20062021 - Student thrown out of vehicle by fleeing attacks survives

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 20, 2021, PAGE 7
Secret of my 35-
year survival in
military despite
coups
•We watched Johnson kill Liberia’s
Samuel Doe
•’I saw children jubilating in barrack
when Abacha died’
By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor
A
dmiral
—Retd Admiral Oni
Anthony Oni, retd, retired from the Nigerian Navy as Chief of Policy and
Plans, a position next to the Chief of Naval Staff in hierarchy. He is a former Flag
Officer Commanding Western Naval Command. Prior to his retirement, he had
acted as the Chief of Naval Staff when Admiral Samuel Afolayan voluntarily retired
from service. In this interview, Oni, who recently clocked 70, x-rays Nigeria’s security
challenges, submitting that solution is not with the military but the civilian authorities.
Oni, the first Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, ECOMOG,
Navy Task Force Commander in Liberia, also provides a glimpse into the high wire
politics that characterised military rule, revealing why he didn’t have his career cut
short in an era of military coups. He also gives an eyewitness account of the murder of
then Liberian President, Samuel Doe, an incident regarded as one of the immediate
causes of the seven-year-Liberian Civil War.
•Oni
What does attaining 70 mean to
you?
I like to celebrate my days. I noticed that
many people around me attached
importance to my 70th birthday. I am sure
it is because 70 is a biblical age. I don’t
know if I prayed to attain the age of 70 but
I always prayed to get old in good health.
There is no gain in getting old without good
health. I became more interested in my 70th
birthday because I found out that many of
my classmates, who I thought were my
mates, were actually older than me. As they
were clocking 70 before me, I became so
much interested in
attaining 70. My 40th
birthday was also eventful
maybe because it was the
first time I built a house of
my own. I didn’t know
when 50 and 60 came,
though I celebrated them
by playing golf. Because I
am a sociable person,
many looked forward to
my 70th birthday but
COVID-19 prevented us
from having a big event.
You were in the
military at the time
Nigeria witnessed many
military coups that led to
premature retirement
and death of many
officers. In view ot this,
was there any time you
were rattled by the fear
of not living this long?
Apart from the coup of 1966 and 1967,
others happened during the time I served in
the military. I joined in December 1970 and
served up to the time I retired in 2005. These
were periods that it was only by luck that
you may not be involved in any coup in any
way. Those were very difficult periods. I went
to Liberia where we lost many officers.
People died in my presence. Going to a war
front changes your mind as a soldier. It also
strengthens you because you watched
people die while you survived. But one
shouldn’t be afraid of death when it has not
come. Even when death comes you should
face it. I learned this more in Liberia
because I saw instances where I spoke to
people who later died a few hours later. Also,
religious teachings made us realise that
death is not in our hands. It is only when
God wishes. I was never afraid of death
neither was I ever in doubt that I will get to
70. I am just conscious of doing what would
keep me safe always. I recall a coursemate
of mine, who interrupted a statement I was
making by asking if I was sure I would live
up to 50. I dismissed his interjection and
It was only by
luck that you will
not be involved
in any coup in
any way. Those
were difficult
periods
said I knew I would live. We had been in
difficulties at sea and we survived them. The
only thing I was scared of was getting
maimed. I never prayed for that.
You have an imposing physical
structure, could that have been the
reason you joined the military?
My father was serving in the Nigerian
Navy. He was a paymaster in the Navy
during the Civil War. He joined the Navy
from the Royal Marines. I had seen military
people during the Civil War but I wasn’t
interested in the military.
My dream was to become
an engineer. That was the
reason I studied sciences.
After the second coup of
1967, I was reading the
newspapers and saw the
biography of newly
appointed governors. I
read Diete-Spiff ’s
biography and was
amazed. Before then, I
knew him as someone
who usually came to visit
my dad. He had just
returned from Britannia
Royal Academy at the
time. He had an open-roof
green car he drove then.
When the coup happened,
he was appointed as the
governor of old Rivers
State. I read through his
biography and I saw that he attended
Britannia Royal Naval Academy. I just wrote
to the school that I wanted to join. The
institution replied, saying I must come to
write the examination in the UK. They said
I would return to Nigeria if I failed. After
then, I saw an advertisement by the Nigeria
Defence Academy, NDA, and applied. I
didn’t tell my dad. I took the form and went
to Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu , who was
Chairman of Lagos City Council. He
signed, attesting that I am a Lagosian. I
was invited for the interview. The late Gen
David Ejoor was the Commandant of NDA
at the time while Gen Ike Nwachukwu, retd,
was the Secretary of the interview board. I
reported in December 1970. Three months
later, they said the British government
wanted three cadets. That was how I was
sent to the same institution I had written to
earlier. When I got there, I was feeling
homesick. And I was told that if I was going
to study engineering, I would spend extra
three months. I didn’t agree and had to
change my course to executive. I was just
attracted by the sight of Spiff in uniform.
People like him and Ike Nwachukwu
looked good in uniform and you couldn’t
help but like them then. The fear of dying in
the military didn’t occur to us.
Tell us about the command positions you
held and some notable experiences you
had...
I retired as the Chief of Policy and Plans,
Navy Headquarters, in 2005. Anybody who
is Chief of Policy and Plans must have been
there for two or three years and must have
mastered the plans of the Navy. The person
is automatically the next man to the Chief
of Naval Staff. And he can succeed the Chief
of Naval Staff because it would be easy for
him to implement the plans of the Navy.
That was my last position. Before then, I
was the Flag Officer Commanding the
Western Naval Command in Lagos. The
position is called General Officer
Commanding, GOC, in the Army. I was the
Flag Officer Sea Training and Chief of
Operations and Training at the Navy
Headquarters. It used to be Chief of
Operations. I was the first Chief of
Operations and Training. I was also a
moderator at the Nigeria Institute for Policy
and Strategic Studies, NIPPS, Kuru. I
attended Course 19 there. I was the first
Naval Task Force Commander, ECOMOG.
I was the one in charge of landing the first
3000 troops in Liberia. We brought them
from Free Town, Sierra leone to Free Port
in Monrovia. We brought them on August
24, 1990. I was waiting to be posted to Port
Harcourt when the Liberia crisis started.
Five ships were put under me to be taken to
Liberia. Originally, our mission was to
evacuate stranded Nigerians in Monrovia,
but the story changed when we got there. I
am grateful to God that we are alive today.
Samuel Doe
When they came to capture Samuel Doe,
I was in Free Port. I was there when Johnson
captured Doe. I witnessed the event. The
next day, our Head of State, Gen Ibrahim
Babangida, invited me to Lagos to report
what happened. I was given a plane that
flew me alone to Lagos for the purpose.
Upon arrival, I went to Dodan Barracks
where I faced seven generals. Babangida,
Abacha, Aikhomu, Yusuf of the Air Force,
Etim of the Police and two other persons.
They were all members of the Armed Forces
Ruling Council, AFRC. I told them what
happened and went back. That was how
the whole ECOMOG mission started.
You just said you witnessed the
capture and killing of Samuel Doe
by Prince
Yomie Johnson, who is now a serving
senator in Liberia. Did you just stand by
and watch a group of rebels capture and
kill a serving Head of State?
We were supposed to be peacekeepers.
That is the reason our helmets were
painted white. We had demarcated the
area. At the time of his death, Doe had
been pushed to the Executive Mansion,
the presidential palace. Charles Taylor
was manning the Upper North while
Johnson was in charge of all the ports.
What ECOWAS said was that everyone
should maintain the status quo. It meant
that no one should move from his area
until all peace talks were concluded. I
think Samuel Doe was getting too
agitated. He thought when Nigerians
came, we were going to strengthen his
hold on power, but we said that was not
our mission. It was advised that
everybody should remain in his territory.
But Doe woke up one day and said ‘’this
is my country, you people came here to
take over.”
He assembled about 17 vehicles and
moved to the port. I went with the ships to
patrol at the port. I saw a fleet of cars and
became surprised. I used my binoculars and
discovered that Samuel Doe was the one
coming into the Port. I knew we were going
to have a violent situation. I told my crew to
stay on their ships once we had berthed. Our
headquarters where General Iweze and
General Aquino were quartered was close
to the scene. Johnson had men at the port
who were giving him information. His men
at the port gave him information that Doe
was coming. When he cornered Doe at the
port, we just told our troops to stand by and
watch what they were going to do. They just
started having hot exchanges in their dialect.
We started hearing gunshots. I had to order
my boys to open fire on containers at the port.
It was simply to scare them. Johnson’s men
replied, saying they were not fighting
Nigeria but Doe. We told them not to come
near our ship. 76 men were killed at the scene
at the end. It wasn’t that I was told. We saw
it happen. I asked my men to count the
number of dead bodies. We also had people
who ran into our ships from Doe’s side. We
had to search them thoroughly because they
were very fetish and had charms. We saved
them from Johnson and later released them.
It was the incident, killing of Doe, that led to
the changing of General Aquino from Ghana.
He couldn’t handle the situation. Gen
Joshua Dongonyaro was brought in as a
replacement. People were expecting that
Nigerians would have fought to save Doe.
But that was not the issue because
everybody had been given an order not to
go beyond certain boundaries.
Continues next week