The death on Monday of retired Colonel John Yahaya Madaki reminded me of an explosive encounter I had with him in 1991 when he was the Military Governor of Katsina State. Although the meeting began on an explosive note, it ended in a friendly atmosphere with Madaki telling me many stories about his life, some of which I will share here. As a reporter for the now defunct Citizen magazine, Madaki’s chief press secretary Abubakar Sadiq Yar’adua invited me to Katsina to interview the governor. I sat in a waiting room together with an elderly, light-skinned contractor and a young woman. All the while I was aware of a close-circuit TV camera swirling over our heads.
Suddenly the door burst open and Colonel Madaki stormed into the waiting room, Sadiq Yar’adua behind him. He made straight for the woman, who said in low tones that he told her to come and see him. “When?” the governor shouted. “I never told you to come and see me!” The woman picked her purse, burst into tears and ran out of the room. Madaki then moved on to the elderly contractor and said, “Yes? What do you want?” The man calmly said he went to the Ministry of Agriculture but was told that his file was with the governor. Madaki shouted, “Do I keep money for them? Or do you think I take money and keep in my Gwari village?” The interesting thing to me was that it was a bilingual exchange; while the contractor spoke in Hausa, Madaki spoke in English but each one fully understood the other because the exchange was coherent.
Madaki then came straight at me and said, “Yes? Who are you?” The CPS quickly intervened and said he brought me. The military governor glared at me for a minute, and then walked away. Minutes later I was ushered into his office. I sat on a cushion chair in the conference area while Madaki stood behind his desk and made a long phone call. When he finished, he came straight at me and sat on the centre table, his leg menacingly pressing my own and said, “Ok, go ahead! What do you want to ask me?” I was a confident young man in those days so I said, “Sir, please take a seat properly.” Madaki exploded, “This is my office! I will sit where I want! If you want to do the interview, do it and if you don’t want to do it, you can go!”
I managed to go ahead with the interview and as it progressed, the governor calmed down. By the time we finished the interview, he had become very friendly and for the next one hour, he sat down and told me many stories of his life, including one unforgettable one. He said for many years as a young officer he was the ADC to Major General Iliya Bisalla, who became General Murtala Mohammed’s Defence Minister in 1975. Madaki said he went to Kano with Bisalla early in 1976 and after three days he managed to reach his wife in Lagos on the phone. She told him that she was very sick and bleeding. He asked her if she went to the hospital and she said there was no vehicle to take her. Alarmed, he said, “Did you ask Oga’s wife to give you a vehicle?” Madaki’s wife said she asked Mrs Bisalla who retorted, “Am I your MTO?”
Madaki then went to the Defence Minister and said, “Oga, my wife is bleeding and there is no car and she asked your wife for a car and Madam said she is not her MTO.” To Madaki’s great shock Bisalla said, “Madam is right. Is she her MTO?” Madaki said he was so angry that he walked out on Bisalla and the next day, he went to Kano airport, flew to Lagos and took care of his wife. After that he went to the Military Secretary and asked for redeployment but the man said, “You are the Defence Minister’s ADC. There is no way you can be reassigned without his permission.”
Madaki said in order to resist many army officers’ efforts to reconcile him with Bisalla, he left Lagos for Kaduna. With no work to do, he said he spent his time at the Nigeria Defence Academy’s [NDA] Officers’ Mess. Later that month, Bisalla was in Kaduna and a reception was organised for him at the officers’ mess. Other officers persuaded Madaki to attend the reception. He said 60 officers lined up to greet the Defence Minister who was shaking hands one by one but when he saw Madaki in the reception line, he ignored him and went straight to the next person. Everyone saw the snub, which turned out to be life saving.
In early February 1976, Lt Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka arrived in Kaduna, lodged at the NDA officers’ mess and told Madaki to meet him there at 7am the next day. Madaki said he guessed that Dimka, who was close to Bisalla, would try to persuade him to return to his boss so he tried to avoid Dimka. An international military golf championship was about to take place in Kaduna so Madaki went to the golf course to help with preparations. Around 1pm however he went to see Dimka. He said as he arrived, Dimka and several army officers emerged from the NDA officers’ mess where they apparently had a meeting. All of them faced the firing squad not long afterwards.
When he saw Madaki, Dimka angrily scolded him for coming late. He was about to enter a car that would take him to Kaduna airport so he told Madaki to enter the car so they would discuss on the way. As it happened, a civilian kinsman of Dimka suddenly emerged and he told him to also enter the car so they will discuss on the way to the airport. It was the civilian’s presence that prevented Dimka from discussing the upcoming coup with Madaki. When they reached the airport, he told Madaki that he wanted to discuss something important with him but it must now wait for another time.
Not long afterwards Dimka launched the February 13, 1976 abortive coup which resulted in the death of General Murtala and Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo, among others. A few days after the coup was put down, military police officers arrived in Kaduna and arrested everyone that Dimka met with during his visit. Madaki was arrested and thrown into detention for three months. Two things saved him. Dozens of officers testified that Bisalla publicly snubbed him during the NDA reception, and Dimka also corroborated his story during interrogation that they never discussed the coup because Madaki arrived too late for the briefing. That was how Colonel John Yahaya Madaki narrowly avoided the fate of 38 army officers and one civilian who were publicly executed at the Bar Beach in Lagos in March 1976 for their role in the abortive coup.
On that day he also told me a story about his predecessor in the Katsina Governor’s Office, Colonel Lawrence Onoja. Madaki discovered some wrongdoings in the purchase of tractors during Onoja’s time and set up an investigation panel. Just when he was about to inaugurate it, with commission members and commissioners already seated in the council chamber, his ADC told him that Vice President Admiral Aikhomu was on the phone. He rushed back to the office and answered. Aikhomu said, “John, you are very stupid. Don’t inaugurate that panel to probe Onoja. You want to disgrace the military?” Madaki pleaded that it was too late but Aikhomu firmly ordered him not to go ahead. A confused Madaki then called in the SSG and told him; the experienced civil servant told him not to worry. He went and told the waiting members and commissioners to disperse because the military governor was receiving an important call from Lagos.
The next day Madaki flew to Lagos, went to Dodan Barracks and found Onoja sitting in Aikhomu’s office. They were so chummy that Onoja had his boots on the Vice President’s desk. Madaki said he kicked Onoja’s legs and shouted, “How can you put your legs on Oga’s desk!” Aikhomu said it was ok but Madaki shouted, “No sir! I will not allow him to put his legs on your desk! This is indiscipline!”
Colonel John Yahaya Madaki lived a very active life including two years as Military Governor and two stints as Commander of the Guards Brigade. May his soul find eternal rest in perfect peace.
