Kolade Larewaju, Associate Editor
Over two decades after the death of former military head of state,General Sanni Abacha and the struggle to revalidate the June 12 1993,annulled presidential election, one of those in the struggle for the annulment,former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has finally given details of how he was able to escape the snipers who trailed him and his political associates in the then National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
Chief Osobas revelation which is contained in his yet to be published Memoirs,recalled his several close encounters with death during the Abacha era, how he escaped them and those who hid him at great risks to their own persons.
According to him, outsmarting the deadly Abacha killing machine was by the Grace of God and people like businessman; Dr.Oba Otudeko, his auntie Princess Adefunmilayo Aderinsola Oyekan-Williams , his brother in law; Mr, Stan Olawale Adeyemi and son of the first Executive Governor of Ogun State Chief Bisi Onabanjo; Gboyega who hid him at different times
Osoba , in the Memoirs titled “Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politics” said at that time he was a marked man who death hovered over in the hands of General Sani Abacha’s elite Strike Force adding that his living to tell the story was because he was delivered from the executioner nicknamed Sergeant Rogers.
He said he escaped when his house was invaded, when his house was set on fire and when snipers waited all day in front of his house an encounter which he said was admitted by Sergeant Rogers.
General Sanni Abacha
“My first escape from Abacha’s goons was in the early stage of the struggle when I had to go under and harboured by Dr. Oba Otudeko. I hid in his office for about about six weeks. Oba tried to talk to General Oladipo Diya as the then Chief of General Staff to Abacha to slow down on the hunt and reduce pressure on me. For a businessman, Oba Otudeko took a big risk on my behalf. When I came out of hiding, I was promptly arrested and detained at Police Force Headquarters.
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“My second escape happened in June 1994 on the night I led former Governors John Oyegun and Emeka Ezeife and Dr. Doyin Okupe to Chief MKO Abiola to discuss arrangements about his pending declaration to reclaim his victory at the polls. On my way back from Abiola’s Ikeja residence, my wife called me up again on my cell phone to inform me that the house has been sealed by security operatives who were looking for me. This was around 9pm.
“I quickly diverted to my father-in-law’s residence in Yaba and sent the driver away. When I called my wife up that I had taken refuge at her father’s, she objected on the grounds that it would be to easy for the government to figure it out that such a place would be my likely port of call. Thanks to her quick thinking, she suggested that I should relocate to Abule-Oja , to the home of my auntie, Princess (Mrs.) Adefunmilayo Aderinsola Oyekan-Williams.
“The third in my series of hide-and-seek games with Abacha Security machinery occurred on a quiet Saturday morning in 1995 when my chauffeur, Peter, called me up on the intercom at home that he needed to brief me on an important security development. Agitated, he informed me that he was suspicious of some strange movement around the house. He said he saw my chief detail as governor alighting on the main road and that the car from which he dropped drove past the house with some people only to return empty.
“I got the message that my former chief detail an SSS operative, must have escorted some of his colleagues to identify my residence. I asked Peter to take my wife’s school bus. I climbed in and lay flat on the floor and managed to escape what turned out to be an attempt to arrest me. At Ikoyi hotel I dropped off, hailed a cab and headed straight to the mainland residence of my brother-in-law, Mr. Stan Olawale Adeyemi.
Olusegun Osoba
“This was the beginning of almost one year in self-imposed detention. Stan and Gboyega Onabanjo [Chief Bisi Onabanjo’s son] were the only persons who knew my whereabouts. Stan arranged a Togolese cook to cater to my needs throughout. My only means of communications was my 090 mobile phone”
Chief Osoba lamented that it must be a source of concern to Nigerians that state murders and assassinations were not carried out solely by the nation’s military dictators and that may 29, 1999 which should have put an end to it has not.
“Sadly, political killings became fundamental objectives of policy at all levels of governance. The greatest casualty of this new wave was the Attorney –General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief James Ajibola Ige- erudite lawyer, brilliant orator, top nationalist and respected patriot and politician, on December 23, 2001. Other victims followed in rapid succession. They included Harry Marshall [March 3, 2003] Aminasori Alfred Dikibo [February 6, 2004] and Funso Williams [July 27, 2006]] among others.
“Even my state, Ogun, had a full dose of what Professor Wole Soyinka described as a ‘nest of killers’ in his funeral oration at Liberty Stadium, Ibadan for Chief Ige. In Ogun State, we lost Arojo, Dipo Dina in January 2010 and Animashaun [popularly known as Age] whose remains is yet to be found. Till date assassination and sponsored killings remain high.
“A close political aide who worked very hard for us to regain Ogun State in 2011, Chief Yomi Bamgbose, the Lukotun of Ake was killed in front of his house in 2011. Another mysterious death was that of Iyaloja of Ijebu Ode, Alhaja Alimot Shadia alias Elewuju, who was killed in broad daylight in 2015
“The traditional head of my wife’s family, the Onimole of Lagos, a high ranking White Cap Chief, was gunned down in his bedroom in February 2013, without regard for the hallowed palace of the Oba of Lagos which is next door to the Onimole domain. Onimole Kayode Adesina’s assassination is a clear abomination, a desecration on the age long tradition of Lagos. Isale Eko, where the palace is, was highly regarded as one united and close knit family area of Lagos where if one’s car wheel cover was stolen, neighborhood leaders would ensure its instant return.
