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By: Taoheed Adegbite
Following the death of Lieutenant-General Oladipo Diya (retd), former Chief of General Staff (CGS) under the Abacha administration who died on Sunday, his last son, Dr Babatunde Diya has explained how accusation of coup and treatment from junior officers left his father betrayed and humiliated.
Diya, who spoke in an interview with Vanguard, recalled the experience after Abacha’s demise, which incidentally led to his father’s release.
According to him, the news of his prudent disciplinarian father involved in a coup plot came as a rude shock to the family.
However, the deceased retired military officer, who was also a Military Administrator in Ogun State, was tried and jailed.
“It made him introverted and sober. It changed him because he wasn’t as jovial as he once was. He felt embarrassed, he felt betrayed and humiliated. Then, Pastor Adeboye told him to let things go, but a man’s nature is a man’s nature. It cannot be changed. He felt bad and being somebody who didn’t speak out, he bottled up a lot of things. For example, he never spoke to me and many of my siblings about his experience,” he said.
Continuing, Diya’s last son noted that his father became for treatment he received from junior officers whom he found for.
He added, “All that we got to learn was through third parties. He withdrew from people and was very sad about the treatment he received, especially from junior officers for whom he fought, particularly in the aspects of better and improved welfare packages. For example, during the Gideon Orkar coup, it was one of the things he mentioned in the conference of the Armed Forces Ruling Council after General Ibrahim Babangida escaped the coup plot.
“While they were celebrating, Diya then mentioned that the young officers had taken to mutiny and he asked what could be done to ensure that it didn’t happen again. As at the time, it was seen as a treasonable statement. The humiliation that came from the junior officers got to him. I would have hoped that he did away with that bad energy and moved on because I don’t think he ever fully recovered from the experience.”
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