Bello-Fadile: Abacha breached the agreement to return Nigeria to democracy… forced Shonekan to resign
I was posted ADC to Sonekan. I don’t know why I was not allowed to resume. Still, if I had been ADC, it (the takeover) probably wouldn’t have happened.
By Idris Temidayo
Babatunde Bello-Fadile, a retired colonel, says the late Sani Abacha, former head of state, would not have been successful in his parlour coup that ousted the late Ernest Shonekan, the head of the interim government, if he was allowed to resume as his aide-de-camp (ADC).
Bello-Fadile spoke on Friday when he featured on ‘Inside Sources’, a programme anchored by Laolu Akande on Channels Television.
“I was posted ADC to Sonekan. I don’t know why I was not allowed to resume. Still, if I had been ADC, it (the takeover) probably wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“Why didn’t I resume? The chief of army staff said I should wait until he (Shonekan) comes back from Malta where he went for the Commonwealth Head of State meeting that year. So, I was hanging around. The whole thing happened by the time he came back.”
In November 1993, the late Abacha, who was the chief of defence staff (CDS), under the interim national government installed by Ibrahim Babangida, the military head of head state, who annulled the June 12 presidential election, toppled Shonekan.
Shonekan’s ouster was just three months into the life of his administration.
However, speaking for the first time 30 years after the palace coup, Bello-Fadile believes that the circumstances behind Sonekan’s resignation were abnormal.
The retired colonel, who was head of the legal unit narrated how he confronted Abacha after toppling Shonekan.
“The military decided to leave after June 12 and an interim government was set up and it was agreed that we would midwife and elected government,” he said.
“The civilians that were elected were allowed to stay but my friend (Abacha) decided to say no.
“The second in command to Shonekan (Abacha) organised a resignation and threw away the agreement that the military had had enough and should set a path for democratic government.
“Likeminded persons in the military said that can’t happen. Then Abacha said these are IBB boys behind the insistence for a return to democracy. And all of a sudden, he announced their retirement.
“I was still in the military at the time, and he retired all my friends, 17 of them. I don’t know how I survived that.
“Then he (Abacha) set up panels to review everything. Kayode Esho panel (of which I was a member) to review the judiciary.
“I was the only military person there, all the others were judges and lawyers. Then, they set up the police reform and called for a white paper just to buy time.
“When we submitted the white paper committee report, he asked me what we were hearing, and I told him that the people wanted the military to return to the barracks.
“The Decree 63 that Babangida set up and made you the deputy with a clause that if anything happens to the interim president, you will take over but taking over does not mean you should dispose of the decree; it means you take over as the head of state and continue with the cabinet but you took over and turned it upside down. That’s why the international community is not happy with you.
“I didn’t want to overthrow the government. We wanted an interim government back. I was the one doing all the running around.
“General (Olusegun) Obasanjo was doing his own with his National Unity Organisation of Nigeria. He was also calling for the military to go back to the barracks.
“General Shehu Yar’Adua was in the constituent assembly where they set a date for the military to leave.”
