Oladipo Diya

Donaldson Oladipo Diya (born April 3, 1944 in Odogbolu , Ogun ) is a Nigerian politician and officer in the armed forces who was, among other things, governor of the state of Ogun between 1984 and 1985 and later chief of staff and vice president of Nigeria from 1993 to 1997 .

Life

Teacher, officer and governor of Ogun

Diya, who came from the Yoruba people , was the son of a railroad worker. After attending the Yaba Methodist Primary School , he switched to Odogbolu Grammar School in 1956 and graduated in 1962 with a West African School Certificate . He then worked for a year as a math teacher at the Bode Thomas Memorial Grammar School before he became a technician at the Nigerian Railway Service in 1963 because of better pay .

However, he joined the Nigerian Defense Academy as a cadet in 1964 and became a sub-lieutenant in the Nigerian Armed Forces in March 1966 . In the following years he was platoon leader in the 6th battalion stationed in Ikeja and there also adjutant to the battalion commander. Immediately afterwards he was called up for action in the Biafra War in 1967 and was there as a captain and then as a major in command of the newly created 101st Battalion until 1970.

Thereafter, Diya was director of the infantry personnel department in Jaji between 1970 and 1979 and during this time completed further training at the US Army School of Infantry at Fort Benning between 1971 and 1972 . After he was commander of the Nigerian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) between 1979 and 1980 , he became a colonel in the general staff of the 3rd Infantry Division stationed in Jos and then in 1981 commander of the engineer units of the 31st Airborne Brigade and at the same time director of the intelligence service of the Army in Makurdi .

After the coup against President General Shehu Shagari in December 1983, Diya was appointed military governor of Ogun, a state in the southwest, in January 1984 to succeed Bisi Onabanjo . He held this office until he was replaced by Oladayo Popoola in August 1985. In this capacity, he introduced a controversial tax against the lavish social parties known for southwest Nigeria. He then served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) with the rank of Brigadier General and after his promotion in 1988 as Major General Commander of the 82nd Division in Enugu , before he had to give up this post in 1990 and became Director of Research and Development of the Armed Forces. He was then in 1992 commander for pioneer training at the National War College and 1993 chief of the defense staff (Chief of Defense Staff) .

Vice President, Sentenced to Death and Amnesty

In June 1993 he was one of the opponents of the military's cancellation of the presidential elections of June 12, 1993 , which Moshood Abiola, also from the Yoruba people of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), won with 58.36 percent. He would have succeeded President Ibrahim Babangida . After the election was canceled, he set up a civilian government under Ernest Shonekan in August 1993 . During the crisis created by the annulment, Diya acted as an intermediary between the military and the largely Yoruba-based pro-democratic activists who urged Sani Abacha , the chief of staff as chief of staff , to seize power and hand it over to Abiola. When Abacha staged a coup in November 1993, Lieutenant General Diya was the strong man behind him and, as Chief of Staff, one of his key supporters. However, his influence decreased significantly when Abacha expanded his own position of power. In 1994 he became Vice-Chairman of the Provisional Government Council and thus de facto Vice-President.

During this time, Diya began studying law in 1993 at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka , which he continued at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and the Nigerian Law School. After completing his studies, he was admitted as a barrister .

In the following years he convinced three prominent leaders of the Yoruba to join the Abacha cabinet in order to give it more prestige and creditworthiness. However, all three ministers were dismissed. Diya himself was defeated in December 1997 along with several other officers such as Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, Major General Abdulkareem Adisa, Colonel EI Jando, Colonel Yakubu Bako, Colonel OO Akinyode, Major AA Fadipe, Major BM Mohammed and Lance Corporal Galadima Tanko for an alleged coup against General Abacha arrested, detained, and sentenced to death by a military tribunal.

After General Abdulsalami Abubakar took over rule after Abacha's death on June 9, 1998, he released numerous political prisoners, but for unexplained reasons not the Diya and the alleged co-conspirators. However, in March 1999 he was dismissed as part of an amnesty along with 95 other officers who were believed to have been involved in the attempted coup against Abacha. However, he was discharged from the army and forbidden him to use his military rank.

Web links

• Entry in rulers.org
• Entry in whoislog.info
• Entry in refworld.org
• The Story of General Oladipo Diya

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nigerian States (rulers.org)
2. ↑ How General Abacha Top Officers Framed Brigadier Oladipo Diya In Coup Plot… And His Pleas To Abacha For Pardon . In: emn-news.com from February 19, 2013
3. ↑ Sight of Sergeant Rogers during Abacha's regime meant death - General Diya ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: punchng.com of April 19, 2014