How My Guest House As Army Chief Became My Prison – Bamaiyi

Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (rtd), has recounted his travails after the election of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2009.

He said he was shocked when his own guest house as head of the nation’s Army became a prison facility.

This is contained in his book, “Vindication of A General”.

Gen Bamaiyi said he was aware of the government’s desperation to take him out of circulation and was advised by some people to run away.

Bamaiyi noted that he remained adamant because he believed he had done nothing criminal.

“I did that so no one would think I was running away. He did not know I was aware of what was happening. Many people who were aware of what was going on advised me to stay out of the country but I believed I had no cause to run away from a democracy where the rule of law would prevail. I also had to protect my family. What would I tell my children and grand-children in future, if I ran away?”

He recalled how he had been implicated by ex-CP Danbaba, whom Gusau claimed revealed that Gen. Bamaiyi issued the weapon used in attacking the late Mr Alex Ibru.

He said: “In October 1999, General Gusau told my brother, Senator Danladi Bamaiyi that he wanted to see me. I suspected the call. I left Zuru for Abuja. When I got to Abuja, I went to see Gusau in his office. He told me an investigation was on and that CP Danbaba said I had authorized him to issue a weapon with which Mr. Alex Ibru was shot.

“I asked him, ‘As COAS, would I need any weapon from the police?’ I told him I did not know anything about it and did not believe Danbaba would have said that.

“He directed me to go and think about it and see him on 12 October 1999. I told him there was nothing to think about because what I had told him was the truth. On 13 October, I went to see him and he asked me if I had thought about what he had told me. I told him I had nothing to think about.

“General Gusau told me I was under arrest and directed Cmnd Brigade of Guards, Brig. Gen. Alex Mshelbwala, to take me to a place prepared to detain me, which turned out to be my guest house while I was COAS, inside Fort IBB.

“I believe it was arranged by the COAS to keep his former boss. That was how I was arrested and detained without a warrant. The Guest House was guarded by more than 40 soldiers and one officer daily. I was there for seven days without anybody saying anything to me.”

He said that an investigation team led by one CP Udo Ubam was sent to interrogate him. He gave the names of the other team members as: Mr. A. Gadzama, then a Director of SSS; Mr. S.B. Ibrahim, another Director of SSS; Lt. Col. U.M. Bobai (DMI); Mrs. A.A. Obileye, Director of NIA and Ms. I.A. Nworgu , then an Assistant Director of NIA.

Gen Bamaiyi claimed that the investors submitted a report to the IGP and the NSA.

“The IGP sent the report to the Federal Ministry of Justice for Legal Advice and that the ministry in a letter with reference: FJP/MISC/1000/106/53 dated 29 October, 1999, and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. T. Osinuga, stated clearly that after reviewing the report and the statements of the witnesses, gave an opinion that there was no prima facie case against him (Bamaiyi) and, therefore, opined non-prosecution.

“This report got to the NSA and Obasanjo. Both of them insisted I must be prosecuted to keep me away for many years. This decision kept me in prison for more than eight years without conviction,” he said.

General Bamaiyi also recounted how he and other accused persons such as JB Yakubu and CP Danbaba were chained to their seats in a military aircraft, a Dornier 228, as the Obasanjo government was taking them from Abuja to Lagos for prosecution over the Ibru attack.

“On 22 November 1999, the police investigating officer from the panel came to the guest house at 12 Fort IBB and moved me to the headquarters of the SSS, where I spent the night. Early on 23 November 1999, I was moved from SSS HQ to the Police HQ. I got to the Police HQ at 3.00 am.

“There, I met CP Danbaba and Col. JB Yakubu and we were all taken to the Presidential Wing of Abuja airport, where a military aircraft, Dornier 228, was waiting for us. We were taken into the aircraft and each of us was chained to a seat with leg chains.

“We left Abuja Airport at 4.00 a.m. and arrived at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport by 5.30 am, where we were transferred to the waiting hands of policemen with a Black Maria. From there, we were taken to the Airport Police Station.

“The officers there were very cautious, possibly because former Lagos CP, James Danbaba, was with us. From there, we were taken to a Magistrate’s Court in Ikeja. The female magistrate directed that we be taken to the Maximum Prisons, Kirikiri, for detention.”