Why I disagreed with Buhari and resigned from PTF – The late Group Captain Usman Jibrin

Let’s begin by asking who does Group Captain Usman Jibrin thinks he is? I hail from Nasarawa local government of Nasarawa State. I schooled initially in Nasarawa Elementary School, Abuja Middle School and Government College Kaduna in the early 1960s. Then at Radio Television, Kaduna, we were the pioneer workers. Later on, we were the […]

Let’s begin by asking who does Group Captain Usman Jibrin thinks he is?

I hail from Nasarawa local government of Nasarawa State. I schooled initially in Nasarawa Elementary School, Abuja Middle School and Government College Kaduna in the early 1960s. Then at Radio Television, Kaduna, we were the pioneer workers. Later on, we were the pioneer officers of the Nigerian Air Force. We were trained in Canada as both pilots and also instructors. We received further training and conversion courses in Germany on supersonic aircraft jet fighters. We were also trained in the defunct Soviet Union as fighters and instructors. We received staff training in the United Kingdom and more of training later on in Germany.

I commanded virtually all the Nigerian Air Force bases in the country at one time or the other. I was also appointed the military governor of North Central State of Kaduna; later it was changed to Kaduna State, comprising Bauchi, Katsina and Kaduna States. I resigned as a result of misunderstanding with the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, on the policy of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Kaduna. It only culminated on the radio but my misunderstanding with Obasanjo started earlier than that when the Federal Government started taking over universities and some of the institutions belonging to the Northern region which I believed were founded with the resources of the Northern region. And, when it came to Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, being the mouthpiece of the region, I really stood my ground against that and finally left the services of the Nigeria Air Force.

After leaving the Nigerian Air Force, I was appointed the chairman of the Green Revolution in Benue-Plateau State. Later on, I was also the Chairman of Nigerian Productive Research Institute, Ilorin and Chairman of Jos Steel Rolling Mill, from where I too resigned, having discovered also many discrepancies there. Thereafter, I just devoted myself to mostly Islamic activities.

As one of the pioneer officers of the Nigeria Air Force, are you comfortable that the country has no single functioning fighter jet? Can you compare your days in the NAF and now?

Well, let me go back a little to the Nigerian Civil War. We stationed most of our aircraft in Kano, far away from the frontline so that we could protect them. We used to fly from Kano, refuel in either Makurdi or Lagos, and then carry out our operations. I was the commander of the jets wing in Kano. At one time, of course, we used to have pilots on standby in the cockpits throughout the day and night, so that in case of any emergency the pilots would just take- off.

There was a time when we were alerted by the control tower that they had identified another aircraft crossing our border on the northern part. As at that time, as the commander, I discovered that the pilot was not in the cockpit because he went to the lavatory. Then, I came back to my office, entered into my flying gears, entered the aircraft, took off and I was being guided by the radar then. When I sighted the aircraft, I fired warning shots on that aircraft and forced it to land in Kano. We discovered that it was a cargo aircraft that flew into Nigerian air space; we detained it for three days and informed the authorities in Lagos before it was cleared. That was between 1967 and 1969.

Just about three years ago when I visited Kano, I told them what I did about 40 years ago and asked then how much they had now improved on that? They said sir; we don’t even have the radar to see any aircraft. We have found ourselves in that kind of critical condition now.  I learnt that the current Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Paul Dike, when he was the Chief of Air Staff, had tried to revive the Air Force. And I am glad that with the current repositioning in the Air Force, I have every confidence that in the next couple of years we are going to have a strong Air Force.

What other experiences do you recall, particularly the role the NAF played during the 30-month war?

Initially, the country had no aircraft at all. We had only small trainer aircrafts in Kaduna. And we wanted to go to war. What we did was, we summoned all our engineers and tried to see how we could make improvised bombs and also used those trainer aircrafts to attack. And we used to carry the home-made bombs with our sergeants and staff sergeants holding the bombs and we used to go and practice over Abakwa Hills to make sure that these bombs would explode first. While on air, we would open the door and then the sergeant would throw the bomb bare-handled. And, in most cases, the bomb would not even explode, so we had to come back to the drawing board and start all over again.

As a fighter pilot then, I was flying all those smaller planes with non-commissioned officers holding the machine guns and then opening the windows for them to attack. That was how we started the war. But before the end of the war, as a commander, I went to Russia and we were able to get some aircraft

You were said to have confronted General Obasanjo during one of the Supreme Military Council meetings and that you even stormed out of the meeting. What informed this confrontation?

Well, the military had been ruling the country and we were preparing the country to return to democracy and we believed that everybody should be given a chance. From my own understanding of the issue as it were, I discovered that there were plans either to reduce the coverage and listenership of the only radio station we had in the northern part of the country and so we should be probably disadvantaged when the political campaigns started. I sensed that and I alerted my colleagues. Unfortunately, they were not able to feel the way I felt. So, I had to fight it alone. And I told them that could only happen over my dead body.

And I have respect for one gentleman, Major General David Jemibewon; he was then the governor at Ibadan.  He was the only person who stood by me. He believed what I was doing was the correct thing and he was prepared to face any consequence.

Is he from the North?

Yes, he is a Yoruba man from Kwara. I understand that he comes from the same place with the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi. Normally, they are very principled people. I have every respect for him and he also had respect for me for my stance. He was the only person that stood with me at that time. And when we had that row, I told them that they shouldn’t dare touch Radio Kaduna; I knew I was acting against the procedure of the military, but again, I was prepared to tender my resignation and also walk out of the Government House. And this was exactly what I did.

What was the reaction of General Obasanjo who was presiding over the meeting?

Well, Obasanjo was very clever. The late Shehu Musa Yar’adua was his second-in-command. When we came to that particular item, he said he [Obasanjo] had some visitors and he walked out and left us with Yar’adua. When I made my stance very clear and there was a big row, we had to invite him to come back to the hall. When he came in, he said “ok, now the meeting is on recess, we should now go and have a break and come back.” When we came out people deserted me completely. Nobody wanted to come close to me because they didn’t know what was going to happen to me. And I was prepared for anything: court marshal and even to be shot on the spot because I believed in my conscience that, I was doing the right thing; depending the interest of my people.

What happened thereafter? Were you court marshalled?

No. What stopped them from court marshalling me was that, they said if we touched him we didn’t know the kind of reaction we would get from [the people of]the North. Eventually, I got out of the NAF. I just threw my uniform and went but I knew it was a wrong procedure. Later on, they followed the right procedure and I was disengaged and they let me out of the Air Force after a beautiful parade for me. Some of the officers and men were weeping. I was about to be made the Chief of Air Staff when I left. Since then I have been living.

Were you not prevailed upon by some interest groups from taking that unprecedented decision?

Many people couldn’t believe how I stood in that meeting and said my mind. They also believed that some of the actions I took were also against the laid down procedure. So, they were really taken by surprise and some of them didn’t know what to do.

What exactly informed your boldness?

My conscience, principles and I had nothing. I left the Government House on that day with N300 in my bank account. When one of my civilian friends asked me what I was going to do? I told him that I would even drive a taxi. The day I left the Government House, the following morning I couldn’t take my children to school because the only car I had broke down when I was driving them to school at Katuru Road. I came out pushing the vehicle myself the following morning after I left the Government House.

You said you also resigned from Jos Steel Rolling Company. Why?

Yes. When I went there I discovered that some poor people had placed orders for years but they were not given the materials. Whereas some big shots used to come, place orders for one week and they would be given. That is just one. I said that shouldn’t be so and some part of the management didn’t like that so I left because I didn’t want another crisis.

As a board of trustee member of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), you also left in controversial circumstances.  What exactly made you to disagree with General Muhammadu Buhari who is equally believed to be very principled?

What happened was that he followed the wrong procedure initially. He brought in the late Ahmad Salihijo without informing us. We just saw these boys in the meeting. We asked him, who are these boys? He said that they were just helping him to take notes. We didn’t know that he engaged them as consultants without our knowledge and consent because we are all members. I told him that it was wrong. As trustees, if something went wrong, we were the people that would be prosecuted, not any other person. I asked them to change the procedure and they were not ready to change it. I said ok, bye, bye. It was good that I left because after I left they had changed so many things to conform to what I was telling them. So, I am happy that I was responsible for something that was good for the country

Was leaving the best option?

Yes, normally if you can’t fight them you shouldn’t join them.

One wonders how you left the Government House with very little money, whereas your colleagues are now mostly billionaires. Why all this?

I told you I left with N300 in my bank account. When I left I spent 13 years before I started getting my pension. In fact, I had to go to Lagos, where they said somebody had been collecting my money. I said they should investigate. They investigated after 13 years and said the man died. I said draw a line and let me start getting my pension. It was only N1000 something I was getting in those days

What have you been doing all this while?

Well, I obtained a bank loan and started farming which also failed later on. First of all, I went into poultry. And when I left for Lagos, (I told you I was chairman of Green Revolution) I think the attendant messed up the whole thing. There was an outbreak of epidemic and instead of restricting them to one house; he started running helter-skelter entering every poultry house. So, within one week, the whole poultry was wiped out completely. And that was the beginning of my problem.

I met with the bank, they said they couldn’t write off the loan, but they could give me additional loan to go for arable; plant so much maize and so on. They gave me additional loan. And I planted maize for about 1000 hectares. And that was the year we had drought. The whole thing perished. I got a loan of only N3million plus in those days. But I ended paying N20 million plus; selling all the equipment; of course that was what helped me because they were appreciating.  I said ok, enough is enough. I will just do small business to maintain my family and concentrating on my religious activities. This is exactly what happened and I am quite a happy man. In the last 37 years, that is what I have been doing.