By Bashir Adefaka

It may as well be taken as pardon without benefits. That is the case with Adenike, the widow of Lt. Col O.O. Akiyode, aide to the former minister of communications, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, who was convicted for the 1997 ‘phantom’ coup under the Abacha administration. Akiyode died while still serving his prison term  and before all those also jailed for the controversial coup plot, including Lt. General Oladipo Diya, Olanrewaju and the late Major General AbdulKarim Adisa, were released courtesy of an amnesty proclamation in 1999 under the Abdulsalami administration. They received presidential pardon on March 12, 2013  after the National Council of State (NCS) approved a list presented to it by President Goodluck Jonathan. The implication of the pardon is that the former convicts are to receive all their benefits from the military authorities.

Eight months after, however, the pardon seems to be in vain as the benefits are not forthcoming. A military source blamed the situation on the Presidency which has since failed to gazette the pardon after which the Army authorities would implement the payment. “Once the gazette is out from the Presidency, the Army will formally invite all those concerned to Abuja for documentation,” the source said. Meanwhile the beneficiaries are unhappy that it is taking too long for the benefits to come. Two of them – Akiyode and Adisa – are dead.

Akiyode’s widow, Adenike, went emotional over the issue when Sunday Vanguard encountered her.

“He served his country faithfully. While others came back after amnesty was granted to them in 1999, my husband died in prison”, Adenike lamented.

She spoke on the difficulties the family faces in the absence of the payment of her husband’s benefits by the authorities.  “Since he passed on, it has been difficult for me to take up the responsibility of a bread winner with the little I receive from my job. I had to struggle to pay our four children’s school fees, the house rent, buy clothes and feed the children. It is the assistance of some God-fearing friends, well wishers and God’s grace that sustains us.  The children, after their university education, are looking for job. The past 14 years has been full of pains and sorrow with the absence of our bread winner”, the widow said.

“It was with great relief when we heard that the long awaited ‘pardon’ has been granted to my husband and others. We waited for further instructions about their gratuity and allowances but nothing has come.  I cannot but ask myself, `why did the government announce the pardon when it is not ready to effect what it entails? My husband was used as sacrifice for a better Nigeria, please pay what is due to him. I believe President Goodluck Jonathan will use his good office to do the necessary thing to alleviate the suffering of my family and others”.

*Adisa

Letter

Speaking in the same vein, from the Adisa’s GRA, Ilorin home, the late major general’s widow, Rahmat, said the family had written a letter to call the attention of  government to the delay in the implementation of the pardon and payment of entitlements but that the authorities replied that the gazette to that effect would be released.  When the gazette would be released and why it was being delayed, she did not know.

Her words: “Whatever anybody can do should be done to assist us on this matter.  Although we thank God we are eating as we don’t have any problem running helter-skelter, the truth stands out that what is due as the entitlements of our bread winner, my husband, the late General Abdulkarim Adisa, should be released to us.

“It is unfair that we are not getting these benefits but I do not know whether the problem is from above or not.  We even wrote a letter of reminder to them but, up till now, nothing came out of it.  They are just telling us that we have to wait for the gazette.

“My appeal to Mr. President as the decider of all these things is that he should help us to complete this process so that what is due to my late husband and others in his group can once and for all relieve all the pains resulting from these many years of no-salary. The President said he would give us and I know he will, but I appeal that he should expedite action on it”.

Oputa Panel report

Also speaking for the family of Olanrewaju, his brother, Comrade Gabby Adeagbo, said the pardon granted to the military officers involved in the 1997 phantom coup had shown that Jonathan had listening ears to the voice of the people as documented in the Oputa Panel report which, in 2006, asked that they should be properly retired, granted state pardon and paid their entitlements paid.

His words: “Definitely it is a big relief to the officers and their respective families but it appears to be a pain in the neck of those who see nothing good in any effort made by this government. Towards the end of this year, there is a great concern about delay in the implementation of the entitlements.  Has the President done wrong again?  Sometimes questions are complicated and answers are simple.

If we could fight civil war and reconcile with the ‘No victor, no vanquished’ slogan, if we could dialogue and formulate amnesty programmes in order to eradicate militancy, then we can also implement the policy that granted this pardon with entitlements of the pardoned officers paid and then correct the past with ‘To err is human to forgive is divine’ slogan.  More importantly, if we spend so much time thinking about a thing, we will never get it done.

“Any citizen of a country who volunteers his life to serve in the armed forces is a genuine volunteer. And any country without a genuine volunteer is bereaved of deepest concern to serve humanity.  30 years of lengthy dedicated life to the service of our great country especially as a war veteran must have taken the better of your life.  Despite the tribulation, clemency, reconciliation, and Justice Oputa Panel recommendation, which overruled the previous illegality, it is still a dedicated life to the service of our fatherland and the family will continue to pray for our brother to be alive to reap the fruit of his labour.

“What Nigerians and his family expect is the release of pardon and payment of entitlements to all the officers involved in the phantom coup because in the past sixteen years they could not have lived a good life without that.  Living a good life in any city in Nigeria must be commensurate to your earnings especially for this class of elites who have worked hard to attain high positions in the country.

In fact, the delay in the payment of the entitlements obviously affects their contribution to the society, family and dependants.  Be that as it may, we thank the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, for the pardon and the same time appeal to him to promptly effect payment of the entitlements.”

Injustice

A former military governor of old Western Region, Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo, had, in July, called on Jonathan to complete the pardon process, adding that what the officers were accused of, by Abacha, was not a bad thing in the first place.

He said, “President Jonathan has started well by pardoning these generals and I can only advise him to complete it by ensuring that the gazette regarding their pardon is published on time so that the grey areas due to conflicting media reports as to who and who have benefited will be cleared and the generals will be restored finally to their normal lives with full enjoyment of their entitlements.  These are generals that have contributed their quotas to the building of the nation. Diya lives near me here. He is a good man; a good Yoruba man both inside and outside the military. The same thing is General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, the late General Adisa and others.

“In the first place, there was nothing they did that was bad as to warrant that sentence.  But we thank God now that the President has done what is necessary and pardon has been issued. But I am also aware that the army authorities have not been able to effect the release of their entitlements because of either the delay in the release of the gazette or that the Presidency has not officially informed them.

“This makes it necessary that President Jonathan should see this as a major component of the laudable effort he is making in ensuring that things get better in this country and he should cause all those involved in the release of the gazette to do so without delay”.

Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) leader, Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi (rtd), said to have been visible in the move to grant the pardon to the military officers, declined comments when contacted on the delay in paying the benefits to the beneficiaries. An eminent Nigerian, who spoke under strict anonymity, however added a voice, saying, “It may be emphasized that Mr. President might not have been aware of the stage that the issue of this granting of pardon and its gazette publication has reached, but when it is finally accomplished, it will be a fulfilment in the lives of the affected officers and their families.   And it will definitely create necessary drive for any challenging task.   It will be a beacon of hope for these gentlemen of the Nigeria Armed Forces.

”As Nigerians they need to get back to work and compete to gain equal access to opportunities that are available”.