Dr. Joseph Targema Orkar is the elder brother of late Major Gideon Orkar, who led a coup to overthrow the former military President, Ibrahim Babangida in 1990. In this interview with HENRY IYORKHASE in Makurdi, he calls for a revolution in Nigeria, saying it is the only way to regain the lost values and vision of the nation’s founding fathers. Excerpts:
Would you say the courage of your late brother, Major Gideon Orkar, executed 23 years ago for attempting to overthrow former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, runs in the family?
First, I want to correct the impression that late Major Gideon was my immediate younger brother. He was the fourth after me. There were three others before him. Generally, we are an upright family and that was the way we were brought up by our late father. Late Gideon followed the family tradition – fearlessness and forthrightness, coupled with the characteristics he acquired in the military.
The coup was never discussed in the family. If it had, probably we would have made some input, especially in the speech where he excised parts of northern Nigeria. Even at that, those still talking of the coup are not honest. They claim why the coup failed was because he excised the North from Nigeria. Gideon did not completely excise the region because he gave some conditions.
And part of it, was the appointment of a rightful Sultan of Sokoto which meant he was still interested in what was happening at the time. People still ignore this truth. No one has countered the content of the speech.
So, that was Gideon and that’s what he did. Gideon was a right man at the wrong place at the time. When Gideon of the Old Testament, called on the people of Israel to come out of their houses, they poured out in such large numbers that God said, He did not need as much number to give him success. He pruned it to a small number of soldiers.
Here, when Gideon staged a coup, many Nigerians including the late Moshood Abiola, condemned him. Later, Abiola who was busy at the time dining with Babangida paid a supreme price. All these go to show that Nigerians are not yet ready for a revolution. After Gideon was executed, I travelled to Jaji and was surprised that no soldier was prepared to take up from where he stopped. For the coup, it was obvious that was the extent to which God wanted it to go, otherwise some of his colleagues could have gone ahead to successfully complete it.
How many of your family members are still alive?
From our mother we were 12 children; eight boys and four girls. I say so because after her death, my father, Orkar Chi from Ugondo, Makurdi Local Government got married to another woman. Even though Gideon was executed by Ibrahim Babangida, six of us are still alive and that include four men and two women. So, we still see God’s blessings in our family.
Are there other famous ones among you?
Our family is not after fame. I joined politics as a calling and won a seat in the state House of Assembly but the late Aper Aku appointed me a commissioner. I was the most famous in the family, until Gideon came up and superseded me.
My elder brother was also appointed a commissioner after me in the military era. Incidentally, he served as commissioner for agriculture after I had held the position. The other person who was elder to my immediate senior was a headmaster and died in 1973. The immediate one after me, Dr. John Ngusha Orkar died last year. He was also a renowned teacher and evangelist. The first child of my mother was a woman who got married to Tyoor Tyuyô Ayaka of Mbatyerev.
Of what significance is that coup to Nigerians?
You see, I am not always forthcoming when discussing Gideon’s coup. Even now, I feel Nigerians should be able to judge. I should not be the one doing that. I am only his elder brother and should not be blowing his trumpet.
Others should be able to say how they see of it. All is not well with Nigeria, yet you find those who are in the habit of opening their mouths wide and trying to suppress the truth. Here, the crooks are leading because they got into office through crooked means. But even when some people dare talk of revolution, you find those who get agitated and dismiss revolution as out of fashion.
Then when anybody talks of coup, they will tell you the military lacks such capability today. That is true because they have become compromised, as they are beneficiaries of the rot in the system. But the fact is that revolution does not come only through military coup, as civilians can also do that.
When you watch international television channels, you see people in other countries pouring into the streets to demand change. They are not afraid of being killed.
Is it not time Nigerians do that? In Benue State, they are waiting for Kpamor Orkar to organise them and demonstrate against injustice. This is what Nigeria has turned today. We are relying more on God that there is nothing He cannot do.
Gideon played his own part to the extent that God allowed it. We hope to, one day, build a tomb in his memory. You find that writs are placed at the tombs of unknown soldiers; here Gideon is a known soldier.
Gideon had associates like Col. Nyiam, Great Ogboru and others. Are they still maintaining link with your family?
Before that coup, we never heard of Great Ogboru, Col. Nyam, Turner and others. We never knew they were part of the planning, so did not have opportunity of JT Orkar meeting them. It was after the coup and when Ogboru returned from exile that he visited us. Of course we showed appreciation. He came to the village and dined with us. But since then, we have not had any contact with him.
Incidentally, he tried in that coup but did not succeed. Now, he wants to promote democracy but is being frustrated by dark political forces. Let me say that late Gideon’s wife prefers anything associated with that coup forgotten. Talking of it continues to remind her of that tragic past. She is not interested in fame and having lost her husband in that circumstance, she tries to be out of the limelight. If she were politically minded, she would have taken off from there.
In fact, some people want to organise a lecture in memory of Gideon. Last time his wife, Mrs. Judith Bunmi Orkar, was to come home when a nephew was getting married but rather decided to go and write an examination. So, we have to take her feelings into consideration.
How many children did Gideon leave behind?
He left behind four boys and one girl. They are all grown up and university graduates. His only daughter is a mechanical engineer; one of the sons is an architect and married. The Orkar family should not be the ones talking of Gideon, it should rather be Nigerians. If Nigerians saw anything good in what he did, then they should continue with the struggle. You see the public is being exploited on all fronts.
The late Orkar wanted to excise parts of northern Nigeria from the country. Do you think it was a mistake, especially with the situation today?
The answer is better left to Nigerians and not me. Incidentally, everyone is playing the ostrich. Just some days ago, the Sultan of Sokoto demanded amnesty for the Boko Haram. I have always insisted that the Federal Government closely monitor the Sultan because he is the religious leader of Muslims in Nigeria and his members are causing mayhem in the name of their religion. He should have prevailed on the Boko Haram from becoming violent.
Nobody has ever talked to the Sultan of Sokoto on this, yet he is asking the government to grant them amnesty. If Nigerians have not learnt any lessons from what Gideon wanted to achieve, then we are all finished.
Would you seek presidential amnesty for your late brother?
Definitely, I am using this opportunity to plead with President Goodluck Jonathan to extend the pardon to Gideon as that is the best thing to do. Since he has taken the bold step to grant pardon to other Nigerians, it would be proper for him to do likewise for my late brother and all those who participated in the coup of April 1990. I praise the President for the boldness to initiate the state pardon.
Do you think Nigeria is ripe for a revolution?
A revolution does not need to be violent. There are various ways of carrying it out. What is needed is for the people to pour into the streets and revolt against injustice and oppression. May be in the military, when soldiers are dissatisfied with a prevailing situation, they violently revolt.
But a revolution does not necessarily entail taking up arms, but saying it with words and other actions will do. Nigeria is blessed but there is a lot of corruption in the system. Those in authority are only interested in embezzling public funds.
Take the case of pension’s fund. One would have expected that those responsible for payments would have been humble enough to go to homes of these elderly citizens every month and pay them their benefits. But those charged with their welfare were busy diverting the funds into private pockets. In the end, pensioners go about the streets begging for livelihood.
That is why General Muhammadu Buhari is saying that President Goodluck Jonathan is incapable of fighting corruption because those around him are part of it. There were lots of revelations at the Senate probe of the power sector.
It was published that a contractor that did not know the site where a power plant was to be sited was fully paid upfront. Nigeria is a rotten country and that is why we want to come and salvage it by the formation of a new political party. Nothing will deter us from doing this. The new party would sweep the polls and we will enthrone justice, peace and unity.
Don’t you think Nigerians are developing voter apathy?
(Cuts in) That should not bother anyone. With our new party, , All Progressive Party (APC), there won’t be voter apathy. We have competent and credible candidates, especially persons like Muhammadu Buhari. No one will stop him from contesting in 2015 because those against him have skeletons in their cupboards and are afraid of being probed. Some are saying that as a Muslim, Buhari would Islamise Nigeria.
But when he was military Head of State, he did not do so. Even if there is apathy, it is the number of those who register and vote that will decide the winner. It does not mean that everyone must vote before you can effect a change. What we will do is to ensure we stop rigging by anybody or political party.
Assessing past military rule and present democratic dispensation, which has performed better?
On a performance scale, the military has a leg up. When Buhari was Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) chairman, he performed creditably well. He is going to contest in 2015 and we know as a presidential candidate, he is above every other person.
In civilian dispensation, we expect to see democracy. But unfortunately, there is no democracy in Nigeria. What we have is a form of civil rule where some people rig elections and occupy official positions.
That is not democracy. We are still waiting for democracy in Nigeria. After rigging elections, some people would then go back to accuse the losers of not willingly accepting defeat. When you rig me out, should I congratulate you? If you attempt going to the election tribunal, they hand you down phoney judgements.
How do you intend stopping election rigging considering that the party in power has the apparatus to ensure its continued stay in office?
When you go for game in the jungle, do you let the animals know your position in the bush? We will not disclose what we will do at least for now.
In 2001, a Federal High Court awarded N41.8 billion as compensation to victims of the invasion of Tiv land. Recently, it was alleged that Governor Gabriel Suswam reached an out-of-court settlement and collected N8 billion. How do you react to this?
Whatever is happening now is because of the type of government we have in place and we are determined to flush it out. When APC comes to power, we will fight injustice, and even demand for the outstanding compensation. That is why people are afraid of Buhari because they think they will not go scot free.
The corrupt people want to continue looting public treasury. They are the people fighting against our cause. This is an inhuman government; it is not fighting for the good of the public.
Recently, President Jonathan commissioned the Greater Makurdi Water Works. Yet, there is no water from the source.
I have had no water here ever since I completed this house. I laid pipes and they started billing me, then I went and told them, not to bill me again. There were times they talked of improving water supply to the low cost housing estate, but till now nothing concrete has been done.
The Makurdi Water Works which Jonathan commissioned was a fake. Now, the government is saying the reason for the lack of water is that the old pipes got burst due to water pressure.
If you were going to have a new system like Christ said, you do not put new wine in old wine skin, if you are bringing a new wine, you should also bring new skin. They should have started work on the new pipes, so that by the time the water is commissioned, we would enjoy it. There is so much sycophancy and falsehood here.
Do you think the large number of political parties is healthy for the country?
Until INEC deregistered some, there were more than 60 political parties in Nigeria. There are some that even with the freest and fairest elections cannot win a council ward. I have always advocated for ideology-based political parties. That makes the difference between party A and B. You have political parties that have nothing to offer.
They cannot even tell you why they are in existence but only indulge in noise making. Some individuals want to be heard, so they come out as presidential candidates.
In the First Republic, political parties could not hold meetings except they obtained permit from the police and that was why the UMBC did not give us permits to hold meetings.
Nowadays, we hold meetings without getting permit from the police. It means we have freedom of association. But when it comes to registering a company, you must abide by the regulations of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
And even when a company is unable to send reports on financial returns, it would have its certificate withdrawn. In politics too, if a political party does not live up to expectations, it should be deregistered. We should have few parties so that INEC can effectively monitor them.
Everybody wants to have a party. It is ridiculous. When you study their manifestos, you will see no distinction between them. A party should not be formed because of the interest of an individual.
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