Coup Plot: A Note of Caution for the Media

By Richard Akinnola

Since the army authorities came out last week to confirm the detention of some army officers over alleged coup plot, there have been a number of media stories regarding the alleged roles played by some of the officers.

While many of us are unreservedly opposed to any coup plot or military intervention in our governance, l think some of these stories against some of the officers are prejudicial and amount to media trial. We saw a bit of similar show in 1995 when the Abacha government falsely accused Generals Obasanjo, Shehu Yar’Adua and others of what turned out to be a phantom coup plot. A number of fallacious claims against them were dished to media, which turned out to be false.

Few days after the Orkar coup of April 22, 1990, a journalist with Concord, Onoise Osunbor, was arrested as a suspect because he lived with one of the suspects at Ikeja Cantonment and being a journalist, he was naturally suspected to have been the person who must have written the coup speech for them. It didn’t occur to the investigators that such a badly written speech couldn’t have been written by a senior journalist.

It took a couple of meetings by some of us at the leadership of Lagos NUJ then – myself, late Ladi Lawal, Kayode Komolafe, Owei Lakemfa, with Col. Haliru Akilu, the Director of DMI at both DMI office, Bonny Camp and SSS office, Ikoyi to get Onoise out of detention.

Having said this, l hope that when the army authorities are ready to put them on trial, they would be charged before the regular court and not the military court martial because their alleged offence, whether treason or treasonable felony, is against the State.

We had a similar situation in 1982 when a businessman, Alhaji Bukar Mandara was charged for treason before the Federal High court, when he was accused of procuring some soldiers to plan a coup to topple the democratic government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. I posted this in October last year. I would repost it.

Meanwhile, we shall continue our advocacy against military rule. It has no place in our political development. Military governments are evil and retrogressive.

*Richard Akinola is a veteran journalist, lawyer and activist