The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has expressed its disappointment over the decision of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to immortalize Major Gideon Orkar. Chairman of MURIC’s Kano State chapter, Hassan Indabawa, made this known in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of MURIC, Indabawa queried the motive behind Ortom’s decision to honor a person, who was convicted of treason against the state and summarily executed in July 1990. Major Gideon Orkar led a violent and bloody coup against the military administration of retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida in April 1990. The coup ultimately failed due to ethnic and religious undertones that accompanied Orkar’s speech made at about 4:00am on April 22, 1990.
In his statement, Orkar claimed that he had seized power on behalf of the southern and middle belt areas, which he said had been reduced to slavery by the northern parts of the country. He then announced the excision of five northern states of Bauchi, Borno, Katsina, Kano, and Sokoto from Nigeria.
Indabawa went further to describe the ideological arrowheads of the coup as Lt. Col. Anthony Nyiam, Major Saliba Mukoro, and Major Cyril Obahor. Although Orkar was identified as the mastermind of the coup, the trial and subsequent evidence showed that he was just a puppet and not the original mastermind.
Furthermore, intelligence findings suggested that Orkar was recruited to join the coup plot at a later stage. As a result of the coup attempt, the Nigerian government captured Orkar and 41 others. They were tried and convicted of treason, and subsequently, executed by firing squad on July 27, 1990.
MURIC questioned Ortom’s move to celebrate Orkar’s insurgency and failure, adding that Orkar was known to be bigoted, unintelligent, irrational, amoral, disoriented, and a drunkard. The group also emphasized that every responsible Nigerian should understand that one can only venture on a suicide mission by deciding to arbitrarily excise any part of the country without anticipating dire consequences.
In summary, MURIC stated that it condemned the decision of Governor Ortom to immortalize Major Gideon Orkar and urged the governor to reconsider his actions in order to prevent possible civil unrest.
