- The book Vindication of a General by Ishaya Bamaiyi is only fit for the dung
An unlikely book with an unlikely title from an unlikely army General may well sum up the memoir, Vindication of a General, by General Ishaya Bamaiyi. Not many have read the book as it is not in wide circulation yet excerpts from it and reactions by some of the key personae mentioned in the book have already portrayed it as a work fit only for the midden.
The book title: Vindication – is at once, self-revealing and self-defeating. There is no vindication for Gen. Bamaiyi in the annals of Nigeria’s horrific recent military history. To put it starkly, he was thick in the mix among the blockhead military juntas who held the country by the scruff for about two decades and damaged her worth and essence almost mortally.
It is on record that Bamaiyi was among the young Turks who conspired and gave teeth to General Ibrahim Babangida’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. That election was won by Moshood Kashimawo Abiola. In the bid to reclaim his mandate, Abiola was clamped into detention where he was to eventually meet his untimely death.
It is on record that Bamaiyi was hand-in-gloves with the murderous General Sani Abacha who made him Chief of Army Staff in 1996, a position he held up to 1999.
And even though the court acquitted Bamaiyi on the plot and attempted assassination of The Guardian publisher, Chief Alex Ibru; it was during Bamaiyi’s charge over the army that Abacha and his goons killed Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and Chief Alfred Rewane, among others. The book would be mere pulp fiction if it has not given Nigerians detailed accounts of these dastardly acts.
Several allegations are made in the book, many of which the concerned persons have debunked. Generals Babangida, Tajudeen Olanrewaju and former head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar have all reacted and discountenanced Bamaiyi’s views and assertions.
Two major issues raised in the book deserve special attention. One is his half-hearted submission on the death of Abiola in detention. He says that only former Head of State, Gen. Abubakar, would be able to explain what happened to Abiola, reiterating the jaded allegation that Abiola did not die a natural death.
Just like most of the issues raised in Vindication, it is common knowledge that Abiola’s demise was a choreographed action that many close observers and participant observers have alluded to several times.
The other matter that puts the lie to the book and robs it of any redeeming value whatsoever is Bamayi’s assertion that there was nothing like Abacha loot and that it was a creation of the media to boost sales. In trying to explain the huge sums which have been discovered under Abacha’s name, Bamaiyi tries to justify it as money meant for the purchase of arms.
But the fact is, about $6.18 billion has been recovered from Abacha already from bank vaults in Liechenstein, Island of Jersey, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Indeed, the Abacha family voluntarily surrendered $750 million. Yet another $550 million is being pursued for release from the United States.
These are facts in the public domain. For a general of Bamaiyi’s standing to be in denial of this and to put it in our face by putting it in a so-called book is an assault on the psyche of the people.
By his book, Bamaiyi has proved to be true to type. He has not disappointed and indeed made no attempt to varnish the image he had earned as a contemptible general. And sadly, though he has grown older, he has neither become sober nor reflective.
It is our opinion that history may have been kinder to him if he had not penned this wish-washy book.
