…says ‘I knew he would act like Bisalla’
…insists Vatsa planned to carry out bloodiest coup in World history

A controversial figure whose role in the military as an intelligence officer in the Nigerian Army and the Directorate of State Security keeps recurring many years after service, retired Brig.-General Kunle Togun was at various times the deputy director-general and later director-general of the Directorate of State Security Service as well as a former director of the military intelligence. In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, he talked about sundry controversial issues that trailed his tour of duties at these various appointments. Excerpts:

During your time as a youth, joining the military was not so fashionable in Yorubaland, what prompted you to opt for soldiering as a carrier and was there any form of opposition to your decision from your parents?
What happened was that I attended Government College in Ibadan where I was privileged to have served at the Cadet Unit of the school. That was where my interest to join the military was kindled. I remember an incidence that took place on the day of Independence in October 1st, 1960, where a student rally was held as part of the celebrations. On that day, I remember that all secondary schools in the old Western Region were part of the march past. My school did something very different from others on that day. It was the Cadet Unit of our school that represented the school on that day. We came first on that day. Something different happened that day, what happened was that unlike other days when we held march past, it was the police band that used to play but on that day, it was the army band that played. The event took place at the Liberty Stadium. On that day, we came in from the Southern Gate of the stadium and we were the first school to march past. Immediately we came in, the announcer got us noticed by praising us. He told those present that we marched with precision like trained soldiers. He (the announcer) praised us to high heavens saying what we did couldn’t have been done better by soldiers. When we got to the saluting dais, the gentleman that commanded us was given the rank of a corporal. When he said, eyes left, we quickly turned and the whole stadium went into uproar. At that time, the music stopped and when the trumpet came up again, I just found out that my head turned to a spin. After that, I told myself that the best place my future laid was in the military. It was that parade that kindled my interest in the military.

So, how did you eventually find yourself in the military?
We were sold forms, I mean those of us who wanted to join the military, I mean the regular officers’ course of the Nigerian Army then. At that time, the Nigerian Army was called the Queen’s Own Regiment. We were sent forms because some of us wanted to be regular officers. When I filled the form, unfortunately my mother saw it and I told her that it was an overseas scholarship forms. I didn’t tell her that it was a form for me to join the Nigerian Army. When I finished, I tried to post it but she said I could only join the army over her dead body. I had to abandon that ambition and opted to go to Oliviet Secondary School in Oyo town. It was after completing my HSC that I went to the University of Ife, Ibadan Branch, for my first degree. So, in June, 1968, I was with my good friend, Akin Bayeroju, whom I met in 1964. We did the same course at the university. I was in Regulation 18 scholarship of the Western Nigerian Government. Those of us that studied science were supposed to be employed as teachers to teach for a period of not less than five years after completing our scholarship. After that, we were free to leave the employment of the government to do whatever we wanted to do. I told met my friend, Bayeroju, who said he wanted to join the army and I told him that I wanted to join too.

Was that your friend on scholarship too?
No! We met at the university. We read the same course and we left the university the same day.

How did you eventually join the army?
After leaving the university, we were still in Ibadan when he said he was contemplating joining the army and I said I was interested too. We realised that regional service was far below national service in terms of scope and prestige. That was how we collectively decided and the two of us joined the army in June 1968. We joined at the war front. We joined at the Nsukka Sector.

How come you joined at the war front? How did that happen or does that suggest that you never had the opportunity of formal training as soldiers?
I told you that I had a semblance of military training and orientation through my involvement in the Cadet Unit of Government College. What we were doing was nothing more than military training. I did that for three years as a student of the Government College in Ibadan. We were being trained by soldiers from Lekmot Barracks in Ibadan.

Does that suggest that at the time of your arrival at the Nsukka War front, you were now deemed as soldiers?
No! I never told you that I was a soldier at that time but we had military training. I had a military background for three years before then.

Okay sir. How did you find yourself at the war front?
What happened was that we usually saw a Land Rover that usually came to the neighbourhood. The symbol on it was very different from the ones that we were used to. One day, we hired a taxi to trail the vehicle to its usual final destination. We followed it and the Land Rover got to Mokola area, directly opposite the branch to Premier Hotel. The vehicle turned left and packed in front of a two storey building. When we made enquiries from the people around the place, we were told that the vehicle belonged to a commander at the war front who usually sent his driver to check up on the family every two weeks. As the driver was going back the next day, we went to him and told him that the Commander said we should come with him on his way back. He told us ‘oga didn’t tell me to bring anybody back o.’ We responded by asking him to tell us how we knew that he would be going back tomorrow if the commander didn’t tell us to come with him. That was how we joined him on the trip. He now told us that he was leaving for the front by 2am the next day. We left Ibadan and we eventually landed at the war front. We got there by 5 pm that day.

Who was this commander that you are talking about now?
We never met him by then but we met him for the first time and his name was Col. Daramola. He was the commander of the sector as the brigade commander.

What now happened when you met him?
When we got there, he went to the commander and gave him a salute and told him that ‘I have brought the people with me’. The commander asked him ‘who?’ the boy was looking at us and we began to laugh. Then the Colonel called us in and told us that ‘gentlemen, this is a war front. I don’t award contracts here. If you want contracts, go to Ibadan, Kaduna or Lagos.’ We told him that we wanted to join the army and he asked, ‘are they not recruiting in Ibadan, Abeokuta and Kaduna again?’. We now told him that we were interested and we just left the university at that time. He then asked us if we discussed our proposal with anyone and we said no. He now asked us if we were serious about what we wanted to do. We said yes and he now asked if we knew the implication of the bullets that were flying around at the front. He wanted to know if we knew that bullets kill. I told him that I had undergone military training for three years. He asked us where and I told him, Government College, Ibadan. He asked me some questions pertaining to field craft and minor tactics and I answered him, he said ‘university boys’. They might have gone somewhere to read it somewhere. He now gave me a rifle fully loaded with magazine. Ten rounds and tore a part of the beer carton that was nailed to a plank located in about 50 feet and he asked me to shoot at it. I asked him how he wanted me to do the firing, whether by sitting, standing, squatting or kneeling. He said, I think this boy knows what he is talking about. General Ishola Williams was the Brigade Major of the sector. Major Laoye who was a battalion commander was also there that day. I knelt down and started firing; they went there and counted 10 marks. He (Daramola) now said ‘if I give you 10 rounds, you are going to knock down 10 Biafrans for me?’ and I said, ‘yes’. That was how the man recruited the two of us as private soldiers.

Did you see military action, immediately Col. Daramola recruited you?
Like I said, we were at the war front then. The only thing was that he gave us some sort of training. He got some people to give us some form of training. After the training, he deployed me as a camp commandant. He deployed my friend to the defence wing.

How did you now get your commission?
It was shortly after that the opportunity for officers training camp came. It was short service course. I attended the interview with my friend. It was in November, 1968 when the army was requesting for people to be trained for short service training. We had brigade interview, we went to the division from where we went to Lagos for the final selection. General (Olusegun) Obasanjo was the chairman of the panel that recruited us.

What changed in terms of your status in the army when you became commissioned?
I became a combatant officer automatically. I was later posted to the Presidential Guards immediately while my friend was posted back to the war front.

Apart from your sojourn at the Presidential Guards, which other posting did you get?
At the Presidential Guards, I was the adjutant; I was battalion second in command as well as a battalion commander there too. It was in 1976 after the (Lt.-Col. Buka Suka) Dimka coup that my unit was posted to Gombe. It was from Gombe that I was posted to the Army Intelligence Corps. Before the coup, I told my commander at the Brigades of Guards, General Joseph Garbai, that the Murtala (Mohammed) government was making a mistake by violating security by adopting a low profile security measure. I warned that it was wrong and bad for the Head of State to be going about without adequate security measure. The same applied to other key government officials. General Garba told me to ‘shut up’. The last confidential report he wrote on me before leaving the brigade to become the federal commissioner for foreign affairs was that ‘Kunle cries wolf where none existed.’ When Dimka struck and they killed General Murtala Mohammed, it was my battalion that General T.Y Danjuma said should host the Defence Headquarters for counter offensive. After the turn of events, General Garba was the one who suggested that I should be in the intelligence corps. That was how I was posted to the military intelligence corps.

That was in 1976?
Yes!

What was your experience like transiting from being a combatant officer to being an intelligence officer?
As a combatant officer, my duties in the Presidential Guards, we were in charge of protecting and guarding people for almost eight years that I was there.

Who was the Director of the Intelligence Corps when you moved over there?
I was posted to the corps, the director then was Col. SD Akinola. Before I resumed, he had been briefed about me and when I came, he just showed me my office and told me that there were some files in my office to go through and that after then, I will have a clear understanding of my job schedule. The only thing I was doing was to be issuing memos through him to the chief of army who was then General TY Danjuma. General Danjuma used to take them to the Supreme Military Council meetings. I can tell you that some of my memos attracted many decrees.

Can you name some of the decrees that were enacted from your memos?
I remember that I wrote memos concerning price control.

During that time, did you have any personal encounter with General TY Danjuma?
Yes! I had. That was on February 13, 1976 during the Dimka Coup. I was the acting Battalion Commander. My phone rang and the caller from the other end said he wanted to speak to the commanding officer. I asked if he wanted to speak with the acting or substantive commander? And he (the caller) asked, ‘who is speaking and I said, Captain Kunle Togun and he said, ‘this is TY Danjuma, the chief of army staff.’ That was when he gave the directive that everybody in the Army Headquarters should move to Bonny Camp. That was my first encounter with him. When he eventually came, he asked if I was the person he spoke with and I said, yes! He now asked for my permission to use my office as his temporary office. I answered in the affirmative by saying you are welcome sir. That was where the counter offensive was done to retake the radio station.

Can you name some prominent officers who were with General Danjuma when he came?
I said, all the officers and soldiers in the Army Headquarters in Marina were directed to move to Bonny Camp. They all came. General (Domkat) Bali was the adjutant then, he came as well as General Akinrinade who came for consultation.

Was former Military President Ibrahim Babangida whom you served with there too?
At that time, he was commanding the army armoured unit. He too came.

Was that your first time with him?
No!

When was the first time you met him?
I met him for the first time in December 1974 when we had the Guards Brigade bush exercise. He was the chief umpire for that exercise. He was a lieutenant Colonel then.

What was the encounter like and what struck you about him?
I remember that he asked General Garba to tell him who wrote about the exercise to him and he (Garba) told him a Captain and Babangida was shocked that a Captain could write such. He wondered how a Captain who had not been to a Staff College could write such. He now said he wanted to meet me and General Garba sent for me and I met him (Babangida). He asked me how I was able to write it and I told him that I had been reading things like that. He asked for my seniority as a Captain and I told him and he now told me that he would have loved me to join him in the armoured corps.

As an intelligence officer, did you have inkling of a likely military take over from Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1983?
Unfortunately, those who were planning coups didn’t come out in the open to say so. The only thing I can say is that we made sure that the government became stable. We uncovered several coups when we were at the military intelligence. We had to get those involved arrested. That was our job.

What about the coup that brought your boss, General Babangida, to office?
I was still at the DMI in Apapa.

Having known you before, did he tell you that you would be working with him?
(Laughs) I won’t tell you about what I know about the coup. What I can say is that he called me and said that I was going to work in the security for him, that’s all.

At that time, where was your boss, Colonel Halilu Akilu?
We were together at the Army Intelligence.

He was senior to you then?
Obviously, he was senior to me.

How would you describe your working relationship with him?
At that material time, we were only doing our jobs. There was nothing like me working with Akilu. Everyone had his own work schedule then. It was this unbridled blackmail that actually brought the two of us together. We were not in the same office doing the same thing. Everything changed when I was posted out to NSO (National Security Organisation) by President Babangida. When we got there, we changed the name and the scope of operations to Department of State Security (DSS).

What was your stay at the DSS like?
There was the need for an internal security service like the FBI in the America. At that time, there was nothing like that. The need for the DSS came after the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed. When I got to the place, I had issues because the personnel were being trained on police duties and I had to re-orientate them by telling them that they were not policemen but an internal security set up. Helped them draw up curriculum in their training schools.

Your stay in the military has been controversial; one major event that took place was the arrest, trial and execution of Geneal Mamman Vatsa, were you part of the investigation?
I was the secretary of the investigation panel. General Sani Sami who is now the Emir of Zuru was the chairman of the panel. I am saying emphatically that General Vatsa planned a coup. The late Col. Bitiyong was the contact person for the coup. There was this officer, Major Mike Iyorshe, whom I called privately, I said, ‘Mike, I know you are involved in this coup. I asked him to tell me the fate of Isaac Adaka Boro who was advocating for the creation of Rivers State. He said he is dead.’ I asked him if Rivers State has been created now, he said yes! I said, wherever the spirit of Boro is now, he would be grateful that what he died for had come to pass. I told him that he a good and competent officer and go before the panel to tell the truth and the changes that you want to effect. I told him that even if they kill you and the changes come to pass, your spirit would be dancing wherever it is. Iyorshe was the first to open up to us. He said General Vatsa sent Bitiyong to him about the coup. He said he was interested considering the reason they gave to him. He said they told him that when the coup succeeds, they were not going to be in power after the coup but that they were going to hand power to civilians. Iyorshe said that was what convinced him to join them. Vatsa planned a coup and people should top being sentimental. The coup would have been the bloodiest in the history of the world.

Why do you say so?
Thank you, Ben Ekele who was then a wing commander in the Air Force who was known to me before the coup told me when he appeared before the panel. He said, ‘Kunle, I am sorry to have messed you up.’ General Vatsa fooled all those involved that he wasn’t going to run the government he was planning to rule the country from Abuja after the boys bombed key places in Lagos such as Dodan Barracks, Bonny Camp. I knew that for a long time, he had been a long rival to former President Babangida.

How do you that they have been rivals?
How would I not know? I was in Minna in 1983 when General Vatsa was campaigning for who to take over from General Inuwa Wushishi as the chief of army staff. That was the time that he (Vatsa) was translating a book on Alhaji Shehu Shagari from Hausa to English. At the end, General Babangida got it. I remember vividly that I told General Babangida that after his coup that ‘sir congratulations but we are not going to help you pick your cabinet but don’t put a Bisalla in your cabinet. He looked at me with shock. He now asked me what I meant, I told him that General Bisalla was a friend and course mate of General Murtala who eventually killed him.