Excerpted from ‘A Journey in Service’ by General Ibrahim Babangida
In the early hours of April 22, 1990, Nigeria witnessed one of the most daring and unexpected coup attempts in its history, led by Major Gideon Orkar. The target was none other than the Head of State at the time, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, whose personal account of the night paints a chilling picture of survival, betrayal, and resilience.
According to Babangida in his recently released memoir A Journey in Service, the night began like any other. He had just seen off his last visitors at the Dodan Barracks residence a little after 1 a.m. and was preparing to sleep when his wife raised the alarm. She had seen unusual troop movements from the bathroom window—soldiers taking up positions that were not part of the known residential guard detail.
"I stood up to have a look and noticed, as she had, that something was not right," Babangida recounted. Moments later, gunfire erupted, and the windows of the residence shattered under the pressure of small arms fire, quickly followed by heavy artillery aimed at the quarters.
His aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel U.K. Bello, took immediate command, organizing a defense with the loyal guard detail and security officers. Despite Babangida’s initial refusal to abandon his home, he was eventually evacuated with his family in separate convoys to pre-arranged safe houses. Tragically, Lt-Col Bello was later killed while attempting to man a sabotaged tank that had been rendered useless by the coup plotters.
While the coupists broadcast their radical agenda on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), including a bizarre and unconstitutional plan to excise five northern states from the federation, loyal forces were already mobilizing under the command of General Sani Abacha. Martial music replaced the rebel speech later that morning as government forces crushed the insurrection.
Babangida described the experience as both painful and enlightening. "Many of the coup’s ringleaders were men I had helped personally in their careers. Orkar had visited my residence in the past. Colonel Nyiam was in regular communication with my office. It was a deep betrayal."
The failed coup became a turning point for military reforms. Babangida initiated the Armed Forces Consultative Assemblies—open forums where officers and men could engage with senior leadership on matters of policy, welfare, and national direction. It was a strategy designed to eliminate dangerous misinformation and alienation within the military rank and file.
He also made structural adjustments in government, including the appointment of a civilian Vice President and the introduction of monthly media briefings to bridge the information gap between the military regime and the Nigerian public.
Reflecting on the incident, Babangida wrote, “Even a tragic episode can bring about reform. The Orkar coup forced us to rethink our engagement with the military and the nation. It reaffirmed our unity and exposed the futility of trying to divide Nigeria along ethnic or religious lines.”
The 1990 coup attempt, though short-lived, remains a stark chapter in Nigeria’s history. For General Babangida, it was more than a failed mutiny—it was a night he came dangerously close to assassination, saved by the courage and loyalty of his guards, and ultimately, a moment that spurred a deeper commitment to national cohesion and reform.