Dr Babatunde Diya, the last son of a former Chief of General Staff (CGS) under the Abacha administration, Lieutenant-General Oladipo Diya (retd), has opened up on the unpleasant impact the false accusation of involvement in a coup had on his father’s life.
The trumped up allegation of phantom coup by the Abacha junta left a permanent scar on him, it changed his outlook about life and his relationship with people, even his family members, Babatunde told Vanguard in an interview on Sunday.
The deceased retired military officer earlier served as Military Governor of Ogun State.
Speaking on the effect of the coup on him, Babatunde said “It made him introverted and sober. It changed him because he wasn’t as jovial as he once was. He felt embarrassed, he felt betrayed and humiliated. Then, Pastor Adeboye told him to let things go, but a man’s nature is a man’s nature. It cannot be changed. He felt bad and being somebody who didn’t speak out, he bottled up a lot of things. For example, he never spoke to me and many of my siblings about his experience. All that we got to learn was through third parties. He withdrew from people and was very sad about the treatment he received, especially from junior officers for whom he fought, particularly in the aspects of better and improved welfare packages. For example, during the Gideon Orkar coup, it was one of the things he mentioned in the conference of the Armed Forces Ruling Council after General Ibrahim Babangida escaped the coup plot. While they were celebrating, Diya then mentioned that the young officers had taken to mutiny and he asked what could be done to ensure that it didn’t happen again. As at the time, it was seen as a treasonable statement. The humiliation that came from the junior officers got to him. I would have hoped that he did away with that bad energy and moved on because I don’t think he ever fully recovered from the experience.
He also said the family did not believe he was involved in the alleged coup.
“No. The family did not believe he was involved because he was our patriarch and we took his word for it. You know he asked a question, which is: ‘if you say this is a coup, then where is Bamaiyi?’ That was the famous statement he kept repeating, even at the Oputa Panel. To date, we see it as he said.
“We kept praying, particularly the people of Odogbolu. The people of Odogbolu and us stood firmly with prayers, even with traditional rites. So, those who had faith in God focused on God and prayed because there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t go and attack the Federal Government. Among those who stood solidly behind him, the people of Odogbolu played an active role. They weren’t just saying he was their son, they prayed and did traditional rites to make sure he came back safely to us.”