Actually, there is nothing to decode. This is because there is no substance to the content of the text in its entirety. Neither are the allegations new.
This. therefore, put the former Kaduna State Governor in the category of the country’s Grand mischief makers like Namdi Kanu, Femi Fani Kayode and Buba Galadima whose major reason for their continued barking is nothing other than trying to remain in public limelight through outrageous claims that earn them occasional headlines in the national dailies.
Nigerians have for long come to regard the aforementioned as the three stooges of the country’s political theatre – comedians, if you like, for lack of softer, generous adjective.
Why would Col. Dangiwa Umar want to join the comic strip this late is worth drawing the interest of the authorities, because of his background as a member of the IBB military boys that staged the 1985 Eid-el-Kabir coup against then head of state, Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari and to date, do no not like him.
As far I can tell, reading between the lines, the letter is directed at the Nigerian military, inciting them to do something. The content is a clear call for coup de etat, for which under less similar circumstance that was based on rumour, Gen. Mamman Vatsa and other officers were tied to the stakes at Kiri-Kiri and executed.
Indeed, it is hypocritical for the retired Colonel to hail the action of late Prime Minister Balewa for handing the leadership of the Nigerian military to the most senior officer and not the most qualified, to replace the departing colonial commander, but scorns President Buhari for choosing merit above seniority.
Did General Ibrahim Babangida, his former boss and head of state, whom he repeatedly vowed to follow even blindfolded and die for, not appoint Abacha to replace him as C-in-C, leaving out General J. T. Useni who was the most senior?
Did IBB not appoint Col. Umar when he was Major, the Governor of Kaduna State, when there were 1001 senior officers from the rank of Lieutenant Colonel to Major-General who were sidelined in his favour?
I think that Umar still fails to grow out of his “IBB boy” mentality. I honestly thought he did, having kept out of the media glare for years.
In case he has forgotten, I want to remind him of the advise he gave me and my senior colleague Malam Mohammed Haruna in 2001 when he invited us to his house in Kaduna to mediate an opinion dispute that played out in our regular weekly columns in the Daily Trust.
Mohammed and I held different opinions about IBB and Buhari for which we kept addressing the issues publicly in our columns. Col. Umar decided to intervene and invited us to his house, along with then, Chairman of the Trust Group, Alhaji Damagum as witness.
He said, by consistently feuding about IBB and Buhari, we were “doing more harm to the public image of the duo and by extension, hurting the North.” Why then would Umar choose public forum to address the President, when he could have conveniently passed the letter to Dr. Mahmud Tukur (Col. Umar’s) brother-inlaw to give it to the President hand-to-hand.
In hindsight, I think the purpose for the mediation of my feud with Mohammed Haruna was to save his Boss’s reputation that I was tearing to pieces in defense of Buhari. I cannot say I will follow the President blindly, as Umar does for IBB, but I will certainly defend Buhari against mischief makers any day. I stand for truth.
Iyawa is Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Mexico
