1990 Coup---IBB Wanted Me Dead At All Costs – Lt. SOS Echendu Reveals

                    Lt. SOS Echendu who spared IBB’s life during 1990 Orkar coup share more details about his fate. Photo: Jebose Azuka via SaharaReporters

                     Last week a journalistic investigation of SaharaReporters introduced us one of the masterminds of the 1990 Orkar Coup, Lieutenant SOS Uchendu, who has been on the run for over 24 years and currently lives in the USA.

The thrilling story of the man who had the real chance to kill General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida but preferred to spare his life continues this week, as the escaped officer has more details to share.
The lieutenant continues his story with words of respect to IBB, who is still a general, Echendu’s former Corp Commander and a former President of Nigeria.
He admits that Babangida is one of the most gifted Nigerians, however, the regrets that the former leader used the gift provided to him by God in another way. The mastermind of the coup reminds that Nigeria does not belong to anyone in person, therefore, UK Bello and other brothers in arms had no choice, but to fight.
“We sacrificed our lives, our families, destroyed family businesses to save our dear native land,” Lt. Echendu stated.
IBB wanted to liquidate the lieutenant and other organisers of the coup at all costs. A bounty was put on Echendu’s head and he describes himself as “a moving target”. But years have passed and he stopped running.
“I go anywhere freely now, and I live openly with my family. I am not hiding,” the fugitive officer said.
The lieutenant promised to return to the issue of failed coup and compromised safety of him and his colleagues after leaving Gen. Babangida alive later and offered a short historic redirect that would probably help the readers to understand the issue better.
“In 1975, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the mastermind of Nigeria’s first coup of balkanization and the first military officer to introduce indiscipline by rubbishing succession structure in the military was successfully removed from office without him being killed. Then, in 1976, Brig. Gen. Murtala Mohammed was killed by Lt. Col. Dimka but the coup failed. So the escape or the death of a military dictator is not a determinant factor for the success or failure of a coup if all the critical and integral components are rightly assembled during the planning and execution phases.
Echendu sees Nigeria as a united, free of ethnocentrism, chauvinism, preventable corruption, born to run mindset. He hopes that one day in Nigeria a Hausa man can occupy the post of the governor of Imo state, while a Yoruba person, for example, would become the governor of Adamawa state. The lieutenant, who is proud that Nigeria was able to unite and defeat the deadly Ebola virus added:
“We can achieve a great deal if we can start seeing at least something good in each other and stop associating personal and individual greed and behaviours with ethnicities.”
Echendu, who studied nuclear medicine science, now runs a small company and is ready to share his experience with Nigeria and work with the authorities, if the government calls him:
“Based on my in-depth knowledge of Nigeria and my acquired skills in the United States, we would have a platform for productive conversations.”
But what about the bounty hunt, the revenge? The lieutenant is sure he should not be punished for his actions back in 1990.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. Punished for what? It is madness not to punish those who subverted the democratic will of Nigerians by overthrowing a legally constituted and democratically elected government, instead, we seek to punish those who tried to effect citizens’ arrest as enunciated by Lt. Col. Inyiam. Gen. Buhari and Gen. Babangida unconstitutionally desecrated the will of the Nigerian people by removing an elected president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari from office in 1983.
“Then, in 1985, Gen. Buhari was removed by Gen. Babangida. It is disgustingly wrong to prescribe punishments based on the success or failure of the same action. An action should be fundamentally wrong and conventionally punishable irrespective of its success or failure. If I had tried to remove or dismantle a democratic structure similar to what happened in 1983, this would be a legitimate question.”
The lieutenant is completely against the disintegration of Nigeria. In his opinion Nigeria cannot survive without all of its unique ethnic groups.
He recalled that Western analysts, including American, warned about the possible disintegration of Nigeria in 2015. According to Echendu, that was nonsense and nothing more than a false prophecy:
“We are stronger as a United Nigeria. I have hope for that country. I can no longer use the bullets to settle issues. I intend to be politically involved in the very near future even though I do not belong to any political party this moment, but I am open to dialogue with progressive minded Nigerians now or in the near future on how to advance our nation for the benefit of future generations.”
The key player in 1990 coup knows that there is no short cut and nation building requires a lot of sacrifices. He sincerely hopes that Nigerians must intensify their efforts and get more united in the interest of their future, unborn generations.