...from previous article
You mean you stayed there for 24 hours? More than that. At about 7 p.m. I was again invited in but this time to appear before the Chris Garuba Special Investigation Board, SIB. The Omenka Panel wasindeed a preliminary thing.The real panel was Garuba's. The question he asked me was why I had been militant in my write-ups about the C-in-C [Commander-in-Chief,Sani Abacha]. I explained to him that I was not militant,that that was[sic] they way we express ourselves in the university, and that we were often allowed to give different opinions including deviant ones on the same issue. After asking personal questions about myself and my family, Garuba signaled that I should be dismissed. I felt it was not fair to dismiss me like that and I wanted to say something by raising my finger but the provost marshall shouted me down saying I should go and argue my case in court. As far as he was concerned, it was a closed case against me, I happened to be the only one charged to the special military tribunal that day. All the others were told they had no case to answer.How did the trial go? On the day of trial[February 14],they came to pick us at about 12noon. We were driven in a convoy and thoroughly guarded.I could not understand why theyweretreatingus like verydangerous prisoners of war.when we got to RukubaBarracks,they took us to the officers' mess. The whole place,as you might have seen on television, was guarded by these fierce looking young men with heavy weaponry. They formed something like a guard of honour for us to pass through before we could enter the blackMaria. However, let me tell you that it was only the arraignment and judgment that took place in Rukuba Barracks. The trial proper was conducted at Rayfield. The dominant personnel in the security and handling of the alleged coup plot trial was the StrikeForce.Ordinarily this is supposed to be a job for the military police and the military intelligence. The intelligence unit would gather intelligence and pass the same to the military police for the operational aspect.But in this case, to my own observation, the military police was marginalised.It was the Strike Force that dominated the whole affairs. You'll always see their machine guns at the ready. We were taken inside the games room of the officers' mess and Major Mumuni addressed us after which he distributed some files. Everybody had an envelope which contained the charge and a list of the prosecuting lawyers, their names, ranks and units, also the list of defence lawyers from which you can pick the one you want – all of them military lawyers. It also contained the legal instrument for covering the tribunal and the powers bestowed on it. when we were eventually marched into the courtroom, I was in the 'secondrow'. Inside the room there was the GOC of the 3rd Armoured Division;(3)there was [Brigadier-General] Ibrahim Sabo of the DMI [Divisionof MilitaryIntelligence];there was Lieutenant-Colonel Omenka walking around but the security officer in charge of making the place okay was Major Mumuni and there was a security officer in chargeof operations fromday one to the last. The courtaffair was a DMIshow,supported by the Strike Forcebut you can easily see the link.MajorEl-Mustapha,who is incharge of the Strike Force, wasalso a DMI before he became the chief security officer to the C-in-C. Thus, you had the unholytrinity of Mustapha, Sabo and Omenka in charge of the court trial and security in Jos. The military police, which traditionally should be in charge,was relegated to the background.
Were you surprised when you saw the people in the court, the press men, the observers and the security personnel? What went through your mind? it was like:"This is it!" By this time, I had made up my mind,sort of. Let everything hangout and see where it would land.The initial fear was no more there. I had now regained myself, my psyche, my self-confidence which I lost throughthe bitter beating I received during the first night. It was likeI had no fear in me again and when I saw General [Victor] Malu [chairman ofthetribunal] I was happy My initial assumption was that the man who would try us was General Garuba. Actually, I was expecting to see him as the judge. But I was happy to see General Malu, who I had known as a straight forward officer,who even once lost promotion because of his fairness and decorum.He has this reputation for being frank, calling a spade a spade and for doing what is right. I had this impression that he was not the type who could be manipulated to pervert justice. And he had just come back from ECOMOG as a hero, I was sure he would not want to tarnish that image.So,it's like this man is likely to do justice.When he delivered his openingremarks, it was like a ray of hope for me who had been in darkness since December when I was held - a flicker of light atthe end of the tunnel.That was the impression I had. And I was praying to God that that flicker of light would not go out because he said he would not allow trial by ambush.It appeared he was determined to give everybody a fair trial, not the Patrick Aziza type. It was at this juncture that he asked us to talk and raise objection, if any,as to the constitution of the tribunal. It was here that General Diya made his famous speech. Others made their contributions and it was here that General Olanrewaju [andAdisa] expressed misgivings about military lawyers adequately representing their interest without fear.GeneralMalu replied him very well. He said, "Well, you should have said this before now. You are in the system and you have never objected to this aspect of military law." This is a very important point and this is a point which people should emphasise. If these military people had taken enough interest in justice and fairness, the unfair procedures in terms of legal representation would have been expunged from the decree or from the system of military trial. My own belief is that ordinarily, as a civilian, I should have been tried in a civilian court because, I not being a military personnel,I should not be subjected to military law. Even if you are a military personnel,you still have certain rights and I think those rights include having lawyers of your own choice but Malu'sreply, though I was affected,was right.He was saying in essence that the generals had been in the system all along and if they felt there was something wrong in the military legal system,they should have made their observations and recommendations known to the authorities, not when they were put on trial. So as it was, Malu had to apply the rules as they were.How did you personally react to Diya's speech. Did it come as a bombshell? Were you alarmed or impressed? I was impressed but I was not surprised because I had an inkling of what he might say or do at the trial. This is possible because anytime we were brought together I always tried to put myself at a vantage position where I could discusswith him. Remember that there was no real opportunity for us to interact.So, I had already known of what he was going to say before the day of arraignment.In fact, I would say I was surprised that he didn'tsay more than that.I can remember Malu saying that he should reserve his ammunition for the trial proper.
...to be continued
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