[size=14pt]You know your true friends when you are out of office –Diya[/size]
Font size: Lekan Otufodunrin, Lagos 15/08/2010 00:00:00



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Lt General Oladipo Diya (rtd), former Chief of General Staff


HOW real are many who claim to be friends of political office holders? Former Chief of General Staff, Lt General Oladipo Diya (rtd) should know.

As a former military governor and the second in command during the military era, he had many friends who swarmed around him until he fell out of favour with his former boss, late General Sani Abacha.

Years after leaving office, General Diya says: "I now know that there are those who are friends of Diya the State Governor, Chief of General Staff and Diya".

He spoke last Tuesday in Lagos at the 66th birthday of Senator Anthony Adefuye who he described as one of his few true friends in and out of office.

"When you are in office as governor or Chief of General Staff, all your friends will be friends of the governor or Chief of General Staff. But when you leave office, you will know that your friends are few," said Diya who was chairman of the occasion.

"The few ones you have will now be friends of General Diya. That is what Adefuye is. There are few people like that. You will always find them there. They are always there for you when the travails of life come; when the time of storm comes, you will find your true friends."

Recalling that Adefuye was one of the few friends that visited him while in detention in Potiskum under the Abacha regime, Diya said: "Anytime a visitor comes to visit you, it is like God is sending an angel to you."

"You don’t have visitors, you can’t read newspapers, most of the things you are told are like rumours. Many of the stories are lies. When you see somebody come to visit you physically, you are relieved because you are now talking to a real person. Adefuye came to visit me four times. I cannot forget that."

To appreciate what it is like to cope with challenges while in office, the former Chief of General Staff who was accused of plotting a coup against the Abacha government which he was part of, recommended to political office holders to read the four part series of books by the late-Chief Obafemi Awolowo entitled: ‘My Travails in Power’.

"For those who have not read the books, I recommend them to you. Read them, you will be strengthened, you will know what life is and that nothing can surprise a man when he is going through a period of travail. When you see human beings standing by you, you will be encouraged, you are enlivened. I will continue to be grateful to my friends who stood by me who made me know that they are friends of General Diya and not friends of the office of governor or Chief of General Staff."

According to Diya who said his memoir is almost ready, "there was a time every intelligence report we were reading in Abuja then was about Senator Adefuye. They made us believe that all the arms and ammunition being imported into this country are in Adefuye’s house, his factory or company until one day he was arrested.

"But I know Adefuye very well. He will say his mind and that is all. Based on that, I showed him a copy of the report and he said it was not true and I believed him.

"Another person was arrested. They said the arms and ammunition were in his house; that Radio Kudirat was in his house and it turned out not to be true. My memoir is almost ready, I pray that God spares our life for the launch and the future of our country," Diya stated.

He commended Senator Adefuye who also marked the 30th anniversary of his engineering company, ARESCO Ltd for his various accomplishments as a family man, community leader and politician.

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True talk general.