There are many other thousands of innocent people in the grave whom IBB murdered. Their souls are crying for justice. All those he made widows and orphans are seeking justice. He has no hiding place. Should anybody or group of persons make any mago mago to force IBB on Nigerians, the Aba women riot of 1929 will be a child’s play to the women riot that will be witnessed in 2007–Vatsa’s wife.

Sava Farm, a nondescript piece of property situated at Malali area of Kaduna city, does not reveal the importance of its occupant. It is owned by Hajia Sufiya, widow of General Mamman Vatsa, executed over a controversial coup by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1986. With its brown gate, half brick, half metal perimeter fence that looks as if it would collapse any time with the heavy rains, and the rusty signboard defaced by four posters of Isiah Balat who is campaigning to be governor of Kaduna State, the farm stands as a relic, in sharp contrast to the more prosperous-looking Federal Government College and the Kaduna State Water Board nearby.

The bushy farm looks like an abandoned American ranch after a typical Red Indian invasion. An aide who doubles as the gate keeper opened the entrance. As the reporters’ feet shuffled on the cobblestones that had seen better days, a quick survey of the premises showed a once-buoyant animal husbandry business. Another gate, on the left, led to where Sufiya lives. With a quick detour, the visitors were ushered into the front of the main bungalow. The circular forecourt is habitat to flowers crying for pruning. Peeping out of the circle was a white Mercedez Benz 190 that stood as if, driven by some invisible hands from outer space, it was ready to engage the reverse gear, receding further into the dense flowers, away from the intruders, A ricketty peugeot pick -up van and an abandoned white farm truck complete the picture of neglect. Sufiya’s balcony is a testament to a woman who, when she was happy, was in love with nature. Her suspended empty bird cages, creeping flowers, pots of cacti and aloe vera stand as proof. A long white hose meandered on the floor, a mark of half-hearted gardening.

Like her property, Hajia Sufiya Vatsa is a lone historical figure, abandoned in her woes and penury by successive governments after IBB executed her husband over a questionable coup. During a visit to her Sava Farm by three journalists from TheNEWS, the woman cut the picture of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, who, after being disappointed by her suitor, refuses to see the sun, fails to change her wedding gown and leaves her watch permanently “at twenty minutes to nine.” Unlike Miss Havisham, however, Sufiya’s separation from her husband came from the machination of a third party – IBB. Since then, life has been horrible for her family.

Daily, Sufiya sits by two high-definition photographs of her husband: one in mufti and the other in military gear. When this magazine visited her, she wore a brown wrapper, deep brown headgear with an ankara top embossed with brown irregular designs . She sat behind a small centre table set with assorted drinks, beverages and local herbal solutions. In front of her was a shelf with a rectangular mirror, on which an old television set was placed.

Another symbol of her state of mind and the neglect she suffers was an abandoned grey aquarium, tilting against the wall under the portrait of a medieval soldier riding a chariot, shooting an arrow. Under another congested table in front of her was a green book, Makers of Modern Africa. A reading lamp, about four chandeliers and a dining table required dusting just as her life requires rehabilitation. An extension of her melancholy was that, contrary to expectation, she declined an interview since it would bring back a deluge of old, painful memories.

Sufiya’s journey into the abyss of poverty began on 23 December 1985. The family had just concluded plans to travel to Calabar because, usually, they spent the yuletide in the Cross River State capital (Sufiya is Efik), the Id-el-Fitri in Minna, Niger State and the Id-el Kabir in Kaduna. After the necessary packing for the trip, the family waited for the return of General Vatsa from the Armed Forces Ruling Council, (AFRC), meeting he had attended. He returned home late, so the trip was postponed till the following day. At about 12 midnight, while Sufiya was watching a movie in her bedroom, her husband, who was working in his study, rushed in to tell her that IBB had sent for him. The wife protested that it was too late in the night and that Vatsa should phone his boss to shift the meeting to the following morning.

As this debate was going on, Lt. Col. U.K. Bello led a team of soldiers to Vatsa’s home at Rumens Street, Ikoyi, Lagos. The soldiers, who came with armoured vehicles and military vans, surrounded the house. Vatsa told his wife who was upstairs to peep through the window. Unable to contain her fear, she rushed downstairs and insisted that if the soldiers would take away her husband, then she had to follow them. Sufiya insisted on driving Vatsa in her own Pengeot 404. At this point, Vatsa directed that the children be woken up, and he kissed them one after the other.

Haruna, the first son, who was in Military Training School, Zaria, followed them downstairs, weeping. While UK Bello drove in the fore of the convoy, Sufiya and Vatsa were chauffeur-driven in their own car in what later turned out to be a merry-go-round about Lagos till about 2 a.m when they stopped at 7 Cameron Road, Ikoyi. Vatsa was ordered out of the car. As he made to enter the building, Sufiya ran after him but she was rudely pulled back by the soldiers. The General turned and gave his wife a bear hug, an embrace that was their last. He urged his wife to take care of their children. Sufiya returned home dejected. To her shock, the military authorities had withdrawn the official domestic staff. At 5a.m, she prepared breakfast of fried yam and pawpaw, drove to her husband’s detention centre but was told she could not bring in any food.

Another surprise awaited Vatsa’s wife. A soldier came in and said: “Madam, Oga’s wife, Mrs Mariam Babangida, said I should carry General Vatsa’s telephone handset to her.” Fatima, Vatsa’s daughter, clung to the gadget. A struggle ensued between the 15-year-old girl and the soldier, whose muscles bulged like like the biceps of Michaelangelo’s statues. Sufia asked her daughter to let go of the probably bugged set.

Worse still, some gruff, fierce-looking soldiers, led by Vatsa’s former Aide-de-Camp (ADC), Captain Maku, an intelligence officer of Idoma extraction, had led other soldiers in laying siege to the family’s house. “Madam, no visitors, no phone calls, no going out,” Maku snapped as he reclined on a settee in the living room, an improvised toothpick, peeping out of a corner of his mouth. When Sufiya protested that the family needed to buy foodstuff, Maku, whose friendly disposition when he was Vatsa’s batman had changed, commanded that the woman and her children “must manage.”

After three days of captivity, Sufiya could not endure it any longer. She told Maku: “Look, I am going to the market. If you refuse me, it means between you and I, somebody will die. I will show you I am a soldier’s wife.” She took her car, and without bothering about the soldiers who cocked their guns menacingly at her, rammed it into the gate, which gave way as the soldiers scattered capriciously in different directions. She got to Falomo, bought bread and eggs, and decided to see one of her husband’s friends, General Gado Nasko. Before the visit to Nasko, however, Sufiya had driven home and, since her daughter was, coincidentally, at the gate, had dropped the food and driven to the Naskos. Sufiya’s mission was to ask Nasko to fix a meeting between her and IBB to find a way to settle the matter. Although soldiers at Nasko’s house gave her the cold shoulder, her persistence worked.

Nasko, who said he was aware of the problem and would try to arrange the meeting, asked Sufiya to see him in the evening. Her hope soared. The reason was the special relationship between her family and IBB’s. “When we got married,” Sufiya was reported as saying, “I thought IBB and my husband were of the same family. The two wore the same size of dress and pair of shoes. IBB would drop his dirty wears in our house and put on my husband’s. When IBB travelled out, for a further military training my husband took care of Mariam and her children. General Vatsa, apart from mounting the horse when IBB married Mariam, bought their first set of furniture from Leventis on hire purchase.

IBB was also my husband’s bestman during our wedding. Whenever Maryam’s Mercedez car broke down, she used to drive my Peugeot 404. We were close.” All these, to Babangida, did not count in the field of realpolitik. Nasko told Sufiya later in the day that the military President was not ready to see her.

Another disappointment awaited Sufiya when she returned to her Rumen’s Street residence, Ikoyi. A soldier from Bonny Camp was waiting for her with an order that the family should vacate the house. Another military officer said the car should be taken to Army Headquarters for security check after which they broke into the car’s glove compartment and confiscated Vatsa’s manuscripts. In frustration, Sufiya hired a trailer and moved the family’s belongings to Kaduna. She and Fatima, however, returned and stayed in Nwakana Okoro, her brother-in-law’s house at Queen’s Drive, Ikoyi. When the military authorities bugged Okoro’s telephone, the lawyer, a Senior Advocate, of Nigeria, became jittery.

All attempts by Sufiya to see her husband were frustrated by the military authorities. It was only Fatima’s trick that worked a bit. Posing as a lawyer, she would follow other counsels into Vatsa’s detention centre and trial venue. Vatsa, however, sent Sufiya a note from Kirikiri, saying: “Do not beg Babangida. He is after my life. Take care of the children. I know it is not easy but God will help you.” When he was to be executed, Vatsa requested that his wrist watch and wedding ring be given to Sufiya. “But by the time they brought the watch and the wedding ring, the ring wasn’t my wedding ring, so I rejected it. “Till today, they have not returned the ring to me,” Sufiya was quoted by a family source.

Sufiya was, therefore, left in the cold, without any wealth to fall back on. Vatsa had only one plot of land in Abuja, but it was taken over by the late despot, General Sani Abacha. At a point, Sufiya approached General Jeremiah Useni, one-time Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, in a bid to reclaim the land. Useni called for the file and told Vatsa’s wife to pay for the land rent. She, however, complained to Useni: “When my husband was a minister in FCT, he refused to allocate land to me, his wife. He said it would be immoral for him to give me land. He said his successor would give me.” Useni looked the other way while Sufiya and her family were deprived of the land.

Not all of Vatsa’s friends abandoned the family, however. “One of his friends came to our aid.” Sufiya once said. “Every other person that was dining and wining with my husband immediately switched over to IBB. Even my children today are not identified with.” To keep body, soul and the family together, Sufiya, of Efik descent, would travel to Calabar, in Cross River State, and bring food from her people to take care of her children in Kaduna where she has vowed to remain. Apart from buying and selling, Sufiya used to engage in poultry and cattle rearing. In fact, she injected life into her Sava Farm, which she set up in 1971 after the civil war. But robbers ruined the business, a situation that led to the lack of care for the premises, part of which, by the time TheNEWS visited, was overgrown with weeds.

Sufiya, therefore, has brought up her children on a shoe-string budget. Haruna, whom Vatsa asked to be withdrawn from the Nigerian Military Training School, Zaria, because of the way the Army treated him, is now married with two children. Fatima, who is studying medicine, is in London with her husband, while Jubril, who studied law, is in Minna, Niger State. Aisha is a US-based pilot.

Sufiya believes that IBB himself planned the coup. “He wrote the script, got an officer to execute.” The officer in question was close to Mamma Madaki, a former military administrator of Plateau State. Apart from Major General Charles Ndiomu who once made a statement that he regretted killing Vatsa, this magazine gathered that the interview which General Domkat Bali granted TheNEWS (22 May 2006 edition) raised Sufiya’s hope that justice would finally be done.

She once lamented to her husband’s family:“It is painful that my husband was executed as a coup plotter even when he was not. And till this moment, we don’t know where he was buried. That Gen. Domkat Bali interview published in TheNews magazine is one of the good things God has done to us in the Vatsa family. Before, some people did not believe that Vatsa was not a coup plotter; but Bali’s confession explained it all. They should release the corpse of my husband to me so that he can be given a befitting burial. That is my prayer.”

It was for this reason that Sufiya wrote a letter, dated 15 June 2006, to President Olusegun Obasanjo, where she stated: “Although there was no iota of evidence linking my husband with the phantom coup, he was convicted and sentenced to death by the Special Military Tribunal which purportedly tried him and other coup suspects. My husband’s appeal to the Armed Forces Ruling Council against his illegal conviction was yet to be considered when the Head of State, General Babangida had him secretly executed along with the other coup convicts.”

She claimed in the letter that Bali confirmed her husband’s innocence in TheNEWS’ interview when he said: ‘“My regret is that up till now, I am not sure whether Vatsa ought to have been killed because whatever evidence they amassed against him was weak. My only regret is that I could not say, don’t do it. I am not so sure whether we were right to have killed Vatsa.” Sufiya, therefore, requested the Obasanjo administration to prosecute General Babangida for “the murder of my husband, General Vatsa.”

Born on 3 December 1940, Major General Mamman Vatsa attended the Government Secondary School, Bida, Niger State. He enlisted in the Nigerian Army on 10 December 1962 and was trained at the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna and the India Military Academy.
Vatsa was in charge of the 21 Battalion during the Nigerian Civil War, after which he became an instructor at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. Apart from his position as Principal Staff Officer at Army Headquarters, he commanded the 30 infantry Brigade (Ogoja) until July 1975. As the Commander of the Brigade of Guards, a post he held until 1979, Vatsa oversaw the movement of its headquarters from Dodan Barracks to Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

One proof of his loyalty to his Commander-in-Chief was when, as Commander, Brigade of Guards, Calabar, he was the first to go on air to kick against the 13 February 1976 coup, led by Lt. Col Buka Dimka. During the trial of suspects involved in that coup, he was the Tribunal Secretary. Thereafter, he was appointed the Commander, Brigade of Guards under General Olusegun Obasanjo. Mrs.Vatsa once revealed: “My husband drove General Obasanjo to his Ota farm after he handed over power to the civilians in 1979.”

As Nowa Omoigui wrote, Vatsa was Commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI) from 1979. “He, along with Lt. Col Bitiyong, developed the Special Warfare Wing and established the doctrinal basis for the establishment of the 82nd Composite Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu. In fact, it was Vatsa who suggested that the Division be called the 82nd Division – after the 82nd West African Division, Burma.”

As an accomplished poet and writer, Vatsa was able to publish eight poetry collections for adults and 11 for younger ones. Some of his book titles are Back Again At Watergate (1982), Reach For The Skies (1984), and Verses for Nigerian State Capitals (1973). His pidgin poetry collection is Tori for Geti Bow Leg (1981). His pictorial books are Bikin Suna and Stinger the Scorpion.

His literary interests transcended merely reeling out volumes of verse. He organised writing workshops for soldiers and their families, assisted the Children’s Literature Association with funds, as well as allocating a piece of land in Abuja for a writers village for the Association of Nigerian Authors. Vatsa was so pre-occupied with creativity that he always carried jotters to the toilet, dining table and the bedroom. There were books strewn around in the family’s apartment so much that, as TheNEWS gathered, Sufiya once threatened to “throw these books out.”

Vatsa’s journey to the great beyond started on 17 December 1985 when the military authorities arrested over 100 officers from the Army, Navy and the Air Force. Vatsa was picked up seven days later. They were, for two weeks, investigated by the Brigadier-General Sani Sami-led Preliminary Special Investigation Panel. After this, 17 of them were dragged before a Special Military Tribunal, set up by Bali, at the Defence Minister, at the Brigade of Guards Headquarters, Lagos. The accused officers were Lt.-Cols. Musa Bitiyong, Christian A. Oche, Micheal A Iyorshe, M. Effiong; Majors D.I Bamidele, D.E. West, J.O Onyeke and Tobias G Akwashiki. Others were Captain G.I L Sese, Lt. K.G. Dakpa, Commodore A.A. Ogwiji, Wing Commanders B.E. Ekele, Adamu Sakaba; Squadron Leaders Martin Luther, C. Ode and A Ahura.

The tribunal, chaired by Major General Ndiomu, tried the officers under the Treason and Other Offences (Special Military Tribunal) Decree 1 of 1986. Other members of the tribunal were Brigadier Yerima Yohanna Kure, Commodore Murtala Nyako, Col. Rufus Kupolati, Col E. Opaleye, and Lt. Col. D. Muhammed. Alhaji Mamman Nassarawa, a commissioner of police and Major A Kejawa, the Judge Advocate, were also members.
The IBB regime accused Vatsa of trying to overthrow it by hiding behind a farming loan to Lt-Col Bitiyong, a charge which the general denied. As Nowa Omogui, a military analyst explains in his essay, The Vatsa Conspiracy, Bitiyong was allegedly tortured to implicate Vatsa “by making reference to certain private political conversations they had, which Vatsa denied.”

There were further allegations that Luther, Oche, Ogwiji and Bitiyong held a meeting at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers in November 1985. Iyorchie, Bitiyong, Oche, Ekele, Sakaba and Bamidele also allegedly met in Makurdi. Allegations such as the diversion of the presidential jet to a pre-arranged location by pilots in the executive fleet (Luther and Ahura), as Omogui put it, were floated. Oche allegedly held a meeting with Major Akwashiki, Commander of the 6th Battalion, Bonny Camp, and Onyeke, after a game of squash in Lagos and spoke about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. Akwashiki was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment. He was however released 10 years later by the Abacha regime.

Oche, it was also alleged, mentioned the plot to his nephew, Peter Odoba, a young lieutenant of the Brigade of Guards who, as Omogui wrote, informed then Lt. Hamza al-Mustapha, an intelligence officer to the Chief of Army Staff. Obada was charged with “concealment, recommended for dismissal and a long jail term.” On 6 March 1986, however, Vatsa, Iyorshe, Bamidele, Ogwiji, Ekele, Sakaba, Luther, Akura were executed.Vatsa had taken his trial and sentence with cheerful equanimity like the writer that he was. His vintage smiles revealed more than his words. “I leave you with smiles as smiles surprise people. But I will tell members of the Nigerian Army that the day you start insulting yourselves, others begin to join you,” he said.

To butteress his position that there was rivalry between IBB and Vatsa, Omogui referred to an interview that Eniola Bello of THISDAY had with IBB in 2001 when he turned 60. ‘“Babangida said it was after Vatsa’s coup was foiled that he realised his childhood friend and classmate planned the coup in line with a deep-seated personal rivalry, going back to their days as young officers. He said that unconsciously, he and Vatsa had been great competitors; that as a young officer, whatever he did Vatsa equally did and whatever Vatsa achieved, he also went after. He said it was Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma who pointed this out to him from their military records.” Babangida gave this rationalisation to justify his refusal to pardon Vatsa. He said when he first heard his childhood friend was planning a coup, he decided to do nothing but monitor him. He added, however, that Vatsa came to him to complain thus: You heard I was planning a coup and couldn’t even ask me. What kind of friend are you? To this, Babangida said he replied: I didn’t believe it, or are you planning a coup? He said Vatsa replied in the negative and the matter was forgotten until there was evidence of the plot. Babangida said he instructed that Vatsa be arrested and detained to prevent him from impeding investigation into the matter.

Babangida argued: “However, Vatsa tried to escape through the air conditioner hole. I couldn’t understand why he was trying to escape if he was not involved in a coup plot. But while watching the video of his execution, I turned my eyes away when I saw him remove his watch and ask a soldier to give his wife. I couldn’t continue watching.” Babangida added that he couldn’t retire or imprison Vatsa because he believed the guy could still have planned a coup either in retirement or in prison. “Rawlings did it in Ghana and you know Vatsa was very stubborn,” IBB said.

Omogui, however, lamented the tragedy that befell Vatsa: “Vatsa maintained to the very end that the money was for farming. Others alleged, however, that after being tortured for two days, Bitiyong implicated Vatsa by making reference to certain private political conversations they had, which Vatsa denied. But Vatsa was accused of harbouring “bad blood” against his friend and classmate Babangida, dating back to the Buhari regime and possibly earlier. He was also obliquely accused of reporting Babangida’s coup plot to Buhari before he left the country for pilgrimage along with Major General Tunde Idiagbon in August, 1985.

Actions he later took as a Minister to accelerate many military applications for certificates of occupancy for land in Abuja, came to be viewed as efforts to buy the support of one or two of the plotters. Rumours that a civilian had introduced him at a party as Nigeria’s next President were even aired. All of this was, of course, circumstantial. But they took him to the stake, which was quite an anti-climax to the career of a brilliant man who never took part in any coup in Nigeria. Indeed, Mamman Vatsa was the first to go on air in Calabar to denounce the Dimka coup, and was later the Secretary of the Obada panel that tried Dimka and others in 1976. This little detail may have earned him some latent enmity in certain circles of the Army which later contributed to his death.”

There is also a very strong belief that Vatsa may have been a victim of political intrigues because of his intellectual sagacity, being a writer and soldier-poet, and his significant indifference to the military politics at that time. In fact, his ordeal had attracted three leading Nigerian literary icons, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and John Pepper Clark Bekederemo, who had gone to plead with Babangida for clemency, only to be shocked by news of his execution few minutes after departing Dodan Barracks, venue of the meeting.

But in a swift reaction tainted with arrogance and insensitivity, Alhaji Shuibu Badeggi, Special Assistant on Public Communication to Governor Abdulkhadir Kure of Niger State and an aide of Babangida, stoutly defended the execution, claiming that a process found Vatsa and nine others culpable in the coup saga. According to him, Mrs. Vatsa’s petition is baseless. “She should shut up. Shut up! If you commit a coup and you know the punishment is death, then you should face it. That’s all. Those who plot a coup, when the coup fails, they die.

Simple. Talking about those saying all sorts of negative things about IBB, they are only out to score cheap political goals. Envy, grudge, that’s all. It’s envy and madness. Otherwise, if you thought 20 years ago that your husband had been wrongly accused of a coup plot and executed, why wait till now to demand that Babangida be punished? If anybody or group is using her to smear Babangida’s image, then they have a problem because it is not Babangida who desperately wants to be president of Nigeria. It’s we his supporters. There is nothing anyone of them can do in this and any other case.”

This may be Badeggi’s simple response to a complex issue which is already generating interest across the country. The day Badeggi’s outburst came out, TheNEWS gathered, Mrs. Vatsa did not hold back her own ballistic missile. She reportedly said: “Anybody who says I am being used is a big fool. In the first place, my husband made Kure. As a Minister, my husband brought Nupe people to government. That was when Kure came to Abuja to work with my husband. If Kure was not made by my husband, would he be in a position to have an aide like the one talking rubbish? That aide should shut up 100 times. Nobody is sponsoring me. All I want is the matter to be opened up so that the whole world will witness the case.

There are many other thousands of innocent people in the grave whom IBB murdered. Their souls are crying for justice. All those he made widows and orphans are seeking justice. He has no hiding place. Should anybody or group of persons make any mago mago to force IBB on Nigerians, the Aba women riot of 1929 will be a child’s play to the women riot that will be witnessed in 2007.” Will justice be done in the Vatsa case?



http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1331

This story is long but interesting, I wonder if you a re in IBB shoes, will you have a childhood friend kill just because he was planning an inconclusive coup?

Planning a coup is a serious offense and yes, if I was in IBB's place, I would have the coup plotters and everyone associated with the coup plotters executed by firing squad.

However, what I find most disturbing about this read is that IBB believes in real politik. That would explain his actions after the free and fair elections in 1993.

For those who don't know, real politik is the political philosophy that states there are no friends, only interests. Now, it sounds harmless enough, but when implemented, it is the most dangerous fundamental idea in the world. This is the same political philosohpy that Stalin used to murder over 40 million of his own people. To allow a man that adheres to this doctrine to ever ascend to power is asking for trouble.

This is definitely something that the working class and ruling class have invested interest in making sure never happens. For, everyone would be affected by the kind of destruction that real politik minded people bring out. As far as these monsters are concerned, in the quest for power, family, close friends, and common strangers are only as valuable as the extent to which they serve your interests.

Another responce to this thread, when it comes to looking at military regimes, I refuse to recognize the difference between officers. If you operate or have operated under a military government, you should be severely punished. (Firing squad for the top leadership).

People must be made to realize that it is not ok to tolerate military governments. And it is definitely not ok to work with them. Anyone that works with the military Government on a state or federal level should be taken outside and shot. Respect for governmental institutions is paramount, and all men of the uniform that have tasted power on the state and national level should die for it. How else can you get the message to young and rebellious officers that if they have any desire for Governmental leadership, the military is not the avenue for them to persue such ambitions.

Realpolitik as canvassed by Machiavelli in Il Principe is what America has been practising for decades on the rest of the world, and probably on themselves as well. That IBB uses it doesn't make any difference. The main thing is that in IBB's shoes, I'd have done the same.

That is the honest truth.

Won't it be better to confide the guy to life in prison, rather then to kill your friend? that was my thought . I would have had him behind bars so he can have time to reminisce on his actions.

Even if he renders the whole country orphans, some idiots would still clamour for his comeback next year, Kai, My people are:.: Na God sabi.

as Cunning and charming as IBB is this man is ruthless and evil. How many Innocent people got kill under his regime and nothing was ever said or no one was ever indicted. Every thing that goes around comes around, maybe this elections will expose all the dirty laundry IBB has to hide.

Chei man this is too long o, but its definately interesting, i'll giv my comment wen am thru!!!

Property belonging to the late Mamman Vatsa appropriated by the late Sani Abacha is to be returned at the behest of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The President will meet with Vatsa’s family tomorrow to discuss the matter.

His execution in 1985 was just one loop in the chain of ironies which stretched back six years.

Then a Major General and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Vatsa was sent to the gallows for allegedly plotting to overthrow the junta of Ibrahim Babangida, who himself had ousted Muhammadu Buhari in a palace coup d’etat slickly carried out in August that year.

Vatsa protested his innocence in vain.

Buhari had become Head of State through a coup on December 31, 1983, which saw the back of "democratically" elected President Shehu Shagari three months into his second term.

Shagari’s own election was disputed down to the wire, beginning with that of his first term, which dated back to October 1, 1979.

Eight years after Babangida executed his friend, Vatsa, he himself had to "step aside" from power amid the national furore over his annulment of the Presidential election on June 12, 1993 which Moshood Abiola won.

Abiola died in 1998, incarcerated by Abacha, who also kicked the bucket the same year.

Tomorrow, Safiya, Vatsa’s widow, will lead a delegation of eight to seek restitution in Aso Rock. It includes Harauna, the eldest son.

A Presidency source confided that the family plans to press for, among others, the exhumation of the patriarch’s body for proper burial with full military honours and for his posthumous promotion to the rank of General.

A letter signed by K. Uudli in the office of the Chief of Staff to the President conveyed Obasanjo’s approval of the request of the family to meet with him.

The letter, dated July 21, is the response to the one the family wrote on June 22 requesting the parley.

Another source explained that "the meeting will dwell on the frame up and killing of Vatsa for a phantom coup, by Babangida. The family has presented some proposals to the President as restitution for the criminal act.

"The most important is that his body should be released to the family for a proper and decent burial. We also insist that those responsible for the criminal murder of Vatsa should be brought to book, and we want his name immortalised.

"Some of his properties were seized, particularly those illegally converted by the Abacha family. The Vatsa family made a very strong case for the recovery of these landed properties, and the Presidency has given assurances of assisting the family to recover them".

Others on the delegation include West African Youth Peace Mission President, Godwill Richman, and National Association of Nigerian Widows President, Margaret Joseph.

Richman said he is "not in a position to comment on it" because "I cannot speak for Mrs Vatsa. However, I can confirm that I associate very closely with the Vatsa family, and we also empathise with her because she has indeed suffered a great injustice.

"We are particularly thankful to Mr. President for the willingness of his administration to right past wrongs. The murder of Vatsa is indeed one of those wrongs, that is crying to be righted".

Will Richman attend the meeting in Aso Rock tomorrow?

"As the President of a youth organisation that is at the vanguard of peace in Nigeria and beyond", he replied, "I am always welcome at the Presidential Villa – because of the importance this administration attaches to peace".

http://www.independentngonline.com/news/128/ARTICLE/7497/2006-07-25.html

This is good news for the family. What is troubling me is why Obj doesn't punish IBB now. Its not like he is up for re-election. His administration is one of the most Stable in Nigerias history and runs virtually no risk of being overthrown.

To make matters better, Obj is in his 70s, his life is almost over. He should do what is right by punishing the Abachas and Babagindas. In fact, he should punish all men that assisted those monsters in ruling.

Honestly, there is no excuse for Abacha's oldest son, Ibb and other generals that assisted them to still be alive today. Kill them now, before they use their ill gotten loot to continue to poison Nigerias fragile democracy.

If I had my way, I would execute all military leaders who had plagued the country since independence. However, if we spend so much time on ass-hole like IBB and his colleagues, the world would leave us behind. The most urgent issue is to find a way of preventing Babangida and his kinds from ruling the country again. This requires structures for check and balance from the lowest to highest arms of government.

You make it seem like it would be hard to kill IBB. Storm his damn mansion on the hill in Minna and drag the bastard out and shoot him in the goddamn head. Rinse and repeat the seam for Mohammed Abacha, Abdulsalami, and every top rank General that assisted this monsters in ruling. Do the same for Abacha's wife and Mariam Babaginda. No mercy, death to the bastards.

All of this can be carried out within a week or less. Its not hard, and it is the least Nigeria can do to send a clear warning to would-be coupist that this is a new era, and such actions would not now or ever be tolerated in Nigeria.

yeah, the same way they killed ahmadu bello, and akintola and co for corruption? the way nzeogwu was killedafter a coup?, the same way where has it gotten us today? it never helps and will never help

try him yes, and if found guilty by all means givr him the punishment. but to just get up and kil people because they are 'corrupt' (who in actual fact isn't)
has never and will never solve the problem.

Debo, are you calling into question the fact that Ibb and the Abachas are corrupt?

I'm sorry, I already assumed that all well-meaning Nigerians have come to this conclusion. But its fine, you and your girl men (Seun and co) can preach your tolerance for degenerates, I on the other hand, will continue to spread the cure. Death to the bastards.

Killing this corrupt past leaders is a sign of inhumane and I personally think there is a way you can kill a man rather than firing squad. This people should be tries and humiliated like their counter part Tafa Balogun and Alamieyeseigha and Charles Taylor. This people may still be with us physically but they have been dead spiritually and mentally. subject any public officer found guilty to the same treatment. the only thing that baffles me is what are the intentions of Buhari and Babangida and Atiku for trying at all cost to rule Nigeria?

@ Hitler all i'm saying is if you start killing people just because you feel they are corrupt, then anybody who you want to kill will then be labelled corrupt a la giving a dog a bad name to hang it. this si not about IBB or Abacha (for the record i do think they are corrupt). it s just that if such a precedent is set, others will use that same reasoning to eliminate people they hate under the toga of 'he/she is corrupt'

In law there is what is called statute of limitation.  To successfully bring an action against a defendant, you must do so within certain years of the act or offense.  The killing of Vatsa and Co was carried out in March 1985, therefore an action cannot be brought against IBB because it is now statute barred.  What OBJ can do in this circumstance is to use his good offices to grant Vasta a posthumous pardon and possibly give the family a sort of compensation for the injustice done to the late officer and his family.

I believe OBJ will like to pursue this course of action because like Vasta, he was roped into a phantom coup with his friend, late Major-Gen Musa Yar'adua, but unlike Vasta, he was lucky to escape death by the whiskers.  Before OBJ could contest the presidency, he was granted a state pardon by the Military Provincial Ruling Council (PRC) and so I see him extending similar gesture to the late Vasta, albeit posthumously to clear his name.

As for trying IBB, the possibility is remote since there is no law nor have a precedent been set in the country.  It cannot happen.

statute of limitation is waved in a murder case. there is no limitation to when someone can be prosecuted or murder.

And who says this is a murder case? You? I don't think so. You can't jump into that conclusion because we are not dealing with emotions here but facts of law. Did you know that an officer could be implicated in a coup for various reasons such "as an accessory after the fact of a coup, for having knowledge of a coup and not inform the authorities, etc. Have you studied the law establishing the Military Tribunal that tried Vatsa and Co? Did you know that Military Tribunals are always established by decree which cannot be challengd by the civil courts? Military regimes are an an aberration and that is why they are despised by the civilized world.

l am sure OBJ from the vantage position of a decree giver and beneficiary of the same decree a la Sanni Abacha (he signed into law the Military Tribunal decree that was used to try General Bissala and Co for their involvement in the abortive coup d'etat that killed Gen Murtala, OBJ's boss in 1976 and the same decree was used to convict him in the coup saga of 1995) is better placed to decide on the merit of their case.

The best argument that could be put forward by the family is wrongful death but like I said, I do not see them pressing their case in a civil court for "murder" as you envisioned because of time lapse.

@ Odeku

Our people says if you see a creature is dancing on top of water, there must be a drummer underneath the water.  The whole Vasta saga is nothing but an orchestrated attempt by the unscrupulous elements in the PDP to thwart the ambition of IBB.  To get a gist of what I am saying read this article which appeared in the Sunday Tribune of July 30, 2006:

PDP primaries guidelines out Atiku, Kalu, IBB, Turaki in tight corner
Lanre Adewole, Abuja - 30.07.2006
The chances of Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to clinch the Peoples Democratic Party {PDP}, presidential ticket may have been finally sealed by the final guidelines for the party’s primaries scheduled for this year.

A copy of the guidelines dated 21st June, 2006 and signed by the party’s national Chairman, Senator Ahmadu Ali and National Secretary, Ojo Maduekwe, has been seen by Sunday Tribune.

Another leading presidential aspirant on the party’s platform, former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida may also be stopped by the guidelines, if political permutations by those controlling the party leadership, did not favour his emergence.

Two other presidential aspirants, Governors Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia state and Saminu Turaki of Jigawa state, may have also kissed their ambition good-bye on the platform of the ruling party, due to the guidelines.

Sunday Tribune gathered from a high-ranking party official that section 2 {c} of the guidelines would be used by forces opposed to the Atiku and Kalu’s presidential ambition, especially Atiku’s, to do them in.

The provision reads: “Subject to the provisions of the 1999 constitution and any other applicable law, an aspirant to the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be eligible to be nominated or to contest the primary elections, if he has been indicted for any misconduct set out in Article 21{1} of the constitution of the party and has been punished in accordance with Article 21{7}.

Both are currently being tried by the national hierarchy of the party, with our source disclosing that they would be found guilty of anti-party activities, given their party’s platform.

Plans are said to be underway for the anti-graft bodies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission {EFCC}, to drag the Minna-born retired general to court over alleged corrupt practices while in office, which may be used as an excuse to bar him from the primaries, even if the court had not pronounced him guilty.

Section 2 {h} of the guidelines says; “ Subject to the provisions of the 1999 constitution and any other applicable law, an aspirant to the office of the President of Nigeria shall not be eligible to be nominated or to contest the primary elections, if he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a court of competent jurisdiction”

[b]The Vatsa saga was also allegedly exhumed for the wife to drag Babangida to court for culpable homicide, with the pendancy of the matter in court or its resolution being used as an excuse to bar IBB.[/b]Section 2 {f} provides that an aspirant shall not be eligible if “he has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria or within the Commonwealth or elsewhere for any offence involving homicide, fraud or dishonesty or the sale or use of narcotic drugs or any other psychotropic substance”.

For Saminu Turaki, who recently defected to the ruling party from the All Nigeria Peoples Party {ANPP}, sub-section 2, seems to have taken care of his presidential aspiration.

The provision provides that an aspirant shall not be eligible if; “he has not been a member of the Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} for at least two years preceding the primary election except if waived by the National Executive Committee of the party”.

The same provision applies to the governorship ambition of the former National Chairman of the ANPP, Chief Donald Etiebet, who returned back to the ruling party to actualize his dream to be Akwa-Ibom state governor.

Though, he was a member of the ruling party before he defected to the ANPP, a source at the PDP secretariat revealed to Sunday Tribune that Etiebet would be treated as a new member.

Another highlight of the guidelines is that while all female aspirants at all levels are exempted from the payment of prescribed nomination fee, presidential aspirants on the platform of the party are to pay #5milllion, while the governorship aspirants are expected to pay #3million.

Another provision of the guidelines stipulates that; “In a presidential primary election, the result shall be ascertained by counting the votes cast for each aspirant and no aspirant shall be declared nominated or elected as the flag bearer of the party unless he has polled at least 50% of the votes cast”.

One national delegate shall also be elected through a special Local Government Party Congress, from each local government, to participate alongside the others in the presidential primaries.


I am not an IBB supporter but I am just amused by the clandenstine activities of those elements in PDP.  It is not about finding justice for Vasta but it is about checkmating IBB (causing confusion) and thereby furthering the chances of OBJ who is still behaving like a wounded lion going on rampage.
Let keep our arms folded and see how the future events plays themselves out.

Interesting, I am not an IBB fan but I was in Nigeria when he was the head of state and this man did nothing tangible for Nigeria, He was the ring leader of 419 in my opinion, and as for Vatsa's wife, I think she has a legitimate reason to seek justice for her husband's killing, I will do the same if my wife was killed regardless of the circumstances. I personally think IBB should be ban from contesting the election, he ruled Nigeria for over 7 years and i can recollect any thing tangible we as a nation benefit under his regime.

The evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred in their bones - (William Shakespare in Julius Ceaser).
Even though he is still living, isn't it pathetic that for somebody that ruled for eight years (from August 27, 1985 to August 27, 1993) we cannot remember the good things he accomplished in office. As I lay back on my bed writing this reply I began to reminisce on the bad things he did while in office, and I feel sorry for Nigeria if he is allowed to dribble his way into governance again. I say NEVER AGAIN.

IBB's chicken is finally coming home to roost, and nemesis will catch up with him. I see the law of retributive justice coming into play here and nobody will shed crocodile tears for him. Did you recall his famous statement: "We don't know who will succeed us but we know those who will not?"

Every time i read the news I'm still baffled, IBB and Buhari want to come back and rule Nigeria, and we can't associate any achievement to either former leaders beside embezzlement and discipline. why do are they both seeking second chance?

The findings of the security agents who investigated the circumstances surrounding the death by firing squad of Major-General Mamman Vatsa over the 1986 coup, have been turned over to the office of the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo for judicial advice, the Nigerian Tribune has exclusively gathered.


The report was said to have been forwarded to the justice minister’s office on Tuesday. It could not be done on Monday as planned because those packaging it reportedly worked late into the evening.


The minister, who is on his annual leave, is currently out of the country and would not return until August 21.


A source revealed that the findings of the investigative team are being treated as highly classified, with the members of the team said to be reporting directly to the National Security Adviser, Gen. Sarki Mukhtar (rtd) instead of their Director-General.


The said Director-General was said not to have been privy to the findings of his officials before the report was forwarded to the office of the Justice Minister.


The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the minister was being expected to offer expert advice, before another round of investigations would take place on the matter.


The minister is being involved, according to our source, to point out legal pitfalls in the unfolding Vatsa saga, before attempts would be made to move for the prosecution of the principal actors in the General Babangida regime, which sentenced Vatsa and others to death over alleged involvement in attempts to overthrow the regime.


The move to probe into Vatsa’s death by the Federal Government is seen in many circles as an attempt to rope Babangida into culpable homicide, and use the murder charge to stop him from contesting the 2007 presidential election, for which he is seen as a front-runner.


General Charles Ndiomu (rtd), was the chairman of the military tribunal that sentenced Vatsa and others to death, with General Domkat Bali (rtd) announcing to the whole world that the convicted coup plotters, including Vatsa, had been executed “about an hour ago”, at a time almost the whole world was pleading that their lives be spared.

Well, for me I dont think IBB should neccessarilly be tried per say. But if Vatsa was innocently killed, the appropriate quaters should be made to apologise to His family,His name should be cleared from History as a coup plotter (because children are still been taught in History that he was executed for been invovled in an aborted coup plot), he should be reinstated back into the Army and His entitlements as a late army officer be payed to his family. They should also be compensated monitery wise.
Trying IBB wont bring succour to his family, theyve always known he was responsible for thier husband's, father's death. But if He wont take the initiative of making a public apology, He should be made to do that. He has been sending emisaries to the widow in secret to ask her to forget about the whole matter, family friends she has not heard from in over 15 years are calling her on his behalf. Why cant He just come out and publicly apologise to the widow and her children and clear thier father's name ?
You see, that is the problem with IBB, He belives he can eat his cake and have. Life doesnt work like that. You pay for your sins nomatter how much you think you've changed.

IBB has done so much harm to alot of families in Nigeria and the best thing he can do for them all and himself to, is to forget about contesting.

Please ask mrs vasta who gave the orders for her military cook to be killed? I don't like selective bias. By the way do you people know that both IBB, Buhari and Abdulsalam still rule Nigeria through the national council of states for which they are life members? Maybe you should do something about that.

Ootokx , I must disagree with you on that note that they still rule Nigeria, yes they are influential in Nigeria in the north and the greedy bastards that take kick backs from them, all we have to do is wait and see how Ribadu exposed all this people if its in deed truth that they are all corrupt. its a matter of time now as long as they don't assassinate him.

otoks, why don't YOU tell us who gave the order yourself since you seem to Know so much about it (abi where you there when the order was given?). Well, I read the article in SUN(i think) by an obviously pro-IBB ex-military man,but unlike you who swallowed it hook, line and sinker, I have my reservations about that story. First of all, was the writer of the article present when the order was given? Does he know anyone who took the orders and who is ready to testify PUBLICLY to such? How come he is just bringing it up now? Does it justify anything?

Vasta may have not been a saint, but he was publicly accused and killed for a crime someone has just admitted he never commited. Our children are taught in schools till today that he was invovled in an aborted coup plot, And was executed a criminal. Are you telling me the family does not have a right to set the records straight? To erase their fathers name from the list of people executed as enemies of the state and as common criminals? Are you telling me it is wrong if IBB admits to have made a mistake and publicly asks for forgiveness from  these people?

OMG, I really get amazed sometimes!

Imagine if Buhari win the election, will he bring IBB to justice for over throwing his regime? will he be vindictive and retaliate. IBB will be exposed sooner than we all anticipate.

I'm a xtian and I do not believe in killing human beings (only if they Bleep with me, lol), on a serious note, one has to pay attention to military rules, which permit IBB or any other commander in charge to execute a busted coup plotter. The rule is clear and simple; and this is a chance you take as a plotter. Even IBB has taken the same chance in the past, but fortunate to be successful.
We need not to get it twisted, OBJ is just desperately looking for a method to belittle IBB and his ambition to become the next Nigerian president, OBJ doesn't care about Vasta or his family. It's just another vindictive behavior of Mr President.

My question for Mr President:
Why bringing up this issue now? why not 2 years ago?

My prayer continues to go to Vasta's family and I wish them the best, But IBB has followed the military regular standardized protocol in handling this situation at that period of time.

Military regime is different from democracy regime, we need to understand this fact, Any military regime from any where or any country would have done thesame thing IBB did, In military standard it was the right thing to do and it also shows the strenght of a true leader.

big B , point of correction, this is an ongoing issue and OBJ did not brought up the issue. Vatsa's family and widow came for justice, and real the facts, even a retired general Bali on the tribunal said based on the evidence they have, Vatsa should have not been killed