General Donalson Oldipupo Diya, a former Vice President of Nigeria, passed on in the early hours of Sunday.

The death of Odogbolu, Ogun State born 78 year former Chief of Defence Staff under military head of state of General Sani Abacha was announced by Barrister Oyesinmilola Diya, on behalf of the family.

Diya served from 1994 until his arrest for treason in 1997.

The former military governor of Ogun State  was Commander 31, Airborne Brigade.

He was appointed Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985 amd became General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigeria Army in 1985 and then Commandant, National War College (1991–1993) before his appointment  as Chief of Defence St

He was appointed Chief of General Staff in 1993 and Vice Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council in 1994.

As Chief of the General Staff, he was the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the military junta from 1994 until his arrest.

In 1997 Diya and dissident soldiers in the military allegedly planned to overthrow the regime of Sani Abacha.

The alleged coup was uncovered by forces loyal to Abacha, and Diya and his cohorts were jailed. Diya was tried in a military tribunal and was given the death penalty.

Upon the death of Abacha in 1998, Diya was pardoned by the late Head of State's successor, Abdusalami Abubakar.

Most people believed that the much-hyped coup was, in fact, a ploy by Abacha to do away with Diya, who was increasingly becoming popular among the elite and opposition parties, for his moderate views on the situation in Nigeria.

After his arrest, a military tribunal sitting in the Nigerian town of Jos sentenced six people including Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya to death by firing squad in April 1998.

The accused were brought to the main military barracks in Jos for the trial. Security was tight, and the men on trial were chained at their ankles during the proceedings. 

In a dramatic statement at the outset of the trial, General Diya asserted that he had been entrapped by another officer close to General Abacha, Gen. Musa Bamaiyi, who approached him with the idea of mounting a coup.

Given the explosive nature of the charge, the government then closed the trial to the public.

The head of the military tribunal, General Victor Malu, the former commander of the West African regional peacekeeping force ECOMOG, responding to Lieutenant General Diya's defence that people at the very top framed him, said it was not necessary to know who had initiated the conspiracy.

He noted that all Lieutenant General Diya had to do was prove that he had not been part of the plot at any stage.

General Malu assured the defendants that they would be given a fair trial and unlimited access to information they needed to defend themselves.

"This tribunal will not conduct or tolerate a trial by ambush", he said.

The South African government questioned the secrecy surrounding the trial and warned of the probability that there could be an unfavorable reaction, both in Nigeria and internationally, to a carrying out of the sentences.

Lieutenant General Diya, was not only released but also discharged from the army, stripped of his rank, and barred from using his military title.

Earlier on, Abacha's loyalists had twice attempted to assassinate Diya, once at the airport and then in the streets, using bombs.

But most analysts said that whether motivated by a real coup plot or not, the arrest of General Diya signalled deep divisions within the Nigerian military and reflected rising tensions over General Abacha's apparent intention to remain in office by engineering his own election as President.

More to follow...