17 things to know about late Gen Dipo Diya

Lt- General Oladipo Diya (Rtd) GCON, a former Chief of General Staff (CGS) died on Sunday.

He died at 78, according to a statement on behalf of the family by Barrister Prince Oyesinmilola Diya.

Here are 17 things to know about late Gen Dipo Diya:

Donaldson Oladipo Diya was born on April 3, 1944 at Odogbolu, Ogun State, then Western Region, Nigeria.

He was a Nigerian general who served as Chief of the General Staff, (de facto Vice President of Nigeria) under military head of state General Sani Abacha from 1994 until his arrest for treason in 1997. His Principal Staff Officer during this period was Bode George.

He previously served as Chief of Defence Staff and was Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985.

He was educated at the Methodist Primary School, Lagos, and the Odogbolu Grammar School.

He later attended the US Army School of Infantry, the Command and Staff College, Jaji (1980–1981) and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

While serving in the military, Diya studied law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained an LLB degree before proceeding to Law School, where he was called to bar as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

He became General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigeria Army in 1985.

General Diya was Commandant, National War College (1991–1993) and then was appointed Chief of Defence Staff.

In 1993, he was appointed Chief of General Staff and Vice Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council in 1994.

As Chief of the General Staff, he was the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Sani Abacha military junta from 1994 until he was arrested for treason in 1997.

In 1997 Diya and dissident soldiers in the military allegedly planned to overthrow the regime of Sani Abacha. The alleged coup was uncovered by forces loyal to Abacha, and Diya and his cohorts were jailed. Diya was tried in a military tribunal and was given the death penalty. Upon the untimely death of Abacha in 1998, Diya was pardoned by General Abdusalami Abubakar.

After his arrest, a military tribunal sitting in the Nigerian town of Jos sentenced six people including Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya to death by firing squad in April 1998. The accused were brought to the main military barracks in Jos for the trial. Security was tight, and the men on trial were chained at their ankles during the proceedings. In a dramatic statement at the outset of the trial, General Diya asserted that he had been entrapped by another officer close to General Abacha, Gen. Musa Bamaiyi, who approached him with the idea of mounting a coup. Given the explosive nature of the charge, the government then closed the trial to the public.

The head of the military tribunal, General Victor Malu, the former commander of the West African regional peacekeeping force ECOMOG, responding to Lieutenant General Diya’s defence that people at the very top framed him, said it was not necessary to know who had initiated the conspiracy. He noted that all Lieutenant General Diya had to do was prove that he had not been part of the plot at any stage. General Malu assured the defendants that they would be given a fair trial and unlimited access to information they needed to defend themselves. “This tribunal will not conduct or tolerate a trial by ambush”, he said.

The sentence was later commuted by Head of State, Abdusalami Abubakar, who succeeded General Abacha.

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