Kayode Matthew &Ise-Oluwa Ige
12 December 2000
Lagos — The moment of truth dawned on former Chief of General Staff (CGS), Lt.-Gen. Oladipo Diya yesterday as he finally admitted before the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission sitting in Lagos that he wept before late Gen. Sani Abacha over the 1997 coup allegation.
Gen. Diya who had consistently maintained before the commission that he never wept nor knelt down before Gen. Abacha had to admit after a video tape was played, displaying his encounter with the late Head of State and said "Jesus himself wept."
Counsel to Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, Mr. Y. C. Maikyan tendered two videotapes before the commission of the discussion between late Gen. Abacha and Gen. Diya in a living room and the encounter between Maj.- Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa and Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.
In one of the videotapes, Maj.-Gen. Adisa was shown kneeling down before Major Al-Mustapha begging him. Before the first video was shown, Mr. Y. C. Maikyan asked Gen. Diya: "Have you at any time during the investigation of the 1997 coup knelt down before Gen. Abacha and begged him?"
Gen. Diya responded: "It's impossible, that is your own imagination and invention."
Mr. Maikyan asked him another question: "Have you ever wept before late Gen. Abacha and he gave you a tissue paper to wipe your face?"
Smiling, Gen. Diya said: "It's a lie, that is your own imagination and invention."
Mr. Maikyan then tendered the first videotape of a meeting between late Gen. Abacha and Gen. Diya in Abacha's living room.
After members of the commission had watched part of the video, the television screen was then turned to face members of the public and Gen. Diya who was in the witness box.
In the first videotape, Gen. Diya who was wearing safari suit knelt down twice before the late Head of State in the course of their discussion.
Though the video was not audible, the picture was, however, clear and at a stage in their discussion which took place in Gen. Abacha's living room, Gen. Diya was shedding tears. Late Gen. Abacha thereafter handed over to Gen. Diya a white tissue with which Diya wiped his face.
The full tape of the encounter could not be shown due to lack of time.
After Gen. Diya had watched his encounter with the late Head of State on tape Gen. Bamaiyi's counsel who was cross-examining him then asked him again: "Gen. Diya, do you still maintain that you never wept before late Gen. Abacha and he never gave you tissue paper to wipe your face?"
In his response, Gen. Diya said: "Jesus himself wept." Diya's response drew wide laughter from members of the public who were watching the proceedings.
Though the video tape showed Gen. Diya as he knelt down before Gen. Abacha, Diya explained that he was only pleading with Gen. Abacha to release Lt.-Gen. Bamaiyi, Brig.-Gen. Sabo and Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi whom he believed had been arrested in connection with a four-point demand which he was privy to.
Before the videotape was shown to the public, Gen. Diya's counsel, Mr. Kehinde Sofola (SAN) had objected to the public view of the tape, saying it could not be a credible evidence.
He contended that between the period the discussion was reordered and now, anything could have happened, adding that "pictures these days are shown to tell a lot of lies. You can remove and add to it."
Commission chairman, however, overruled him and said when Gen. Diya was re-examined, it can be confirmed whether anything was added or subtracted. Gen. Diya's two wives who also presented a joint petition before the commission over their ordeals during their husband's incarceration were also part of the audience that watched the video.
The second video clearly audible, showed Maj.-Gen. Adisa sitting on a sofa in front of Major Al-Mustapha offering explanations to Al- Mustapha's enquiries.
At a stage in their discussion, Gen. Adisa placed his two hands on his head with his face showing an expression of shock and immediately went on his two knees before Major Al-Mustapha, begging him.
In the brief encounter that was shown, Gen. Adisa was on his knees for more than one minute begging Al-Mustapha.
After watching the video, Gen. Diya was so shocked that a general was kneeling down before a major that he said, "it is a disgrace to the Nigerian Army."
Gen. Diya then added: "Like the video you are showing now, assuming it is not edited, is it not reaffirming my assertion that Major Al- Mustapha was the number one during the late Gen. Abacha regime?"
Before the video showing Gen. Adisa and Major Al-Mustapha's encounter, Bamaiyi's counsel had informed Gen. Diya of Gen. Adisa's confessions in which Diya was said to have funded the alleged coup.
Diya was also quoted as telling the other alleged conspirators that "when the man (Abacha) dies, don't forget that the hierarchy has to be maintained o."
Gen. Diya, however, denied all these, insisting that he did not hold any meeting on coup with Gen. Adisa or any other group of people. He also denied that he discussed any coup with Maj.-Gen. Patrick Aziza, inside his car.
Diya said: "How can I discuss a coup inside a car in the presence of my driver and orderly? The coup story was a hoax to eliminate officers of a particular ethnic group in the country."
Under cross-examination, Gen. Diya said right from the first day of the Abacha regime, there had been problems which he could do nothing about.
He then cited as an example the appointment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
According to him, "the Security and Defence Council had agreed to appoint Dr. Chikelu as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
"I even phoned Dr. Chikelu to congratulate him but by the next day, there was an announcement that Aminu Saleh had been appointed. There was nothing we could do."
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