Lieutenant General Donaldson Oladipo Oyeyinka Diya (rtd), Former Chief Of General Staff under military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, is dead.
General Diya died at the age of 78.
His death was announced in a statement by Barrister Prince Oyesinmilola Diya, on behalf of the family on Sunday.
The statement reads: “On behalf of the entire Diya family home and abroad, we announce the passing on to Glory of our dear Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother, Lt- General Donaldson Oladipo Oyeyinka Diya (Rtd) GCON, LLB, BL, PSC, FSS, mni.
“Our dear Daddy passed onto glory in the early hours of 26th March 2023.”
General Diya, who was born on April 3, 1944 at Odogbolu, Ogun State, Nigeria was the the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during General Abacha’s military junta from 1994 until he was arrested for treason in 1997.
He previously served as Chief of Defence Staff and was Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985.
Diya attended Yaba Methodist School, Lagos from 1950 to 1956 and thereafter proceeded to Odogbolu as a pioneer student of Odogbolu Grammar School from 1957 to 1962.
Diya joined the Nigerian Army through direct entry in 1964, having been exempted from qualifying examination on the strength of his West African Senior School Certificate result. After three and half years of intensive military training at the Academy, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in March, 1967.
A veteran of the Nigerian civil war, General Diya later attended the US Army School of Infantry, the Command and Staff College, Jaji (1980–1981) and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.
While serving in the military, Diya studied Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained an LLB degree, and then at the Nigerian Law School, where he was called to bar as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Diya, a regular combatant soldier served in various positions in the Nigerian Army since his commission as 2nd Lieutenant in 1967. He was a Platoon Commander of the 6th Battalion, Ikeja, a post he held until 1968 when he became the Commanding Officer of the 101 Battalion of the Nigerian Army.
He was also the Deputy Adjutant-General of the Nigerian Army and Director of Personnel Services between 1973 and 1976 among others.
Internationally, Brigadier Diya commanded the Nigerian contingent in the Peace Keeping Operations of the United Nation’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in1980. In addition, he was the Chief Military Personnel Officer for the entire United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon within the same period.
Oladipo Diya was Commander 31, Airborne Brigade. He was appointed Military Governor of Ogun State from January 1984 to August 1985. He became General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigeria Army in 1985.
General Oladipo Diya was Commandant, National War College (1991–1993) from where he was appointed Chief of Defence Staff.
In 1997 as Chief of General Staff, General Diya and other top ranking officers of the Nigerian military were arrested for allegedly planning the overthrow the regime of General Sani Abacha.
After his arrest, a military tribunal sitting in the Nigerian town of Jos sentenced six people including Diya to death by firing squad in April 1998.
Upon the untimely death of Abacha in 1998, Diya was pardoned by Abacha’s successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
He then retired into private life.
General Diya refused to co-operate with any investigations by the Oputa Panel into his activities while he was Chief of General Staff.
He spent most of his time attempting to recover possession of various properties seized by the Abacha government on his arrest.
On 18 May 2020, General Diya lost his second wife Folashade Diya a few days to her 65th birthday.
