Major Philip Seun Fadipe, a former military commander who was detained, prosecuted, and executed for allegedly planning a coup against the late General Sani Abacha, described his experiences during the ordeal on Monday, 25 years after the military pardoned him.
Along with Fadipe, other top military commanders like Major General Abdulkarim Adisa and Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, as well as certain civilians like Professor Femi Odekunle, were imprisoned. Abacha’s deputy at the time was the late Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, who was the Chief of General Staff.
Major Seun Fadipe was the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to General Oladipo Diya when he was arrested alongside his boss. The were eventually tried alongside the others by a military tribunal headed by Major General Victor Malu and sentenced to death by firing squad.
Major Philip Seun Fadipe (retd). Photo taken from his Facebook wall.
Recounting his experience on his Facebook wall on Monday, 25 years after he and others were pardoned by the then new Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, on March 4, 1999, Fadipe said it was God that saved him from death.
He added that General Abacha was about to ratify their death sentence when he suddenly died in office, adding that he would have faced the firing squad if Abacha had ratified it.
Recalling his experience in prison, Fadipe said the cell he was kept in at the Minna Medium Prison in Niger State was a tiny room, that scarcely contained a six-foot bed, adding that there were no toilet or bathroom as it did not have VIP sections.
“So if I had to empty my bladder in the middle of the night, it has to be into a four-litre keg. I usually have my bath behind the condemned prisoners cell very early in the morning before the day started,” he wrote.
He also wrote: “Six of us were sentenced to death by firing squad but the inability of General Sani Abacha to ratify the death sentence before he died in June 1998 kept us alive. General Abdulsalami Abubakar that succeeded him converted my death sentence to 20 years imprisonment and subsequently pardoned me on March 4. 1999.”
Below is the screenshot of the full statement by the former Army officer on his experience:
