It is surprising that decades after retired Commodore Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe fell from office, why he was forced out is not widely known. Now that his rival, the man he contested for turf with and lost all, died just days ago, without the generality of Nigerians being the wiser, I need to put the matter straight.
That man was Domkat Yar Bali!
On October 12, my friend and brother, Emeka Obasi wrote in the Saturday Vanguard: “Nigerians find it difficult to quit office even when humiliation and suspicions stare them in the face. Chief Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe kept his head high and walked away as No.2 in 1986”.
Wrong brother; in as much as I very much admire Ukiwe, what happened was not as straightforward as that; he was simply pushed…and he did not just walk away; he tried to remain. But I grant that he left with his head held high.
From another friend and brother of mine, Steve Osuji, (who wrote in The News on Wednesday, November 4, 2020): “When the news of Nigeria’s membership of OIC broke, reporters had accosted Ukiwe with the fact of the issue and he had plaintively told them he was not aware as the matter was never discussed in the Supreme Military Council (SMC).
He was immediately removed as CGS by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and replaced with a more pliable Rear Admiral Augustus Aikhomu. Ukiwe was to retire prematurely from the Navy a few months later.”
Contrary to those two main versions of how Nigeria’s first Chief of General Staff, Ukiwe did not “choose to walk away” from office. And his exit was not immediately after he told reporters that Nigeria’s advancing from its observer status at the OIC to full membership was never discussed. It took weeks if not months.
It was in 1986. Yes, 34 years ago. Kai! Mere remembrance of that era still sends adrenaline coursing through my veins. Nigeria was young, so too, those who administered it. 1 October 1986; Gen. Domkat Bali (rtd), who played a prominent role in the Ukiwe’s quitting the Nigerian Navy was then the uncle figure in the Nigerian Army. He was senior to Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida when IBB became Head of State and was highly regarded by the officer corps, especially the Langtang boys or the Langtang Mafia (so you can appreciate what Ukiwe was up against).
Langtang is not an LGA but a town. Yet, it has produced military Generals, such as Domkat Bali, Joseph Garba ,Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni, Joshua Dogonyaro, John Shagaya, Jonathan Temlong, Musa Gambo, Yakubu Rimdam, and Ishaku Pennap. Others are Air Marshal Jonah D. Wuyep and Air Commodore Bernard Banfa, Lt Gen Muhammad A. Najib as well.
The Mafia hit the zenith of its power when IBB was in power. With other members of the Middle Belt, they plotted and executed the coup that put IBB in power. Yes, I have never stopped wondering what exactly went through IBB’s mind that morning of New Year Day, 1984, when he picked up that telephone call, the first to come in that morning, which said simply something akin to: “Sir, Good morning and congratulations. I’m calling to report that the operation has been totally successful”. The voice speaking to IBB was Gen. David Mark’s. IBB had travelled to Minna as a decoy, and several key Military Intelligence officers had left Lagos for Minna to keep an eye on him. Poor fools. Yes, the telephone had been disconnected nationwide, but Mark was the head of the Signals arm of the Nigerian Army.
So, what really happened to Ukiwe? The Independence Anniversary celebration of 1986 was shifted to Abuja. I was State House (Dodan Barracks) Correspondent for Newswatch magazine and I still remember wondering if the military cargo freighter for the Army, popularly called Hercules C-130 , would be able to take to the skies, as I climbed into its belly from its open tail. My assigned seat backed the window. We sat sideways facing what should be the aisle in a normal aircraft. In the middle, and directly opposite me were IBB’s official two big black Mercedes Benz cars. I became afraid and wondered aloud if the big burly bird would take off successfully, and a soldier man reminded me that the aero plane could even carry armoured cars.
Two days to the march past, I was snooping around for news, knowing that any general event would be reported by the daily newspapers, then it happened. Ukiwe’s Press Secretary, Yusuf Mamman (he would later be appointed Ambassador to Spain and the Vatican City) had just received the amended order of how the dignitaries would enter the parade grounds. And he dialled his boss’ number to relay the message to him; that instead of the earlier version where Domkat Bali would enter the arena, then Ukiwe would follow, and after him IBB would enter and the National Anthem would be sung to kick start the event, Domkat Bali would now come after Ukiwe.
Ukiwe wondered why the change, explaining that it had been agreed that to solve the problem of who was the real number two in the land, that he would stay away from military occasions while Domkat Bali would not attend purely political events. When Ambassador Yusuf answered his question that that was the final revision, Ukiwe said, and I heard him clearly: “In that case, I won’t come to Abuja”.
I had been all of six months old in journalism, yet, I not only knew that trouble was brewing, I knew that the trouble was so much that I had to leave Abuja for Lagos, to try and get Ukiwe’s version of things before the bubble would burst. A few checks showed that an aircraft was bringing in Domkat Bali, so I quickly ran to my hotel room, picked up my bags, said the right things to a waiting vehicle and I was on my way to the Abuja Airport. In less than ten minutes after I made it there, Bali’s metallic eagle landed. I took that same plane back to Lagos, stuffing my hungry stomach with so much chicken that I still wonder if I had so much to eat and take away, how much was available to Domkat Bali.
Then I swung into action. I learnt of the long running rivalry between Bali (a four-star General) and Ukiwe, a Commodore (one star General equivalent). It was a disaster waiting to happen. During the previous administration, led by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, the number two man, Tunde Idiagbon, came into office as Brigadier. IBB was Major General and the Army Chief and he and Idiagbon also had a running battle. But Idiagbon had the necessary support in the military circles that mattered. In fact, Idiagbon, IBB and David Mark, then a Colonel were said to have belonged to different groups that fused after the coup had succeeded. While IBB and Mark led their groups, Idiagbon belonged to the late Brigadier Bako’s group. Idiagbon was number two to all intents and purposes and later got promoted to Major-General, and was no longer a small boy to IBB. But Ukiwe remained a Commodore till he fell from office.
Ukiwe actually came into office as an outsider. He was not part of the plotters that ousted Buhari. Yet, in the afternoon of that coup day, he dressed up in his sparkling white uniform and appeared at the Bonny Camp meeting grounds where the victorious officers were holding their first meeting, not knowing whether he was among those marked for elimination or not. That period was actually the time when those who did not take part in a coup would go into hiding until they could read the situation aright, after all, he had been state governor during the Murtala/Obasanjo administration (1975-1979) and had held important military posts under Buhari. Yet, he appeared at the meeting. Once IBB saw him, he acknowledged his courage and told him he would be Chief of General Staff (until IBB became military President, the office was that of Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters).
So, on the Monday after the Abuja celebrations, Ukiwe came to see IBB who mumbled a few reasons why both of them would not be able to hold any discussion. So, Ukiwe offered to wait so that the two could go for the Monday security briefing together. IBB told him there was no need for that as his presence would not be needed as only some unfinished businesses that remained unresolved from an early Abuja meeting (and Ukiwe was not in Abuja) would be straightened out. IBB did not know that before he came down to the living room, Ukiwe had told the First Lady, Maryam Babangida, that he had heard that his case was discussed in Abuja, that a decision was reached without anyone hearing his own side of the story. Maryam Babangida informed him that trouble, real trouble, was afoot, and that he should find a way to resolve it before her husband would go to attend the Monday Security Council meeting. That was why Ukiwe stringently, but unsuccessfully attempted to raise the matter. So, an insistent Ukiwe, instead of taking IBB’s advice, went ahead of IBB to the Security Council meeting venue.
Then the announcement came; the first thing on the agenda was the “Ukiwe matter”. He was asked to step aside because he could not deliberate on his own case. That was it. Ukiwe got the message and left for his office – to pack his personal belongings.
The rivalry between him and Domkat Bali had ended; a winner had emerged, so too a loser. It had gone on for long and the only surprise was that Ukiwe lasted in office from August 1985 till October 1986. The Langtang Mafia could not understand why Ukiwe could not accept the fact that Bali, who was actually IBB’s senior, was his own senior too. Major John Shagaya could hardly stand Ukiwe. Once, the lead car in Shagaya’s entourage (Shagaya was a Minister too) encountered Ukiwe’s in Anthony Village, Lagos, and stopped. When told whose motorcade was passing, Shagaya ordered his own motorcade to move on. It did. Ukiwe reported the matter but nothing came of it. It was a power game and Ukiwe lost out.
Hey, where is the Mafia today? Killer herdsmen are causing trouble in Langtang. In one day in 2013, they felled 48 persons in Langtang South LGA. How are the mighty fallen!
Credit: Tony Eluemunor, Independence