By Temitope Muhideen (Convydence)

In Nigeria, beginning in the wee hours of December 17th, 1985, and extending for the next two weeks, over one hundred airforce, army, and naval officers were arrested en masse for allegedly plotting to overthrow the 4-month-old government of Major General Ibrahim Babangida who had himself come to power on August 27, 1985, in a palace coup against Major General Buhari.  After a Preliminary Special Investigation Panel chaired by Brigadier Sani Sami, selected cases were forwarded for court martial.  Beginning on Monday 27th January 1986, 17 officers were tried at the Brigade of Guards HQ in Victoria Island, Lagos, by a Special Military Tribunal. The Tribunal was convened by Major General DY Bali, then Minister of Defence and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, under the Treason and Other Offenses (Special Military Tribunal) Decree No.1 of 1986 concerning Section 37(2) of the Criminal Code.   Separately, Brigadier Malami Nassarawa, Wing Commander J Uku, and Lt. Peter Odoba were also tried on different charges.  Squadron Leader Effanga and Wing Commander Ekanem were discharged and acquitted in a no-case submission.

The Tribunal comprised Major General Charles B. Ndiomu (Chairman), Brigadier Yerima Y Kure, Commodore Murtala A. Nyako, Colonel Rufus Kupolati, Group Captain Anthony Ikhazobor (later replaced by Colonel Opaleye when Lt. Col Bitiyong objected to his presence), Lt. Col. D. Mohammed and Alhaji Mamman Nassarawa (Commissioner of Police).  There were two waiting members, namely Col. E. B. Opaleye (until he replaced Ikhazobor), and Lt. Col. M M Bukar.  The Judge Advocate was Major A. Kejawa.  The prosecution team comprised Colonel Lawrence Uwumarogie, Major N N Mazda, Major B Makanju, and Captain Y. A. Ahmadu. The trial was conducted under the watchful eyes of the military intelligence directorate headed at that time by Colonel Akilu.

The following were accused:  Major-Gen Mamman Vatsa, Lt. Col. Musa Bitiyong, Lt. Col. Christian A. Oche, Lt. Col. Michael A. Iyorshe, Lt. Col. M. Effiong, Major D. I. Bamidele, Major D. E. West, Major J. O. Onyeke, Major Tobias G. Akwashiki, Captain G.I.L. Sese, Lt. K.G. Dapka, Commander A. A. Ogwiji, Wing Commander B. E. N. Ekele, Wing Commander Adamu C. Sakaba, Squadron Leader Martin Olufolorunsho Luther, Squadron Leader C. Ode and Squadron Leader A. Ahura.

It was alleged that the plot was financed by General Vatsa using the cover of a farming loan to Lt. Col Musa Bitiyong.  General Vatsa denied any intent that monies he had given to Bitiyong were meant for that purpose, but Bitiyong allegedly shared some of it for travel expenses with two other accused officers and was said (at a meeting in Makurdi, which Vatsa did not attend) to have promised to get more from the source when it became obvious that funding a coup in Nigeria would require much more than the 10,000 naira he allegedly had at his disposal  (As of 1985, it was said that a coup would require no less than 50-100,000 naira to implement). 

Gen. Babangida and Vatsa were best of friends, they have and shared almost everything in common, and they grew up together. They both attended Government College, Bida in present-day Niger State, and they were classmates and best of friends for six years, on completion of their secondary school education they both decided to join the military, Nigeria Defense Academy hasn’t been established at that time, the institution recognized for training the military aspirants was the old Nigeria Military Training College NMTC, Kaduna.

Vatsa and Babangida began their journey in the Nigerian army on the same day after their application had been considered. They operated together in unity at military training school, at that time, the Nigerian military training college was not a full commissioning institution, although it was later upgraded in 1964 and changed to what we now call the Nigerian Defense Academy NDA. Before the completion of their training in the Nigerian Army, Mamman Vatsa was sent to the Indian Military Academy, India, and Babangida was sent to the same school. After their training in India, they were both commissioned as Second lieutenants in 1964, they returned to Nigeria and served in different capacities.

Training and retraining of officers in the military home and abroad is common, it was reported that whenever Babangida was sent outside the country, he moved his family to Vatsa’s house and vice versa, this is a testimony to the closeness between them, many their friends thought the friendship was going to last for many years, but the ending was bitter. Ironically, Mamman Vatsa’s death was authorized by his blossom friend General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.

History recorded that on 23rd December 1985 Maman was in his house at Rumen Street Ikoyi, Lagos State. At that time Lagos was the capital city of Nigeria and his blossom friend Major General Ibrahim Babangida was the then Military Head of State, Maman was a poet and a novelist, he was in the study room while his wife Sufiya was in the sitting room. He received an official call that Babangida had sent for him, and he left the study room to inform his wife about the call, his wife advised him to stay back as it was too late, but Maman understood that he was in the military where a command must be obeyed first before any objection, he dressed up to honor the invitation, unknowingly, fully armed soldiers already surrounded his house, the detachment was led by Banangida’s ADC Lieutenant Colonel U. K. Bello, although he was lower in rank to Vatsa but he has the command of the commander in chief to bring Vatsa to him.

When the Vatsa family noticed the development, his wife Sufiya insisted she would follow Vatsa, Vatsa entered her vehicle with a few soldiers and embarked on a journey he never returned from. Lieutenant Bello led the convoy and at about 2 am the convoy stopped at No. 7 Cameroon Road Ikoyi, Vatsa was taken out of the car. Sufiya returned home without knowing what the next few hours held for her husband. It was learned that Major General Vatsa was implicated in a coup that was plotted to overthrow General Babangida’s 4-month regime, the media space was awash, and the world became aware that Vatsa had been arrested for interrogation by his bosom friend. All plans were in place and a trial in a military court marshal was as sure as the rising of the sun.

Major General Domkat Bali was the Minister of Defense at that time, and it was his responsibility to appoint soldiers to constitute the tribunal, Major General Charles Ndioumu was appointed the chairman of the tribunal, and his panel was to determine the fate of Vatsa and others that were arrested. The judge Advocate was Major A. Kajewa while the prosecution team comprised Colonel Lawrence Uwumarogi, Major N. Madza, Major B. Makanju, and Captain Y. A. Ahmadu. Vatsa pleaded not guilty, maintaining that he could not have aided anyone in removing his closest friend, the trial continued for days, the tribunal sat at the Brigade of Guard Headquarters in Lagos, he was then detained at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, and he was reported to have sent a letter to his wife from the prison “ do not beg my friend a by further, please take care of the children.”

On completion of the trial, the special military trial pronounced Vatsa guilty along with others who were tried on the same charge, he was sentenced to death by firing squad. A report and verdicts of the military tribunal were presented to the military Head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, Babangida approved the verdict to execute his bosom friend. Nigerians thought that Vatsa would not be executed by the administration of his friend, but it became a reality. Emissaries were sent to Babangida to no avail, Vatsa was not only a soldier he was a writer, he was active in the literary community in Nigeria, and he donated a parcel of land to them to build their headquarters in Abuja.

His ordeals became an issue of concern to writers in Nigeria and Africa, three leading Nigeria literary legends China A he be, John Pepper Clark, and Wole Soyinka met with Babangida and pleaded for clemency for Major General Maman, he received them, and minutes after they left Dodan Barracks Vatsa and others were executed under the instruction of General Babangida, it was on 5th March 1986. The execution was recorded in video and handed over to General Babangida.

Vatsa’s wife writes numerous letters requesting an investigation of his husband’s death all to no avail. In her interview with Ademola Adebamigbe of The News Nigeria published in April 2014, she narrated her husband’s relationship with Babangida in the following words “There was a special relationship between Maman’s family and the Babangidas, when I got married to my husband I thought IBB and Vatsa were families, they shared shoes and clothes, whenever IBB traveled out for military training he would entrust his family to the care of my husband, my husband mounted the horse when IBB got married and also bought them their first furniture from Leventis on hire purchase” end of quote.

Several analysts have stated that Vatsa was intentionally framed in the coup but in numerous interviews by Babangida he always maintained that there was strong evidence against his friend Vatsa. The execution of Major General Maman Vatsa by his bosom friend is indeed the story of a cordial relationship between bosom friends which ended in an anticlimax with the execution of one friend upon the order of the other friend.

Temitope Muhideen is the publisher of Confidence News Nigeria and a member of Greenfield Library Limited, Atlanta Georgia, USA.