Retired Nigerian Army Colonel Babatunde Bello-Fadile says late General Sani Abacha would not have usurped power from late businessman Ernest Sonekan if he was allowed to return as Adjutant General (ADC). He said it would be fine. president.
He explained that he was assigned to Sonekan as an ADC but was not allowed to return.
Bello-Fadir said this during a political program aired on Channels TV on Friday.
he said: “I was assigned to Sonekan as an ADC. I don't know why I wasn’t allowed to reopen. Still, if I had been the ADC, it (the takeover) probably wouldn’t have happened.
“Why didn’t it reopen? The Army Chief of Staff said we should wait until he (Mr Sonekan) returned from Malta to attend the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting that year. Everything happened before he came back.”
Naija News reported that on November 18, 1993, three months after coming to power, Abacha overthrew Sonekan in a palace coup.
Regarding the incident, Fadil said, “We have agreed that the military will withdraw after June 12th, a transitional government will be established, and we will act as midwife and elect the government.”
“The elected civilians were allowed to stay, but my friend (Abacha) decided to say no.
“Sonekan’s second-in-command (Abacha) should have organized his resignation, annulled the agreement the military had had enough of, and set the path for a democratic government.
“Like-minded people in the military were saying it couldn’t happen. Abacha then said they were the IBB boys who were advocating a return to democracy. Then suddenly he announced his retirement.
“I was still in the military at the time and he retired all my friends, 17 of them. I don’t know how he survived that.
“Then he (Abacha) set up a panel to look at everything. The Kayode Esho Committee to Review the Judiciary (of which I was also a member). I was the only military man there, everyone else They were judges and lawyers, and to buy time they proposed police reform and called for a white paper.
“When we submitted the White Paper Committee report, he asked what we were hearing and I said the public wanted the military back in the barracks.
“Decree No. 63, which was enacted by Babangida and appointed you as vice president, includes a clause that if something happens to the interim president, you will take over, but just because you take over does not mean that you have to dispose of the decree. It doesn’t mean you take over as head of state and continue in government, but you took over and turned it upside down. That’s why the international community is not happy with you.
“I didn’t want to overthrow the government. We wanted a transitional government restored. It was me who was running around. General (Olusegun) Obasanjo is running an independent operation in Nigeria’s National Unity Organization. He also asked the troops to return to their barracks.
“General Shehu Yar’Adua attended the Constituent Assembly and set a date for the withdrawal of the troops.”
