The outgoing administration of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Tuesday named a 9.7km road connecting Makurdi to Apir after the late Major Gideon Orkar, who was killed by a firing squad for masterminding a failed coup against the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.) in 1990.

Orkar, who hailed from Benue State, and his conspirators seized the FRCN radio station, various military posts around Lagos and the Dodan Barracks, Lagos, the military headquarters and presidential Villa.

Babangida was present when the barracks were attacked but managed to escape by a back route.

In his coup address, Orkar called for the excision of five northern states, alleging that the Babangida regime marginalised the South.


However, the coup was crushed by the Babangida regime and Orkar including 41 other coconspirators were tried, convicted of treason and were executed by firing squad on July 27, 1990.

The Commissioner for Information, Benue State, Mike Inalegwu, told journalists in Markurdi on Tuesday that the decision to immortalise Orkar was taken at the meeting of the State Executive Council.

According to the information commissioner, the State Executive Council, at its Tuesday meeting, declared that everything that Orkar said then had come to pass, hence, its decision to immortalise him.


Inalegwu said, “To recognise one of its heroes, the Executive Council today decided to name a 9km township road that burst out at Apir after the late Major Gideon Orkar.

“When Orkar came out with that broadcast, nobody took it seriously but today all that Orkar said in that broadcast has come to pass. So, we, in Benue State, have come to realise that Orkar meant well for this country.

“So, in the council meeting today, we resolved that a street should be named after Gideon Orkar and that is to tell Nigerians that Orkar had prophesied about what the country is facing today and unfortunately, he was executed. The 9.7km road that bursts out at Apir will be named after Gideon Orkar.”

https://punchng.com/benue-honours-orkar-leader-of-1990-coup-against-ibb/

Brave man he was but he and his crew messed up by not employing tact.How do you start dividing the country when the coup has not succeeded yet?

If other coupists were rewarded accordingly, then there is nothing more noble than to immortalize Orkar, though i totally didnt align myself with his ideology. Niger state should as a matter of fact treat Gen Mamman Vatsas memory with such veneration. Even Anambra SG owes late Maj Ifeajuna that much.

thorpido:
Brave man he was but he and his crew messed up by not employing tact.How do you start dividing the country when the coup has not succeeded yet?

The coup was 95% successful

If only his coup went through. He intended to cut off the core North - Buhari and El Rufai.

May God bless his work.

Honouring a coup plotter who was sentenced and killed by firing squad ?
I don't think this is honourable.
The military wouldn't like this.

yinkus6750:
Honouring a coup plotter who was sentenced and killed by firing squad ?
I don't think this is honourable.
The military wouldn't like this.

make nobody bring him own make dem kill..don't see anything wrong honouring him.what if it was all set up.

yinkus6750:
Honouring a coup plotter who was sentenced and killed by firing squad ?
I don't think this is honourable.
The military wouldn't like this.

Buhari, Babangida, Abacha and a host of others are all coup plotters that have been honored and celebrated in Nigeria.

yinkus6750:
Honouring a coup plotter who was sentenced and killed by firing squad ?
I don't think this is honourable.
The military wouldn't like this.

Didn't you reward Buhari with 8yrs in the presidency?

Or have you forgot he's also a coup plotter?

thorpido:
Brave man he was but he and his crew messed up by not employing tact.How do you start dividing the country when the coup has not succeeded yet?

Reason for their down fall

ChybuzzDD:


Didn't you reward Buhari with 8yrs in the presidency?

Or have you forgot he's also a coup plotted?

smh. You are not knowledgeable on things like this and likely too young. Major General Muhammadu Buhari has never plotted a coup all his life.

Orkar and his killers are not different, they do not have any business with governance. They are all coup plotters and on this, Orkar can be honoured by his own people too. Do people not honour Col Odumegwu Ojukwu today? Yet what he did was far worse than what Orkar did.

All coup plotters are guilty of truncating the democratic norm handed down to us at independence.

Both successful and failed coups set us years aback and stunted our democratic growth hence the sham we witness this past February when an electoral umpire frittered away 400billion on a venture that has churned out more confusion than the ill-fated ballot.

I keep on saying it, in so much that theirs were violent uprisings, the late Major Gideon Gwarza, Orkar and late Major Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu are true hero's who truly saw the ills and rotteness plaguing Nigeria from a distance and make attempts to intervene.

No sane person today in Nigeria will not acknowledged that the multi-headed nepotism, clannishness, religious fanatism, ethno-religious supremacist agenda, wanton bloodshed and killings by the feudal power lord have only worsened over time.

Very bold statement

Posterity will be kind to him for standing on the side of truth

FreeStuffsNG:
smh. You are not knowledgeable on things like this and likely too young. Major General Muhammadu Buhari has never plotted a coup all his life.

Orkar and his killers are not different, they do not have any business with governance. They are all coup plotters and on this, Orkar can be honoured by his own people too. Do people not honour Col Odumegwu Ojukwu today? Yet what he did was far worse than what Orkar did.

We are talking about Orkar and the coup he plotted, you are bringing Col Odumegwu Ojukwu. Is Col Odumegwu Ojukwu a coup plotter

yinkus6750:
Honouring a coup plotter who was sentenced and killed by firing squad ?
I don't think this is honourable.
The military wouldn't like this.

But the military likes Fulani herdsmen killing innocent Benue citizens.

yinkus6750:
Honouring a coup plotter who was sentenced and killed by firing squad ?
I don't think this is honourable.
The military wouldn't like this.

But your current President is a renowned coup plotter who overthrew the democratically elected regime of Shehu Shagari

FreeStuffsNG:
smh. You are not knowledgeable on things like this and likely too young. Major General Muhammadu Buhari has never plotted a coup all his life.

Orkar and his killers are not different, they do not have any business with governance. They are all coup plotters and on this, Orkar can be honoured by his own people too. Do people not honour Col Odumegwu Ojukwu today? Yet what he did was far worse than what Orkar did.

Buhari never plotted a coup in his life? He just happened to hold high ranking positions such as minister and head of state as a military officer, out of good luck?

he was a HERO of our Time...brave and fearless may is soul rest in peace....he die for freedom.

NigerianAngelo:
If only his coup went through. He intended to cut off the core North - Buhari and El Rufai.

May God bless his work.

Gideon Orkar’s coup would have been the best thing to happen to Nigeria if it succeeded but he was too much in a haste.

He started making consequential announcements without first securing power.

All he needed to do was calm down, complete power takeover and appoint his loyalists across all military formations before launching his plans. But he hadn’t done of these and he went ahead to announce that the core north has been yanked off from Nigeria until they stop being troublesome.

But his coup did not fail…

It is said that before his coup, military parades were held in Hausa in barracks and only Hausas held command positions and other juicy positions.

But the coup exposed the deep seated hatred officers of other regions had held against the core northerners and from then the military has never gone back to the pre-Orkar coup era.

May God continue to rest his soul!

May he continue to rest in power.

phylshan:

The coup was 95% successful

Can explain better..?

kcnwaigbo:
But the military likes Fulani herdsmen killing innocent Benue citizens.

As usual, a dirty ipob goat spiting on the fulani nation. Una never see anything

FreeStuffsNG:
smh. You are not knowledgeable on things like this and likely too young. Major General Muhammadu Buhari has never plotted a coup all his life.

Orkar and his killers are not different, they do not have any business with governance. They are all coup plotters and on this, Orkar can be honoured by his own people too. Do people not honour Col Odumegwu Ojukwu today? Yet what he did was far worse than what Orkar did.

You must be an idiot to describe a man who witnessed Buhari's coup in December 1983 and military rule from then to 1985 as "too young" and for trying to change history.

Buhari is a coup plotter and coup beneficiary. Your idiocy won't change an already documented history.

ChybuzzDD:


You must be an idiot to describe a man who witnessed Buhari's coup in December 1983 and military rule from then to 1985 as "too young" and for trying to change history.

Buhari is a coup plotter and coup beneficiary. Your idiocy won't change an already documented history.

Buhari's pretense is worth studying. He stays from a distance to benefits the proceed of the ill of the society. He would always say he is not aware. The stole in PTF he wasn't aware. 2b naira got missing he wasn't aware