officer asked me which appointment I would like to take in the new government. I replied, ‘Which government? I was told that Abacha had decided to take over power for six months before handing over to Abiola. I told them that was a very dangerous development and that I would not partake in such a plan. We reached a deadlock and I decided to go and confront Gen. Abacha. Around nine in the night, I went to Abacha’s house and I met him alone. I asked him why he changed the plan. I told him that the only reason I joined in the plot was to hand over to Abiola immediately. I told him that I knew that any coup against Babangida was like a suicide mission but I decided to join even at the cost of my life because I wanted Nigerians to know I was not part of the annulment that would plunge the country into crisis. I told him we should continue with our earlier plan. He said the problem was that Abiola could not control the country with all the problems. I told him that whatever happened I would not partake in a coup that would bring him to power.
While I was talking with him, Gen. Ahmed Abdulahi appeared. I told him that I was out of the plan. I left and radioed all those we put on the standby and told them that the coup plan had been terminated, that we were not going to continue. I told senior officers that Abacha was only trying to hoodwink us.
When that plot failed, Abacha and some other officers convinced IBB to step aside but that he should leave some trusted officers, to work with an interim government to stabilise the polity. That way, the coast was left free for Abacha to have his way.
Courtesy Sunday Punch