Nigeria: Executions? What executions?
By Elizabeth Ohene
The Observer story also spoke about "tense expectation of a renewed bid against Maj-Gen. Buhari on New Year's Eve - the first anniversary of the army's own putsch against the civilian government of President Shagari.The news is false, baseless and ridiculous in every detail. That is official, and the news should therefore be treated as such by all and discounted. What is more, the news is meant to discredit the Federal Military Government, which believes in the rule of law...
This in brief has been the reaction of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria to the front page exclusive story of last Sunday's London Observer which reported that 42 officers and men had been secretly executed for having plotted to assassinate the entire ruling military leadership.
The story, written by Richard Hall, the paper's Africa Correspondent, quoted reports from London as saying that the plot was due to have been carried out during the Independence Day parade in Lagos on October 1. The story went on that the plot was revealed in advance and the would-be assassins rounded up. "Firing squads reportedly disposed of them in an underground firing range at the Ikeja Cantoment 15 miles north of Lagos. Those who were executed included two lieutenant-colonels, four majors, six captains, and two lieutenants. The rest were other ranks" the story said.
The rest of the story dealt with alleged fears mounting of a left-wing coup in Nigeria and reports of extreme unease in the business community and a lot of unhappiness and growing faction.
The Observer story also spoke about "tense expectation of a renewed bid against Maj-Gen Buhari on New Year's Eve the first anniversary of the army's own putsch against the civilian government of President Shagari.
First hints of a crisis came with the cancellation of the Independence Day parade. The Supreme Military Council said that this was an economic measure. Rehearsals had been taking place for several weeks.
It is now known that the plotters planned their mass assassination for the moment when troops and tanks quietly began passing in front of the presidential dais in the capital's Tafawa Balewa Square…”
Now I have to get personal. For somebody who had, the previous Saturday evening been writing an article about an order from the Chief of Staff Tunde Idiagbon that 828 condemned prisoners should all be executed within two weeks, my first reaction was "oh dear, mass executions are becoming quite a habit with these soldiers."
Then, true to my habit of not wanting to believe unpleasant things, I started listing reasons why the story cannot/should not be true. An underground firing range at Ikeja Cantoment? Never heard of that, but then I did not know either that ex- President Shehu Shagari and all his cabinet wore bullet proof vests during the inauguration for their second brief term of office a year ago. But there it was from the African correspondent of the respected Observer. Just goes to show the things one doesn't know.
The surprising thing, however, has been the number of people whose reaction to the story has been "oh well, it's an old story; the rumour has been making the rounds in Lagos for some time".
But 42 officers and men? Killed and without any announcement? Well, if 828 condemned men can be executed in two weeks then I suppose, if it is only the blood spilling, then there is nothing spectacular.
Then one recalled that rumours of a Sadat-style assassination plot had been quite rife in late September and this paper had even alluded to them at the time.
What is more, The Observer is not known to peddle falsehoods. And the Africa Editor had demonstrated in the one year since the overthrow of the civilian government in Nigeria that he was not very friendly towards the corrupt overthrown politicians.
The military administration had also demonstrated its faith (?) in the Africa Editor when he was invited to Nigeria earlier on in the year to see at first hand the military government in operation and to be given the dossier that was said to have been collected on the fugitive politicians. In other words, the Africa Editor had good contacts within the administration, so he must know what he is talking about, at least, far more than I who had not been to Nigeria in one year and can claim no such contacts. And reading the story, it was quite obvious that the secret execution of 42 officers and men was not what was considered very important. It was the fear of a possible left wing coup which might disturb the city of London and Britain's trade with Nigeria that were held out as the dreadful prospects.
One wonders however if there has ever been any soldier who has staged a coup in West Africa and has not sounded left wing in his 'coup speech' at least, if not in the first few months.
Even Maj-Gen Buhari was left wing for about two weeks and it is not unlikely that the coup plotters were also passing through the same phase as Gen Buhari also went through when he was plotting his own coup.
The surprising thing however has been the number of people whose reaction to the story has been one of "oh well, its an old story, the rumour has been making the rounds in Lagos for some time." The only point in dispute seems to be the number of people that were executed in the incident. Some say that they had heard of 70 and others say the number was 30. The one thing on which everybody seems to be agreed is that there has been some incident and some people have been hurriedly tried and executed which must say a lot about the extreme insecurity being felt by Maj-Gen Buhari and his colleagues. When things get to the point where the government cannot even admit to an attempt having been made to topple it nor go through the motions of a trial however sham, then things must be worse than anybody imagined.
But then, the denial of the Observer story is even more worrying in parts than the offending story.
The FMG say they could not have executed 42 officers and men because their government abides by the rule of law. Now that is a strange one. Which law? One had thought that the past eleven months in Nigeria had demonstrated that laws are the least important considerations in the country. The FMG have made new laws as they proceeded and ignored the old ones if it did not suit them.
Even the new decrees that have been promulgated have been regularly amended every time the FMG couldn't get an intended victim. If a citizen's life is guaranteed only because the Buhari administration believes in the rule of law, then nobody's life is worth a brass farthing because Gen Buhari and his friends have demonstrated quite clearly that they have no respect for the rule of law. Their very act of 31 December, 1983 destroyed the rule of law in Nigeria and made possible the publication of such a story.
As they have maintained in all their decrees, the onus of proof is on the accused person these days, the FMG now stands accused. It is up to them to prove that they have not executed some officers and men on the quiet. It should not be impossible to account for the whereabouts of every officer in the Nigerian Armed Forces.
