Continued from last week

By J. K. Randle
“With due respect, I have been reading in the papers and listening to radio, people saying that we manhandled him, we disrespected him.  That was not true. I and General Buhari are the only two who knew what transpired upstairs and there was nothing like that.
We gave him his absolute respect as a superior officer, because even before that time, we had absolute respect for him, because of who and what he was. We respect him a lot till today and there is no animosity between us and he knew it was a military assignment that we were carrying out on orders from our superior officer. He even told me so at one time.
So for us, it is just like the other way round of when he came to power during the anti-Shagari coup. I was among those who played a major role in getting him to power. So, he knew the role I played. And even Buhari knew that  in 2003, I was arrested because of him. That time, I supported him. I worked for him at that time, without him knowing anyway, but he later knew. You see, once you believe in somebody and you know he has the capability, you can do anything for him without him knowing,” he said.
Aminu said it was a “blatant lie” reports that Buhari was handcuffed.
“It is a blatant lie. In an operation of that nature, we don’t carry handcuffs,” he said.
He however, admitted that he did not salute the then Head of State at the time because the flag had been lowered.
“I did not salute him because according to military tradition and norms when the flag is lowered, you can only pay compliments the way you deem fit, not salutation.
We met at 2 a.m. and at that time, we don’t salute because the flag is down, until 6 am again when the flag is up. To insinuate that he was handcuffed, that is far from the truth. We only accorded him all the respect he deserved. I still hold him in very high esteem,” he said.
The ex-military administrator also gave insight into the ongoing insurgency in the north east which began in Borno state where he was a military governor.  He blamed authorities for not tackling the incident at its preliminary stage and allowed it to fester, hence the difficulty in arresting the situation.
Aminu recalled that while he was governor in old Borno (comprising Borno and Yobe States) there was a security challenge caused by the proliferation of arms and ammunitions from the political upheavals in nearby Chad Republic.  He said he brought together all security agencies in the state and adopted what he called an “unorthodox method” of dealing with the situation.
He said plain clothes security men used buses to infiltrate criminal gangs.
“I ordered the purchase of two buses used by security personnel in civil dress and unarmed. That was how we were able to check the insecurity.
They would think that they were ordinary people and we arrested many of them; sometimes we killed some. And from there, we had a lot of information until we checked the criminals and that was how we eliminated them right from the beginning,” he said.
Aminu however, said the Boko Haram crisis had metamorphosed into a serious problem for the Nigerian government now.  He said it has gone beyond insurgency because al-Qaeda and ISIS are being alleged to be involved or supporting Boko Haram in Nigeria.
“They are using armoured vehicles, heavy machine-guns and sometimes helicopter. So it is not a child’s play. I’m happy that they have taken full military operation to bring to an end the problem of insurgency in the Northeast.
Aminu also said if the concept of National Guard as put in place by the Babangida administration in 1993 was allowed to thrive, the unit would have checked and nipped in the bud most criminal activities including insurgency before they get out of hand,
“I recall that in early 1993, during Babangida’s administration, the National Guard was established and I was the pioneer commander. When it was established, Abacha was vehemently against it, because the military, the police and other security agencies saw it as a rival organisation.
The military and politicians were not comfortable. Some say Babangida established the unit to enhance his stay in power but that was not the idea. Before it was established, I went to seven countries that established similar outfits. When I came back, we even started sending people for training, suddenly it was abolished.
Believe me, if that outfit was allowed to thrive, armed robberies, kidnappings and all these  violent crimes would not be, because we could have curtailed them from the onset. We could have had the intelligence to discover all these things. That was our mandate. No security outfit had that kind of mandate and our training was geared towards that. The essence at that time was to establish it as a fighting force as well, so that if there was any attack on Nigeria, it would be the National Guard who would take the first shot to withstand the enemy. If it gets to the point that they cannot cope, then the military comes in,” he said.

Related News

It is generally believed that had Major-General Tunde Idiagbon, Chief of Staff, Supreme (Defence) Headquarters not been away on pilgrimage to Mecca, he would have mounted a counter coup which would have resulted in massive bloodletting.  However, what is even more startling is that three former/late heads of Nigeria’s intelligence / security services subsequently confirmed that they were aware that Babangida was planning a coup, but he vehemently denied it !!  However, it remains a mystery why they opted not to alert Buhari regarding the imminent danger.  Their excuse was that Buhari was aloof and inaccessible while Idiagbon was overbearing.
To further compound matters, a principal actor in the 27th August 1985 coup who is now a Senator on learning that Buhari won the Presidential election on 31st March, 2015 cynically declared: “Just wait for one year and you will soon know why we removed him in 1985.”
However, General Haliru Akilu the former Director of Military Intelligence [DMI] and National Security Adviser to General Ibrahim Babangida has been more forthcoming going by Wikileaks and “Breaking News” on CNN:
“Interest, Cracks In Top Hierachy Of The Nigerian Army Led To 1985 Coup D’etat”
He then provided more than enough inside knowledge to whet the appetite of serious historians – but it all depends on “If I should start to talk ………………….”
People like me should not talk; we should just thank our lucky stars that the coup succeeded.  Otherwise, all those who were at the Chief of Army Staff Conference (both military and civilian) where the coup d’etat was given the final touches would have been rounded up and charged with treason!!  We all know the penalty for a failed coup – even if your offence was simply to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  We must never relent in giving thanks to the Almighty for his limitless mercies.
When Babangida became Head of State, he invited Chief E.A.O. Shonekan; Alhaji A.O.G. Otiti; Chief Olusegun Oshunkeye; Senator Kofo Bucknor-Akerele; Captain Wole Bucknor; Chief J.K. Randle; Chief Mann Lababidi; and others to constitute his Economic Management Team [F9].  In order to ensure that we had direct access to the Head of State, all the minutes of our meetings were conveyed through Joe Ebuseh whose rank was Commissioner of Police (but he was the second-in-command of the State Security Service).  None of us was awarded any banking licence; import licence; oil bloc; arms contract; jumbo contract; or chairmanship of any government parastatal, or knock down price for privatised government-owned companies.
All the same we must be especially thankful that we survived 27th August 1985 and beyond – but if we should start to talk………………………!!
Memory can be deceptive and unreliable. Consequently, the date 27th August may have little resonance for most Nigerians as they go about their daily struggle for survival in a most daunting economic environment combined with the ding-dong of political turmoil.
Regardless, 27th August 1985 is a date some of us will never forget not out of choice but on account of a huge gamble with death, albeit unknowingly.
Let us wind the tape back. Without any warning (except amongst the more discerning) towards the end of Ramadan a period of utmost sanctity to Moslems  Brigadier Joshua Dongoyaro was on radio and television to deliver a special message, with the opening line:
“Fellow countrymen,
I, Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro, of the Nigerian Army, hereby make the following declaration on behalf of my colleagues and members of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Fellow countrymen, the intervention of the military at the end of 1983 was welcomed by the nation with unprecedented enthusiasm.
Nigerians were united in accepting the intervention and looked forward hopefully to progressive changes for the better.  Almost two years later, it has become clear that the fulfilment of expectations is not forthcoming. Because this generation of Nigerians and indeed future generations have no other country but Nigeria, we could not stay passive and watch a small group of individuals misuse power to the detriment of our national aspirations and interest.
No nation can ever achieve meaningful strides in its development where there is an absence of cohesion in the hierarchy of government; where it has become clear that positive action by the policy makers is hindered because as a body it lacks a unity of purpose.
It is evident that the nation would be endangered with the lack of direction. We are presently confronted with that danger.
In such a situation, if action can be taken to arrest further damage, it should and must be taken. This is precisely what we have done.
The Nigerian public has been made to believe that the slow pace of action of the Federal Government headed by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was due to the enormity of the problems left by the last civilian administration.
Although it is true that a lot of problems were left behind by the last civilian government, the real reason, however, for the very slow pace of action is due to lack of unanimity of purpose among the ruling body; subsequently, the business of governance, has gradually been subjected to ill-motivated power play considerations. The ruling body, the Supreme Military Council, has, therefore, progressively been made redundant by the actions of a select few members charged with the day to day implementation of the SMCs policies and decisions. The concept of collective leadership has been substituted by stubborn and ill-advised unilateral actions, thereby destroying the principles upon which the government came to power. Any effort made to advise the leadership, met with stubborn resistance and was viewed as a challenge to authority or disloyalty. Thus the scene was being set for systematic elimination of what, was termed opposition.
All the energies of the rulership were directed at this imaginary opposition rather than to effective leadership.  The result of this misdirected effort is now very evident in the country as a whole.
The government has started to drift. The economy does not seem to be getting any better as we witness daily increased inflation. The nation’s meager resources are once again being wasted on unproductive ventures.”
Most of the audience readily completed the rest on their own!!  We had gotten used to military coups d’etat. The only difference this time was that it was the military toppling their own government headed by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.  His deputy, the Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters Major-General Tunde Idiagbon who was generally perceived as the strongman behind the throne had been sold a dummy. He was lured into undertaking the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, just to get him out of the way.
Till today, his loyalists swear that if Idiagbon was in the country, the coup plotters would not have dared to strike. If they did, it would have been the bloodiest counter-coup in the history of military putsch in the world. The news soon leaked that General Buhari had granted approval to General Idiagbon to the effect that on his return from Saudi Arabia, the Supreme Military Council would immediately announce the retirement of Major-General Babangida as Chief of Army Staff.
In faraway Rio de Janeiro, Brazil a friend of mine called to say that he was staying in the same hotel as Lt General TY Danjuma who on learning that the government had changed in Nigeria coolly declared straightaway:
“Ibrahim Babangida is going to be the new Head of State. It is his boys who are behind the coup”.
He was right on the botton. It was a pre-emptive strike. Only the previous week, Buhari / Idiagbon regime had announced the retirement of Brigadier Aliyu Mohammed Gusau who was Babangida’s right hand man.