Today February 13, makes it 49 years when a hot-headed Plateau State-born military officer, Lt. Col. Bukar Sukar Dimka, led a bloody coup which claimed the lives of then Head of State, Gen. Murtala Ramat Muhammad, along with several army officers in what was referred as the ‘Plateau Coup’ due to the high number of soldiers from the state who were later identified as being part of the coup.
Not less than 30 officers from the state cutting across the army and police were involved directly and indirectly, including the then military governor of Benue-Plateau, Joseph Gomwalk, who was regarded as one of the best leaders to have come out of the state.
The coup leaders who were later referred to as the ‘Langtang Mafia’, were some of the finest breed of military officers from Plateau State and were wiped out in one fell swoop.
Domestically, the coup crystallized political tensions between the Moslem far north and the Christian middle belt which were not altogether new, but have persisted in one form or another. As can be recognized, most of those executed were of Plateau State origin but the curious notion of a ‘Plateau group’ in the Army never did die as it resurrected many years later as the “Langtang Mafia”.
After assassinating Murtala, Dimka went to the Federal Radio Corporation in Ikoyi and made the coup announcement:
“Fellow Nigerians,
This is Lt. Col. BS Dimka. I now explain why we the Young Revolutionaries of the Armed Forces have found it necessary to overthrow the six month old government of Murtala. On the 29th July 1975 the Government of General Gowon was overthrown. Some of the reasons given for the change were:
a. Corruption
b. Indecision
c. Arrest and detention without trial
d. Weakness on the part of the Head of State
e. Maladministration in general and a host of other malpractice.
Every honest Nigerian will agree with me that since the change over of government there has not been any physical development in the whole country generally.
All we have is arbitrary dismissal of innocent Nigerians who have contributed in no less amount to the building of this great nation. A Professor was arrested, detained, dismissed and later taken to court on an article which every honest Nigerian will agree that all the points contained in that article were 100% truth.
The sad point about it all is that those who initiated the retirement or dismissal exercise are the worst offenders. You will be informed about the ill-gotten wealth in my next announcement.
The acting General Manager of the Nigerian Airways was invited to the Dodan Barracks and detained without trial. The people of this country have been living in a state of fear. The Armed Forces promotion exercise is still fresh in your minds. Whatever reasons they have for the promotion one can only say that they are ambitious. They in fact took over power to enrich themselves.
We are convinced that some of the programmes announced for a return to civilian rule are made to favor a particular group. To mention only one. Maitama Sule is a politician. But has been appointed Chief of Commissioners for Complaints.
This is to prepare him for the next political head at all cost. How many of you know that Maitama Sule is on a salary of N17,000 p.a.?
In view of what I have just said and a lot more which time will not permit me to mention, we the Young Revolutionaries have once again taken over the Government to save Murtala from total disgrace and prevent him from committing further blunders and totally collapsing the country before he runs away in the name of retirement to enjoy the huge fortune he got through bribe which he has now stored outside this country. I believe that charity should begin at home.
Please stay by your radio for further announcements.
We are all together.”
According to Wikipedia, Lt. Colonel Bukar Dimka was born in 1940 and was a Nigerian military officer who played a leading role in the 13 February 1976 abortive military coup against the government of General Murtala Ramat Muhammed. Before then, Dimka had also participated in the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966 which toppled the government of General Aguiyi Ironsi.
Bukar Sukar Dimka was commissioned as a Second-Lieutenant from the Australian Army Officer Cadet School, Portsea, into the Nigerian Army on 13 December 1963. He and Lt. Boniface Ikejiofor were the first two Nigerian Army officers to train in Australia and complete the 12 months course at the school with cadets from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands.
Participation in the Nigerian counter-coup of July 1966
Dimka, then a lieutenant with the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna, was one of many officers of northern Nigerian origin who staged what became known as the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966 because of grievances they felt towards the administration of General Aguiyi Ironsi’s government which had quelled the 15 January 1966 coup led by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu.
These officers included Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed (the coup leader whom Dimka conspired against and murdered ten years later), 2nd Lieutenant Sani Abacha, Lieutenant Muhammadu Buhari, Lieutenant Ibrahim Bako, Lieutenant Ibrahim Babangida, and Major Theophilus Danjuma among others. Dimka, along with Lieutenant Dambo, are alleged to have shot and killed Lieutenant Colonel Michael Okoro, Commander of the 3rd Battalion during the July mutiny.
Another act of notoriety from the July mutiny was Dimka’s pursuit and probable intent to murder his Brigade Major (Samuel Ogbemudia).
Before the mutiny, Major Ogbemudia had detained Lieutenant Dimka for violating an order forbidding unauthorized troop movement. Under interrogation by Ogbemudia, Dimka complained of ethnic victimization and was subsequently released by Ogbemudia.
Vexed by Ogbemudia’s treatment of him, Dimka hatched a plot to kill Major Ogbemudia.
However, Ogbemudia was tipped off by Major Abba Kyari and Colonel Hassan Katsina who provided an escape Land Rover armed with a submachine gun.
Dimka marshaled a group of northern soldiers who pursued Ogbemudia (sometimes shooting) all the way from Kaduna to Owo, Ondo State where Ogbemudia abandoned his Land Rover (which had run out of fuel) and scaled a 6-foot fence into a dense jungle to escape Dimka and his soldiers.
As efforts were being made within the military to crush the revolt, University students in Lagos and Ibadan (among others) took to the streets to protest the coup.
Later, when it became known that Dimka had visited the British High Commission on the day of the coup, some students attacked British and American facilities in Lagos.
The coup attempt eventually failed seven hours later, crushed by forces rallied and directed from a temporary base at Bonny camp by Lt. General T. Y. Danjuma, Chief of Army Staff, whose designated assassin (reportedly Lt. Lawrence Garba) had chosen at the last moment to spare him at the Marina Jetty, allegedly in part to avoid collateral casualties.
When Danjuma got to the office and heard a radio broadcast, he held a brief “war council” with Colonels Bali and Babangida, then moved to Bonny camp to coordinate the resistance. Babangida was sent on a motor cycle to Ikeja Cantonment to get armoured vehicles. Supported by these vehicles, he proceeded to Radio Nigeria, where he had a conversation with his close friend Dimka.
Dimka’s initial reaction to Babangida’s arrival was to ask him if he came to play “Chukwuma and Nwawo” with him; drawing a historical parallel with the negotiations between Colonel Conrad Nwawo (on behalf of Ironsi) and Major Nzeogwu in Kaduna in January 1966. However, Dimka got concerned with the presence of armored vehicles in the background and asked them to be withdrawn.
But it turns out that Babangida’s orders had not been to negotiate a surrender or other outcome, but to stop the broadcast – by any means necessary – including destruction by shelling.
When he made contact with Bonny Camp to report his activities at the radio station, this order was reiterated to him by General Danjuma, incredulous that a conversation with Dimka had even occurred and that the radio station was still playing Dimka’s broadcast. A brief but fierce fire fight (reportedly led by Major Chris Ugokwe) subsequently dislodged the coup plotters from the station.
When shooting started Dimka simply walked away, past all the soldiers surrounding the building as well as driving through numerous checkpoints on his way, first to Jos and then eventually to Abakaliki where he was captured by Police in the company of a woman of easy virtue.
At that time, public incredulity at his “escape” from Radio Nigeria led to speculations that he was assisted. But many years later, in April 1990, a similar ‘escape’ from a siege of supposedly loyal troops was executed by Lt. Col. Gabriel Nyiam and Major Saliba Mukoro.
General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) has written that he was late in leaving home that day on account of a visit by Brigadier Olu Bajowa to get a name for his new baby.
When it became apparent that there was trouble, Obasanjo executed an escape and evasion maneuver, spent most of the day at the house of a civilian friend in Ikoyi monitoring the situation by telephone, but later emerged to become the Head of State.
His would be assassins mistook then Colonel Dumuje for him along Awolowo road in Lagos, seriously wounding that officer.
The specifics of how that happened remain a matter of conjecture particularly since the car of a Lt. General would have had three stars mounted on the license plate.
Whether Dumuje was riding in Obasanjo’s car is a curious possibility that has never been clarified. Or perhaps the hit men were drunk and could not tell one flag from another.
Subsequent evidence, allegedly based on documents and tapes discovered at the station, suggests that Dimka had actually planned a second broadcast which he never got to make.
As expected, mass arrests were made after the coup failed, not just of active duty and retired soldiers, but also civilians. Major C.D. Dabang, an inner circle officer who had pleaded with Dimka to delay the coup until he was well enough to take part, was still undergoing treatment at the Military Hospital in Lagos when soldiers arrived, disconnected his drip and took him away. Many important figures of the Gen. Yakubu Gowon era were arrested and quizzed.
Death sentences passed by a separate Special Military Tribunal were confirmed by the Supreme Military Council. However, it remains unclear to this day to what extent certain individuals who were shot were actually involved in the Dimka coup.
The first batch of executions was announced by Brigadier Shehu Yar’Adua, who had just been double promoted from the rank of Lt. Col. This was followed the next morning by a gleeful headline in the Daily Times that read: “Thirty-Two shot in Round One”. Another batch, including Dimka himself, was to follow later.
Those executed included:
1. Major General I.D. Bisalla (Defence Commissioner)
2. Joseph Gomwalk (Ex-Governor of Benue-Plateau)
3. Col. A.D.S. Wya
4. Col Isa Bukar
5. Lt. Col. T.K. Adamu
6. Lt. Col A.B. Umoru
7. Lt. Col B.S. Dimka
8. Lt. Col. Ayuba Tense
9. Major C.D. Dabang
10. Major Ola Ogunmekan
11. Major J.W. Kasai
12. Major J.K. Afolabi
13. Major M.M. Mshelia
14. Major I.B. Rabo
15. Major K.K. Gagara
16. Capt. M.R. Gotip
17. Capt. M. Parvwang
18. Capt. J.F. Idi
19. Capt. A.A. Aliyu
20. Capt. S. Wakian
21. Capt. Austin Dawurang
22. Lt. A.R. Aliyu
23. Lt. William Seril
24. Lt. Mohammed
25. Lt. E.L.K. Shelleng
26. Lt. O. Zagmi
27. Lt. S. Wayah
28. Lt. S. Kwale
29. Lt. Peter Cigari
30. Lt. Lawrence Garba
31. Seven (7) non-commissioned officers
32. Mr. Abdulakarim Zakari (civilian broadcaster)
The Obasanjo regime, however, later issued a public statement proffering its own explanation for the Dimka coup attempt. The four reasons given by the government were that:
1. The plotters felt the Murtala government was abandoning Nigeria’s traditional non-aligned posture and going “communist”.
2. The plotters were opposed to recent Army promotions and the appointment of Danjuma as Army Chief.
3. The plotters intended to restore General Gowon to office
4. The plotters intended to restore all previous military governors to office, as well as restore all retired public servants back to office. Any subsequent retirement was to be based on legal due process.
