Featured, Interview
THE first time Anthony Akaeze communicated with Akhere Alphonsus Okhaifoh was in 2009. Akaeze, then a staff of Newswatch Magazine, a Lagos based weekly, had travelled to Washington DC to attend a journalism programme. There, he met the late Sunny Ofili, a journalist and ICT expert, who linked him up with someone who knew Okhaifoh, a former lieutenant in the Nigerian army who, along with some others, sought to overthrow the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1990.
Akaeze then contacted Okhaifoh, a Houston resident, and they ended up speaking on phone, followed by an email interview. After that interaction, Akaeze and Okhaifoh didn’t communicate much or saw each other until a few weeks ago when Akaeze, now a freelance journalist for Realnews, visited Houston, Texas, and, by chance, met and requested to interview Okhaifoh again. But Okhaifoh, an indigene of Edo State, South South Nigeria, who has lived in America for 28 years, would not easily accede to the request this time. He would prefer, he repeatedly told Akaeze, not to talk about the past to avoid reopening old wounds or be misinterpreted by some people. The reporter persisted and the result is this interview which held in late April in Houston. For almost two hours, Akaeze sat down with Okhaifoh for a chat that touched on issues and subjects beyond the 1990 coup. Reflecting on the 1990 event, Okhaifoh, at a point, said: “If I had died (in the coup) I would have died for nothing.” Why does he think so? The answer to this and more is in the exclusive interview. Excerpts:
Last week was April 22, meaning that it’s exactly 29 years since the April 22, 1990, coup which you participated in. What memories of that day do you have?
My memory of the day is that it was a beautiful Saturday. I remember waking up that morning full of energy and zeal in anticipation of our action scheduled to be carried out that night and the H-hour was 2 am. And that day, I had a guest. On the 20th (of same month) was my birthday and I remember that day was Thursday so I moved my birthday to Saturday. I celebrated my birthday, it was just like a send off. Friends came to my house in the barrack…
Which barrack is that?
Ikeja Cantonment. I later told them everyone had to leave as I had been summoned to Ibadan for a training. A journalist, Onoise Osawaru Osunbor was staying with me. He said he will leave the next day and I said, no, it’s better you leave today, I will go drop you in your brother’s house. I told him that the Brigade commander would not like to see anybody in the house if I’m not there. So I took him that night to his brother’s house. He didn’t know what was in the offing. He didn’t know…I later learnt he was arrested because they found his bag in my house. He had packed his things in his bag that we were supposed to take with us but I guess he forgot it in the centre table. When soldiers went in there they saw his bag. That’s why they went and arrested him, thinking that he knew what was going on. I knew what was coming, and whether we succeeded or not, I didn’t want him to be around me at that time (hence my decision to take him to his brother’s house).
How did the soldiers trace him?
When they saw his bag, they found his complimentary card.
The coup failed. What happened thereafter?
At the H-hour, we (coup plotters) assembled at a designated place in Ikorodu. I think Fiogret fishing company…
Owned by Great Ogboru?
Yeah, that’s where we assembled, most of the officers and soldiers. It was not a typical, normal kind of coup. It was a coup meant to address the imbalance in the system because we had seen a lot of it. We thought we could…when you are in the army you cannot complain. We felt a lot of things going on then were not really right and did not show that we were all one Nigeria and we thought that carrying out such drastic action will bring the required attention of the powers that be.
How old were you in 1990?
I was 23 years old.
Did you really know what you were getting yourself into?
I will tell you quite frankly – yes. When I joined the army…I spent four years in the army as a commissioned officer. I held several appointments. I was an adjutant in ninth brigade headquarters. I was chairman of Lagos task force on anti smuggling and this comprised of the police, custom, if I remember correctly, the DSS and the army. I was the chairman so I knew what I was doing. I was not coerced, I was not forced.
The April 22, coup speech was broadcast by Gideon Orkar. Did you personally know him?
Yes.
What kind of a man was he? I have seen different reports of him, including one describing him as a drunk.
Gideon Orkar was a Tiv warrior, well loved and known in his Corp. He was in Armoured Corp and was a rising star, very intelligent and he could hold his own, any day, any time.
You knew him one on one?
Yes. I knew all the officers. Coup planning is not something that people will just come (and promptly execute). You will have meetings, deliberate, sit down, eat together and know each other better. You demonstrate a spirit of oneness. Coup (plotters) are not a bed of strangers or arch enemies. Gideon Orkar was one of the brilliant officers of Nigerian army.
Twenty nine years after the incident, and looking back at it all, do you have any regrets?
My regret is that, one, after almost 30 years, I regret fighting for a people that are not to be trusted. I regret fighting for people who did not really appreciate the sacrifice. Most of us died. It wasn’t because I wanted to be a governor. It was because we saw that the imbalance in the system had to be addressed. In this country (US), people sacrificed their lives and career for a cause, for example Martin Luther King. The black people he fought for appreciate him. But we that fought for the south of Nigeria, a southerner was a president and he did not know the reason why he was the president. That’s my regret.
Do you mean Former President Goodluck Jonathan?
Yes. If he knew the reason why he was the president, most of the imbalance we are crying about today in the system, would have been addressed. For example, he set up a national conference after much prodding by progressives… even if it meant sitting down to say, this country is going this way, how do we change things…because right now, nothing works in Nigeria, nothing. Not even development. Any development that you bring to Nigeria or which a governor or minister wants to initiate is a way of making money from the system. They create the need to bribe the system. So when he set up that national conference he had eight months to implement (the recommendations). Just implement part of it. Begin the process, even if the bill that you sent to the senate (had not received attention). He didn’t do that.
The government’s argument was that it needed more time to do that and wanted legislative backing as well.
A month is enough to implement anything that you believe in. Jonathan had the legislators in his pocket. Who are the legislators? David Mark, Aminu Tambuwal. He had them in his pocket. Why I said so is because unlike Olusegun Obasanjo, (former Nigerian president) who, once in a while, interfered with who became senate president, Jonathan allowed legislators a free reign and didn’t have such problem with the legislators. So, if he wanted the senators to do something, (they could). First of all, he did not believe in the national conference.
That’s what you feel?
No, that’s what he said. Jonathan did not believe in the national conference.
He said it will solve the nation’s challenges.
Don’t forget Jonathan spent six years in office. The first two years that he came into power was enough to initiate the national conference. He would have given the conference a sovereign power. If you give the conference sovereign power, you don’t need the senate or House of Representatives because the sovereignty would now be in the conference. We’ve seen national sovereign conference organised in Togo and Republic of Benin and it put the sovereignty of power in the national conference. So, If he believed in the national conference the first thing he would have done was to make the conference sovereign. The first two years would have been the time to set up that conference if he really believed that the national conference would solve our challenges. But Jonathan wanted a situation whereby he would still be the president, enjoy the largesse of the office and still say I’m organising a national conference. Of course, we all know it was a jamboree; money was wasted in that conference because the recommendations of that conference today has been relegated to the dustbin of history. The money and time spent on that conference cannot be justified because nothing came out of it.
Still on the 1990 coup, over the years, there has been some reconciliation. People like Major Saliba Mukoro, (one of the coupists), was reported to have reconciled with Ibrahim Babangida. Do you plan to follow in that direction?
I’ve already reconciled with my great friends in the north. When I meet my northern officer friends, I feel like I betrayed them because they trusted me, they believed in me. If you see me you may think I’m Fulani, if I don’t disclose my identity. So the first reconciliation I had was to reconcile with my northern friends…
Was the coup about North and South?
Yes, the coup was…they reduced it to north-south because most of the officers (coup planners) were southerners. So I had to first of all seek the forgiveness of my colleagues who trusted and believed in me and I was very happy that most of them, if not all, understood and today we are great friends. And if I have the opportunity to reconcile with Babangida, I will do so. The Bible enjoins us to seek peace and pursue it if possible. That’s one of the reasons I would like to reconcile with Babangida before we all go the way of all mortals. Achieving that would mean coming full cycle in that regard. I don’t see him (Babangida) as an evil genius that some people consider him to be. I think he meant well for Nigeria but he didn’t know how to go about it and move Nigeria to where we would have loved to be.
Some of your military colleagues, I believe, are still in service?
Yes.
How do you feel when you see some of them who probably have risen through the ranks and maybe are generals today? Do you have any regrets?
No, I feel very happy for them and I feel that they earned their promotion. They earned the level that they attained and I’m very happy for them. As a matter of fact, last year I attended the rank decoration of some of my classmates (in Nigeria). Some were promoted to two star general; some were promoted to one star general. So I’m very happy for them. It gives me a sense of pride to know that those we sat down together in class and were in trenches together during our training are now getting to the peak of their career.
When the coup failed in 1990, how did you escape from Nigeria?
I always avoid answering that question because I don’t want to endanger peoples lives.
How easy was it for you to adapt to life in the US after you arrived?
When I left Nigeria, I consciously forgot my past life in Nigeria to enable me move on. Because if I was still stuck in the past, I would not get anywhere. I started life afresh, got focused, and my military background and training has served me well. My military training and background has made me to always be content with what I have and also to be humble about whatever level I find myself. With hindsight, I see that plotting that coup was not the best way to address Nigeria’s situation because it was violence and violence begets violence.
What’s your view of Muhammadu Buhari as president?
I supported Buhari in 2015 election. As a matter of fact, I contributed money to his campaign. Because I believe Buhari, as a military officer, has lived a spartan kind of life. This is a general that has been a head of state, that has been a minister, has been a governor and he was also chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund and in 2014 or 2015 when he declared his asset, only had $150,000. Whereas we have Jonathan who probably was still in the university when Buhari was a GOC or military head of state who only served as deputy governor, then governor and vice president before becoming president. If Jonathan were to declare his asset today, it won’t be $150,000. It will (probably) be in billions. Another thing that I love about Buhari is that there was a story that when he went to the bank to collect money, he saw N27 million or something like that (in his bank account). He asked and they told him that it’s the new pension and he said no. He rejected (the money).
Those are stories you heard?
These are stories I heard about him and I’ve seen him up close. He means well for Nigeria. But, just like his wife said, there are group of people surrounding him which has always been the bane of Nigeria. A leader that we entrusted power to is not always the one making decisions. They put them in a bubble and do not allow them to know what is going on. But Buhari means well for Nigeria. And another reason why I love Buhari is that no other head of state in the history of Nigeria could have brought Supreme Court justices to book. Judges were arrested (after their homes were raided by security operatives and huge sums of money discovered). They were not framed up; they were not set up.
But beyond what you’ve said, would you say that President Buhari has met the expectation of people like you who supported him? In terms of security, job creation, economic progress?
Buhari has done his best. In the sense that, Buhari as president of Nigeria cannot be the commissioner of police in Rivers State; cannot be the commissioner of police in Lagos State, cannot be the commissioner of police in Imo or Abia state. All those at the helm of affairs in the security apparatus underwent training and should be able to rise up to the situation. Should that be the case, there would not be security lapses in Nigeria. Buhari is not the one that allowed armed robbers to operate freely when we have commissioners of police. Buhari should not be questioned when you have soldiers, brigade commanders…
But the buck stops at the president’s table…
No, he has given out directive as the president.
If you are not achieving result, what do you do?
If you are not achieving result, you change the security apparatus, but we have come now to a situation in Nigeria that when you change the security set up today, the new people you are bringing are not coming in to outperform the ones that are leaving. They are instead strategizing to see how they can quickly line their pockets before they leave. So, we need to tell ourselves (the truth). Buhari was not there when Boko Haram, kidnapping and others started.
He promised to defeat Boko Haram. What has changed with that?
What has changed is that Boko Haram has been really decimated. They have been defeated but what they do now is to carry out daring attack to rubbish the claim that they have been defeated. That’s why they would come into town, kill people and run away. But what the army needs to do is to change their operational tactics, to take the war to Boko Haram.
What’s your opinion of Donald Trump? Since he came to power the US, long seen as liberal, has increasingly tightened its borders. Many seeking refuge in the country have been turned away, children have been separated from their mothers at border points, some people have died at US detention centres while many others are threatened with deportation. There were recent reports that US authorities seek to deport many Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants to their countries.
People do not really know Donald Trump. Those of us that have lived in this country for long know Donald Trump since the 90s. As a matter of fact, in 1994/95, Donald Trump used to call in to a programme by Howard Stern. Howard Stern was Donald Trump’s friend. When they asked Howard Stern whether he supports Donald Trump to be president, he said hell no. He (Stern) said I told him (Trump), ‘you, president? Hell, no.’ Because Donald Trump is a joke. Donald Trump is ignorant. Despite what Donald Trump is doing, some people like him.They believe in what he does but don’t have the gut to say it like him. So they are hiding under Donald Trump.
How does it feel to live with the thought that some of your colleagues, with whom you planned the 1990 coup paid the supreme price after they were apprehended and you are alive, enjoying yourself in America?
I will not call it enjoyment. It’s been a journey no one prepared for. It had not been all rosy. It’s been up and down. Whatever came your way, you took it. When I left Nigeria, I did, knowing that my life was in danger. There was a bounty on my head and that of others, huge amount of money (for information on our whereabout). There’s no day I don’t think about those soldiers, those officers that I sat down with to eat, that were killed (by the government after the coup failed). That’s one of the reasons why today, I live the way I do because I believe God gave me a second chance. And the second chance is for a reason. To try to assist those in need and I’ve been doing my bit. My colleagues and I (who escaped after the coup failed) had a plan of setting up a foundation as we thought about helping family members of our fallen colleagues we can locate but for the circumstance. Should we gather to do that, the authorities could misinterpret our action. In the army, collective bargaining or action is considered mutiny. On my own, I try to locate most of my late colleagues children and help the best way I can.
– May 8, 2019 @ 19:15 GMT |
Tags: What I regret about the April 1990 Coup Plot — Lt. Okhaifoh
