Legal historian and author Richard Akinnola has offered a rare insight into the final moments of Major Gideon Orkar following the failed 1990 coup against General Ibrahim Babangida’s military regime.
Speaking on the Edmund Obilo Podcast from 8:28, Akinnola revealed that Orkar, rather than fleeing like many of his co-conspirators chose to remain at Bonny Camp, fully aware that arrest and execution were imminent.
“Orkar was at Bonny Camp, he refused to run when some of his comrades had disappeared. He waited for them to arrest him,” Akinnola said during the interview.
The failed coup, which attempted to overthrow the military government and famously called for the excision of five northern states from Nigeria was quickly crushed. Many of the plotters fled or went into hiding, but according to Akinnola, Orkar stood his ground, an action that some interpret as either courageous or fatalistic.
Akinnola, who has documented key events in Nigeria’s political and legal history, said Orkar’s decision shows the complexity of his character, a man who led one of the boldest insurrections in Nigeria’s history yet chose to face the consequences head-on rather than seek escape.
Following his arrest, Orkar was tried by a military tribunal and executed alongside several others involved in the plot. His name remains one of the most controversial in Nigeria’s history, remembered both for his radical message and for the brutal aftermath of the failed coup.
Akinnola’s account adds a personal dimension to the historical narrative, painting Orkar not just as a coup plotter, but as a man who chose to face judgment with defiance, even as his comrades vanished. The interview has reignited public debate over Orkar’s legacy and the enduring scars of military rule in Nigeria.
