By Ahmed Yahaya-Joe
“We couldn’t have done it without collaborators in the civil society, without collaborators in the media, collaborators among people who have the means.”
– General Ibrahim Babangida p.11 Soldiers of Fortune: Nigerian Politics from Buhari to Babangida 1983-1993 (2013) by Max Siollun.
“Fraud, indiscipline, corruption, squander mania, misuse and abuse of public office for self and group aggrandizement which has assumed debilitating proportions in the last few years will be dealt with ruthlessly no matter whoever may be involved,” was how General Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural speech went.
It is also how Nigeria: Squandering of Riches started its first half minute even before Onyeka Onwenu had introduced her good self.
Subsequently, she would unequivocally legitimize the December 31, 1983 coup describing it as signifying “a sense of hope in Nigeria.”
Then Chief tenant in Dodan Barracks must have been elated to high heavens by such ebullient endorsement.
The validation of the grand larceny of democratic governance.
Diametrically opposed two sides of the same opportunism coin – a 42-year-old warrior from Daura and a 32-year-old Amazon from Arondizougu.
These Siamese beneficiaries of the 1983 coup danced on the grave of the Second Republic before their astronomical rise on the national stage. A common trajectory of sorts.
Theirs an epic saga of how two Nigerians united in an existential battle for the soul of Nigeria. The rest as they say is still living history.
How does one write a special tribute to such a personality without ever really knowing her in person?
Though I have caught a long glimpse of her back in the halcyon days of our nation.
Viscerally chic, it was if she had liquid silver in her veins. Graceful. With a hint of gregariousness. Apparently, feisty even. Timeless elegance.
While back then there were no selfies. You just politely nodded your compliments.
This writer therefore joins all Nigerians of goodwill to salute the passing of this outstanding and talented compatriot of ours. A lady of substance and grit who had in various ways impacted us with her quintessential presence.
My condolences to the surviving members of her family, friends, and numerous fans indeed the nation at large. Such an accomplished, adept, and proficient lady in her vocation as a journalist and advocating as a songstress, show business impresario, and later a public official.
As a constantly recurring decimal and near-permanent fixture for exactly a generation on our national firmament, she will be dearly missed.
It is often said that life can be summarized in just three words, “It goes on.”
So, as we strive to look back we must endeavour to ask ourselves some difficult questions going forward.
How did late Onyeka Onwenu become an “Inside Man” in the conspiracy to topple the Shagari-Ekwueme-led Second Republic?
Babangida gives us a veritable hint in our opening quote on how a barely 4-year-old civilian democratic dispensation was so impatiently thwarted after a meandering 13-year-old military interregnum.
In her kiss-and-tell-all memoirs presented to the public in 2020 entitled “My Father’s Daughter” the late Ms. Onwenu understandably dwelt mostly on her childhood, family, education, and career trajectory with far-reaching insights on her love life.
It was however to the veteran journalist, Donu Kogbora that she briefly gave a snippet of her Second Republic role when she turned 70 in 2022;
“Ten years later (in 1994) long after he had been ousted by the Buhari-Idiagbon military coup, I bumped into (onetime President) Shagari in South Africa at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration. He lost his temper and confronted me.”
Ada Mazi then went on, “I think my answer stunned him. I told him that I stood by everything I had said in the documentary but regarded him as a good man surrounded by bad people.”
She then concluded, “All was forgiven. Friendship ensued.”
(See details in the Vanguard newspaper edition of August 2, 2024)
Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches, is an award-winning documentary film that Madam Onyeka presented during her stint at Nigerian Television Authority that perhaps a generality of Nigeria’s present demography might not readily relate with.
It was produced in conjunction with the British Broadcasting Corporation then first aired on Friday, 10th February 1984 at 19:45 am on BBC Two as part of “The World About Us” special.
How did NTA and their foreign production partners at BBC get away with the effrontery to deliberately violate the provisions 1979 Constitution with impunity on Nigerian soil?
“The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part of thereof, except by the provisions of this Constitution.” – Section 1 (2)
In her own words in the 49 minutes 22 seconds long documentary the esteemed presenter stated that the filming had started and completed “a few weeks” before the December 31 coup.
Wasn’t concealment of treason back then as we have already encountered in the relevant section of the 1979 Constitution?
Yet, the late Onyeka Onwenu (O.O.) against the background of Bar Beach interviewed a conspiratorial albeit “unknown” old soldier (O.S.) as follows;
O.S.: “The people in this country have to realize that our leaders only fight for their pockets and not the welfare of the poor masses.”
O.O.: “As an old soldier what do you plan to do about this?”
O.S.: “I have got some people of my kind of idea and belief that we have to gather ourselves and react in a kind of revolution.”
(View details from 42 minutes 22 seconds to 43 minutes 10 seconds)
While in fairness to O.O. whether or not her interview subject (O.S.) was part of the December 31, 1983 conspiracy cannot be fully established. That much cannot however be claimed on the deep involvement of other better-known old soldiers.
According to General Babangida on the preposterous proposal that the Chicken Farmer be returned to office after the toppling of the Second Republic;
“To be very fair to General Obasanjo he rejected the offer. He said no. He said it would destroy his integrity, that he handed over to Shagari, and that it is not right for him to get involved. But he (Obasanjo) said he was not stopping us from going ahead with the plot.”
(See details Pointblank News magazine edition of January 25, 2008)
Rtd. Major Al Mustapha Jokolo adds;
“We told him (General TY Danjuma) of our plans to overthrow Shagari and he lent us his support.”
(See details in the Daily Sun newspaper edition of September 21, 2009)
The need to delicately dissect the build-up and aftermath of the December 31, 1983 coup cannot be overemphasized particularly against the background of the brazen “coup baiting” during the recent August 1 protests in parts of the nation.
40 years later and still counting the late Onyeka Onwenu’s documentary film means many things to many people. Having already encountered former President Shagari’s reaction the issue of “serving soldiers” standing sentry at the gate of a prominent businessman in Kano featured at 10 minutes 45 to 46 seconds of the documentary is utter balderdash.
In fact, toxic drama. This is because following the mass deportation of illegal aliens mostly of West African sub-regional extraction by the Shagari government in January 1983 there was a dearth of residential security persons a vacuum hitherto occupied by mostly immigrant Tuaregs (Buzu) which veterans of the Nigerian Legion stepped up to fill for high net worth individuals.
Why feature such a controversial aspect concerning an interview subject and then edit out their comments entirely?
Two words. Post-truth.
According to Prof. Pat Utomi who served as a Special Assistant to President Shagari;
“I think any living Nigerian with a brain will know that Nigeria would have moved further ahead today if that coup didn’t take place on December 31, 1983, although in my view I was convinced that the coup was done to prevent Dr. Alex Ekwueme from becoming President in 1987.”
(See details in the Daily Post edition of July 1, 2018).
Meanwhile, hear part of General Buhari’s version on January 1, 1984;
“The situation could have been avoided if the legislators were alive to their constitutional responsibilities; Instead, the legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales, fringe benefits, and unnecessary foreign travel, et al, which took no account of the state of the economy and the welfare of the people they represented.”
Foreordination.
Continued in Part (II)
