Chief Jack Adokiye, a former military police officer has shared a surprising encounter he had on the night he was unknowingly drawn into the failed Orkar coup of 1990.
Speaking on the Edmund Obilo Show, Adokiye narrated how an unexpected distraction almost kept him from continuing with the assignment he had been given by Captain Emperor, one of the masterminds of the coup.
“On getting to Ojo, as I came out from the vehicle, entered Ojo Cantonment after settling the taxi, a girl in my office from Bendel saw me and said, ‘Oga, you came to this Cantonment, today you will not go, you are going to pass the night with me.’ I was surprised, a girl I had never one day chased or talked to,” Adokiye recalled.
He explained that the encounter left him stunned, as he had no prior relationship with the woman. According to him, the insistence that he remain at Ojo Cantonment that night appeared unusual, especially in retrospect, considering the coup activities that were unfolding in Lagos.
Before arriving at Ojo, Adokiye said Captain Emperor had instructed him to bring along colleagues, under the guise of attending a party in Ikeja. Unknown to him, the so-called party was actually part of the April 22, 1990 coup plot led by Major Gideon Orkar against General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime.
Adokiye’s testimony highlights the series of unusual events and distractions he faced on the night of the coup, which he later interpreted as signs that might have kept him from becoming entangled in the conspiracy. His account adds a human dimension to the history of the failed coup, showing how ordinary moments intersected with extraordinary events.
