Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE VERDICT HANDED DOWN BY A SPECIAL NIGERIAN MILITARY TRIBUNAL ON TWENTY-SIX NIGERIANS ACCUSED OF HAVING PLOTTED A COUP D'ETAT.
The South African Government has noted with great concern the verdicts handed down on 28 April 1998 on twenty-six Nigerian military officers and civilians who have been tried of having plotted a coup d'etat against the Abacha military government in December 1997. Six of the accused have reportedly received death sentences. These include the former Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant-General Olidipo Diya, and two former cabinet Ministers, Major-General Abdulkareem Adisa (former Works and Housing Minister) and Major-General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (former Communications Minister).
The Special Military Tribunal will be required to submit the verdicts to the Provisional Ruling Council for confirmation. If confirmed, the accused could be executed by firing squad.
The South African Government has further noted that the trial did not take place in an open court of law and that the defendants were represented by military lawyers. In this light, accusations that the trial process was fundamentally and seriously flawed, gain added credibility.
The South African Government would therefore strongly urge the Nigerian Military Government to refrain from carrying out the six death sentences handed down. It also calls on the government of General Abacha to consider the effects, should these sentences be carried out, on Nigeria at this critical juncture in her history. It is likely that there may be an adverse reaction, both inside Nigeria and internationally, which would impact on all levels of Nigerian society, and its interaction with the international community.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 29 APRIL 1998