I wept after Aziza panel sentenced me to death because my marriage was barely two years old-Akin Olowookere

The story of Dr. Akin Olowookere sounds like one from a children story book. He started life following his childhood dream when he joined the Nigerian Army as a recruit in 1980 after leaving secondary school. He was with the navy where he rose to the rank of a naval lieutenant. He also served in the National Guard and the Presidency. But his world came crashing down in 1995 when he was fingered in the phantom coup against the government of the late General Sani Abacha. He was sentenced to death by firing squad, but the sentence was later commuted to 25 years imprisonment. In this exclusive interview with Segun Ajiboye, he spoke about his experience in the military, prison and his new challenge of fighting for the unity of Nigeria, among other issues.

You are planning a project, tagged Nigerian Unity Museum and Trade Tourism Village, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing. Why this particular project?

For me as a Nigerian, I believe that I am here for a purpose and that I should leave Nigeria better than I met it. Don’t forget that it took the blood and pain of some people to make this country the way it is today. So for me, I feel challenged that I should leave it better than it is today for my offspring and those yet unborn. Another thing that I want us to know is that it is not only those in positions of authorities that have the ability to make things work or solve problems. We don’t have to wait until we are elected or appointed into offices to make a change. I believe that with our own little
contributions, we can be the president, the minister or governor by doing the right thing at the right time. So, to answer your question, I came about that idea when I started thinking about what I would do, if I were the president of the country. While thinking about this, I was able to identify a problem. I discovered that it is not an easy task for anyone to tour the 774 local governments in the country and get to know a lot about them. So I came up with the idea that we can put Nigeria in a capsule form that it would be easy for anyone to go through the whole country and know about it within a few months. And within this period, you can have a first-hand knowledge of the history, commerce, alternative medicine , agriculture and natural resources  of all the 36 states and local governments. Again, I discovered that this kind of project will not only promote tourism, but will also make visiting the country a very rewarding exercise. If you go to Abuja, you will only see the city gate. But it should take more than that to cement the unity of this country. After the civil war, a lot was been done to heal the wounds. We have inter-tribal marriages and all that, but more still has to be done.

Are you married to a non-Yoruba?

Yes, I’m married to an Igbo woman.

Does this have anything to do with this project?

Not really. But the truth is that inter-tribal marriages have helped in cementing the unity of the country. For instance, if I ask my children if they would kill an Ibo man, the answer would be no because they are their mother’s people. But it is only those who are involved in these kinds of marriages that would be able to appreciate how they have helped the unity of the country. But for the larger society, we want a situation whereby the Igbo would not want to leave the construction of Nigeria to an Hausa and the Yoruba would not want to go away because they all have a huge stake in the building of the country. In that case, we all have something strong that binds all of us together that none of us would want to sue for divorce. We should know that the rest of the world calls us the giant of Africa because of our size. I tell you, if this country splits up, we may become the dwarf of Africa.

This National Unity Village will be located in Abuja. What purpose would this village serve?

Our vision is to have a unity village within the federal capital territory where visitors will have a means of interaction with every community, tribe and state in Nigeria. Our leaders have battled to achieve the unity of this country. I think that a better way to achieve this by creating a unity museum and trade tourism village. Something similar to this was done in the past. But it was not as successful as this one we are planning would be. If you remember, there was a festival of arts and culture in Nigeria in 1977. We had the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, the Trade Fair complex along the Badagry Road and the Festac Town. Imagine if all these edifices were located in a capsule, wont they be playing complementary roles to one another today?  The unity village will take care of all those things that are lacking in the past efforts to make the unity of the country work. More than just having liason offices in the village, all the states, including their local governments, will have the opportunity to showcase their tourism potential and economic capability to the world. So we are looking at a situation whereby each local government will have an unending opportunity to have its own trade fair, lodge,  museum and  history to avail the average Nigerian the opportunity of knowing more about his country and its people in a short while. We want to create a village where everything works, and to tell the work that Nigeria is a country where everything can work. It would be a village where everybody has a sense of belonging and pay for everything he gets for the development of the country.

What would it take a local government to own  property in this village?

When the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Lands and Housing, makes the land for the project available, we are going to make land available for every local government, depending on the location and amount of land made available to us.

Would it be free?

At the start, it will be free. The equity from the government is the land, and the local governments are coming there to make the village alive and to turn the hitherto forest into a city. I am advocating a barter system for the project. Each local government would have the opportunity to cater for the needs of its people in the village. For instance, they can have a lodge where their people can stay at cheaper rates. We are also going to appoint ambassadors from the states and local governments. We would also try to draw from the goodwill of all those who have benefitted from the country in one way or the other to make this project a success.

You have said that this unity project has nothing to do with you marrying a non-Yoruba. But I still…

But the truth is that it has nothing to do with it. For a long time, I have observed how Nigerians use this word –unity. Even some people have said that the country would disintegrate by 2015. But each time I look at things, I don’t see how all these their predictions would come to pass. I want Nigerians to see the opportunities available to us by remaining as one country. I believe that we all have a lot to benefits by being together as one country.

The way you talk of makes me more inquisitive about you. What is your background like?

I am Dr. Akin Enuch Olowookere. I am from Akure, Ondo State. My father was a chief, while mother was a princess. Both of them are late now.

Tell us how you came about the title of a doctor.

It is honourary. It came about as a result of my write-ups when I was in the prison. I wrote over four thousand pages of theological expositions in prison. And the Christian Faith Theological saw this and awarded me a doctor of divinity.

You have just opened another vista to this discussion. What led you to prison?

I was in the army, then Navy, the National Guard and the Presidency. If you remember the 1995 phantom coup, I was among those who were condemned to death by firing squad. The sentence was later commuted to 25 years in prison. The third year after my incarceration, Abacha died, and I was released the fourth year by Abdulsalam. We were pardoned, and it was gazetted. We went back, but the military said our services were no longer required. Though the human rights abuse we suffered was a matter for litigation, nothing had been done. Even the recommendations of the Oputa panel set up by Obasanjo have not been carried out.

You were in the army, the navy, the National Guard and the Presidency. Let us know your journey through these organizations.

I went into the army as a recruit in 1980 at the age of 18. Soon after, I emerged the best all-round shooter in a shooting competition. And I remember that Alhaji Oniyangi Akanbi, the Minister of Defence at the time, presented me with a marksmanship trophy. That influenced the army to post me to the infantry. But the real reason I joined the army was to be with the medical corps. I wanted to be trained as a medical personnel. But because of my dexterity with the gun, some people felt I would be better off with the infantry. At the end, reason prevailed, and I was allowed to follow my dream. I was posted to the Nigerian Military Medical School in Ojo Cantonment, at the Nigerian Army Institute of Medical Science where I opted to study pharmacy. I had my industrial attachment at the Yaba Military Medical Centre in my first year. I had my second attachment at the naval hospital. It was this period that exposed me to the possibility of going to the naval college. Also, my time at the Ojo Military Cantonment gave me the opportunity of encountering young officers who were not more than two years older than me. I had to pay them compliments and salute them, but I did this grudgingly because I felt bad about having to salute men who are not much older than me. That really stimulated my interest in my desire to become an officer.  I decided to go back to school to make up for the deficiencies in my O’level results. I went for extramural classes in Festac Town. I didn’t do Physics in school, but I had A3 in it. And within four years, I made all my papers and was admitted into the Nigerian Naval College. That was how I left the army and became a naval personnel.  

What year did you leave the army?

I entered the naval college in 1984. By 1993, I was in the National Guard and by 1995 I was in the Presidency. On March 6, 1995, I was arrested. I was a naval lieutenant when I was posted to the National Guard. I was the liason officer to the National Guard commander. The commander at the time was retired Col. Lawan Gwadabe. He also doubled as the PSO to the President, and that was how I found myself in the Presidency, as a Staff Officer to the PSO to the President.

Why were you mentioned in the coup?

The reason is simple. My boss, Lawan Gwadabe, was mentioned. Funny enough, Col. Gwadabe had been posted to go and relieve the late Brigadier Dada in Gambia. The man had even finished handing over to Gwadabe when a coup took place in that country. They now saw an opportunity to slam the coup on Gwadabe. They said he taught the Gambian soldiers how to organize the coup. It was all in an effort to ease him out of the military. But that failed to work because it was not logical at all. He came back and was to be retired, but some people intervened and he was posted to Maiduguri as a brigade commander. I was doing my job with the new PSO to the President. As a matter of fact, I was planning to transfer my service to the NIA (National Intelligence Agency). I was planning to have a better life for myself in the future. It was while this was going on that the coup was announced, and all of us were arrested. But I thank God that it had been proved that it was only a phantom coup by the Presidency to ease out some people. 14 of us were condemned to death firing squad. But the question was how could 14 officers plan a coup to take over the whole country?

How did you react when the death judgment was passed?

 In a way, I never believed that I would be sentenced or that I would die. This was because I had a clear conscience that I didn’t plan any coup. I never discussed the issue of a coup with anybody. But when the judgment was passed, I simply said to myself ‘if I go, then so be it.’ The irony was that I was dressed in my white officer’s uniform, and was saluted. But I could not understand why I would be dressed in white and being saluted while you had said I should go and die. I had the opportunity to be in the corridor of power at a very young age, and I can tell you that it is not easy to see all these things. There was really no witness against me to indict me. But the judge, Aziza, said there was no way that Gwadabe would do anything and I wouldn’t know about it because he was my godfather. He went on to say that by constructive conspiracy, whatever punishment that was due to my boss was also due to me. After that, I cried. But what made me cry was the fact that my son was only twenty-something days old at the time, while my first daughter was 18 months old, and my marriage was barely two years old. Something flashed through my mind- my father didn’t know his own father, and my mother didn’t know her father. I just thought it would continue like that, and my son would not know me. When this ran through my mind, I simply broke down and cried. But again, here I was, handcuffed and chained in the legs. I thought it would have been better if I had been killed in a battle. But here I could not fight back while I was being taken away.

Were your parents alive at the time?

My mother was alive. But it did not take long before she died after she heard the story. I was told she said she would not live to bury her son.

So what happened after the judgment?

We were in Kirikiri for three months waiting to be executed. We had the armoured tanks and  drums, and you see people doing parades all the time. Even if you didn’t see them, you could hear what was going on. And once or twice every week, you heard sound of gunshots. We lived in a perpetual state of fear. For me particularly, my cell was next to the hanging room. I heard them servicing the gallows all the time. I finished reading the Bible within 70 days. Of course, that was the only book we were allowed to read. That period brought me closer to God, and sometimes I would question why this was happening to me.

So how did you survive the period?

I kept reading the Bible and learnt a lot about life. And I told God not to allow me to die before those people who lied against me. I also asked for another opportunity from God to serve Him better.

What was your understanding of the Bible before your prison experience?

Before then, I didn’t read the Bible like I did in prison. But I had always believed in its efficacy. I had always read the Book of Psalm, believing that it would drive away evils from us.

You were a naval personnel, while Gwadabe was a soldier. How did you two become close?

 It was in the National Guard. The National Guard comprised men from the army, navy, air force and the mobile police. I was the liason officer in Lagos at the time. At the time, my rank was junior, and they would have preferred a soldier as liason officer. But God was with me, and I ended up being appointed the liason officer in Lagos. Col. Abdulmuminu Aminu was the commander at the time, and I worked very closely with him. Col. Gwadabe took over from him, and he came to audit us. Once again, I found favour, and I became his right-hand man. But all these were the result of performance.

So how have you been able to get back to your feet again?

After my release on March 4, 1999, I went back to the barracks, but I could not fit in again because people now saw us as coup plotters and would not have anything to do with us. And for somebody like me who never attended a civilian school, I had nobody to turn to, but God came to my rescue.

So how does your experience in the military influence the unity village project?

I tell you once again that is better for us to remain as one. Imagine how we lost Bakkassi to Cameroon, despite our giant status. If we break up, I can tell you that one day, Benin Republic may come up and tell us they own Mile 2. If a two-year boy challenges you and dares you to cross a line, you need to be careful, and realize that the boy is not the one challenging you because there is someone hidden somewhere prodding him on. I believe that this project can fill  the vacuum created by the lack of jobs, leading to security challenges around the country.