Former Governor of Osun State and Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Bisi Akande, has accused the General Muhammadu Buhari-led military regime of employing double standards in treatment of political detainees after the December 31, 1983 military coup.
According to him, Southern and Christian political leaders got a raw deal compared to their Northern and Muslim counterparts during the regime’s onslaught against politicians in 1984 in the guise of fighting graft.
Writing in “My participations,” his 557-page autobiography, which was launched last week, Chief Akande, who recalled his ordeals in various detention centres from Ibadan to Bonny Camp and Kirikiri Prison, said the maltreatment of detained southern and Christian political leaders was palpable.
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For instance, of the 19 states of the country at the time, only the deputy governors of Oyo State were tried and while Vice President Alex Ekwueme was hauled into prison, President Shehu Shagari was detained at a comfortable Federal Government Guest House in Ikoyi
His words: “The roll call at Bonny Camp was who-was-who in the defunct Second Republic. There I met former governors Ige of Oyo, Adekunle Ajasin of Ondo, Bisi Onabanjo of Ogun, Ambrose Alli of Bendel, Lateef Jakande of Lagos, Adamu Ata of Kwara, Jim Nwobodo of Anambra, Sam Mbakwe of Imo, Melford Okilo of Rivers and Clement Isong of Cross River.
“Also with us at Bonny Camp were S.M. Afolabi, my predecessor as deputy governor who served briefly as President Shagari’s minister of Education and Chief Ogedengbe, another former minister from Ondo State.
“I felt strangely discriminated against among them all because I did not meet any other deputy governor apart from Chief Afolabi.
“In 1984, there were 19 states in Nigeria, 10 from the North and nine from the South. I ruminated and asked myself: ‘Why has Oyo State been singled out for maltreatment of deputy governors?’ I concluded that the ways of the military had no rhyme or reason…
“One day, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme joined us in Kirikiri. He appeared visibly perplexed, shaken with emotion and he wept bitterly as he was shoved into his cell on our floor.
“Unlike the Vice President, President Shagari was being detained in a luxurious Federal Government Guest House in Ikoyi.
“There was a sudden pall of gloom everywhere. Many of us felt sad and agitated about the humiliation being meted out to the vice president.
“Thereafter, pockets of corridor talks began among the inmates. The theme, all over, was that there were double standards in the arrests and humiliation of politicians from the South and the North, between Christians and Muslims with thell southerners, and Christians suffering the worse treatment.”
- How my wife had accident on hearing my 42 years jail term
Akande who lamented how his incarceration affected his relations with his children and recognition of places as he kept missing directions to his house in Lagos and other places, said his wife, Omowumi, almost died in an accident upon hearing his conviction by the military tribunal on radio.
“On 16th October, 1984, Chief Bola Ige and I were found guilty on a two-count charge of conspiracy, and unlawful enrichment of our political party –the UPN, by the Ibadan Special Military Tribunal.
“The tribunal sentenced each of us to 21 years imprisonment on each count to run concurrently.
“The immediate import of that judgement to me was that I was being jailed for 42 years. And that was the media headlines too.
“The scenario exactly resembled what I saw in my vision on that cool Saturday at my Onireke official quarters in 1981.
“Along with Chief Bola Ige, I was truly and finally driven to prison in a police Black Maria vehicle that day.
“That day, my wife heard the news from her car radio while driving home from work. Our trial was secret; so, family members and friends were not allowed to attend.
“Like anyone else, my wife heard the news over the radio. She unconsciously drove into the boot of the car in front of her. But today, we thank God for everything.”
How Adebanjo mismanaged AD, Afenifere
Akande, apart from his comment that Afenifere Elder, Chief Ayo Adebanjo pestered former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos to build a house for him, said that Adebanjo’s inability to differentiate Afenifere from the Alliance for Democracy, AD harmed Afenifere, the apex Yoruba socio-economic organization.
He wrote: “Shortly after the Kaduna meeting, Ambassador Tanko Yusuf resigned from the chairmanship and membership of the Alliance for Democracy.
“Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the erstwhile Deputy Chairman of the party, became the Acting National Chairman. Since then, it became difficult to decipher the difference between the running of Afenifere and the management of the Alliance for Democracy.
“Since then, the schism that dwarfed Afenifere as the organization at the apex of Yoruba organisations, began.”
Vanguard reports
