By Safiu Kehinde
On several occasions had Lt. General Oladipupo Diya (now late) cheated death, particularly during his time as the Chief of General Staff (a position equivalent to today’s Vice President) to the dreaded regime of the then Head of State, General Sanni Abacha.
The history of Nigeria’s military administration, which was marred with coup, civil war, and assassinations, can not be complete without the mention of Oladipupo Donaldson Diya. He was alleged to have orchestrated a failed military coup against his principal which placed his life on the line.
Prior to his demise earlier today, he had seen through the thicks and thins during his military exploits. As Nigerians woke up to news of his exit, NPO Reports presents the life and times of Diya.
Oladipupo Diya was born on the 3rd of April, 1944, at Odogbolu, Ogun State (then part of the West Region). He attended Yaba Methodist school in 1950 before returning to Odogbolu to make part of the pioneer students of Odogbolu Grammar School in 1957.
Diya’s military adventure started when he joined the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. His exploits in the Nigerian Civil War saw him becoming a Second Lieutenant at the age of 23. He would later attend the US Army School of Infantry as well as the Command and Staff College, Jaji (1980-1981).
Despite his commitment to the military, Diya furthered his education at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained LLB Degree in Law. He further attended Nigeria Law School where he got called up to the Bar as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Prior to his appointment as the Chief of General Staff in 1993, Diya was a General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigeria Army in 1985 and Commandant, National War College (1991–1993).
Just as several lives were not spared during Abacha’s regime as assassinations and death sentences were common, Diya also had a taste of his principal’s venom when he, alongside ten others, were arrested and charged with treason in 1997. He was accused of alleged plan to overthrow Abacha’s government.
Coincidentally, the officer who read the statement of his arrest and that of the ten others, Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar, would later become the next Military Head of States and who then upturned the doom spelt on Diya.
According to a 1998 publication of The Washington Post, the military tribunal, after two-month trial, gave the death sentence to six including Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya, Maj. Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Maj. Gen. Adulkareem Adisa, and a civilian. Five of the 20 other accused reportedly received prison sentences ranging from 2 to 14 years while 15 others were set free.
His death sentence was later reversed and changed to 25-year jail term. This, however, did not hold for long following the emergence of Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar as the new Military Head of State after the sudden demise of Abacha.
Diya and his colleagues including Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, Maj. Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa, Col. El. Jando, Col. Yakubu Bako, Lt. Col. O.O Akinyode, Major A.A. Fadipe, Major B.M Mohammed, and Lance Corporal Galadima Tanko, were reportedly released after the new Military Head granted them amnesty.
They were, however, not just released. They were ripped of their ranks, dismissed, and reportedly prohibited from using their military titles.
What would later emerge as a low for the image and bravery of a soldier of Diya’s standing in the Nigerian Army was a leaked recording of a scene where he was seen pleading and weeping before Abacha after the discovery of the alleged coup attempt.
The video, as Diya would later claim, was a doctored one all aimed at humiliating him.
Two weeks before Diya’s arrest and death sentence, he had narrowly escaped being victim of an explosion at Abuja Airport. He was on his way to represent the Head of state, Abacha at the funeral of Major General Lawrence Onoja’s mother in Benue State.
Diya would later settle into a private life in Lagos with a law practice in a law office he opened in Lagos state.