1976 Coup: Abisoye loses chairmanship of Jos crisis panel
By Lekan Fadeyi (Lagos) and Onoja Audu (Jos)

Emmanuel Abisoye seems to have been dropped as the Chairman of the Presidential Panel probing the violence in Jos in November last year because of his role in the aftermath of the coup d’tat staged by Buka Suka Dimka on February 13, 1976, in which Murtala Muhammed was killed.




http://odili.net/news/source/2009/dec/11/402.html


Abisoye, then a Brigadier, chaired the military panel which tried Dimka. He retired in 1979 as a Major General.

The Jos panel began sitting on Thursday at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, without Abisoye in sight.

Protest had trailed his nomination in March, as thousands of Plateau indigenes trooped out to express fears that they would not get a fair hearing with him heading the panel.

They recalled that his military panel indicted the coup plotters which led to the execution of over 80 per cent of military officers from the then Benue Plateau State.

The Plateau State Government led the protest.

Former Information and Communications Commissioner, Nuhu Gagara, expressed the ill feelings still being nursed against Abisoye.

The people maintained that most of the officers killed because of the coup were innocent, and they considered the presence of Abisoye on another panel investigating a crisis on the Plateau as a new attempt by the federal establishment to accomplish what the far North started 33 years ago.

On Thursday, a member of the panel said Abisoye is “sick, that is why he is not here” at the sitting.

But further enquiries on his absence were made unnecessary by the presence of a new Chairman, Geoffrey Preware, who said 90 memoranda on the Jos mayhem have been received.

According to Preware, the order of appearance for the public hearing would begin with the officials of the state government, Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC), University of Jos (UNIJOS), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and other public institutions.

They will be followed by residents of Jos North Council, officials of political parties, social and cultural organisations, private entrepreneurs, religious organisations, and individuals.

Preware said representatives of security agencies would be invited to react to allegations that may arise from submissions.

According to him, the panel is not a commission of inquiry, as there may not be need for lawyers to cross examine witnesses.

He assured petitioners that the panel reserves the right to invite anyone mentioned, if necessary.

He gave one week to those who may still wish to submit memoranda to do so, saying his panel and the Bola Ajibola commission of inquiry are all out to bring an enduring peace on the Plateau.

Preware disclosed that the public sitting would begin in full on Monday and continue until all submissions are treated.

You past will always haunt you.

So even the middle-belt has some backyard face-off with their masters in the far north. 80% of there military men.

Are you sure that  it is Plateau people who do not want him?  Have you thought about the other interest group, who  are afraid that the man may  refuse to  bend in their favour this time around? 

ONLY Time will reveal the truth.

jamace:

Are you sure that  it is Plateau people who do not want him?  Have you thought about the other interest group, who  are afraid that the man may  refuse to  bend in their favour this time around? 

ONLY Time will reveal the truth.

As at press time yesterday, only Plteau people were protesting his appointment. There are no other known detractors except his enemies from the village or the women he broke their heart in the 60's.

saintneo:

So even the middle-belt has some backyard face-off with their masters in the far north. 80% of there military men.

Except JosBoy. He is cool with their actions even if they are chopping off his yansh with cutlass.

A lot of misunderstanding in that story: "Abisoye, then a Brigadier, chaired the military panel which tried Dimka."

That is simply not true! Abisoye headed an investigation panel which investigated the coup PRIOR to the panel that tried Dimka. The panel that tried Dimka ironically included a prominent General in the Babangida regime who hails from the same middle belt!