Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has narrated how he escaped death during the 1975 Dimka coup.
It was the bloody coup that consumed the then Head of State, Major General Murtala Muhammed, although, like the Gideon Orka coup, it was eventually foiled.
Obasanjo made the revelation in Igbotako, Ondo State, on Sunday, during the 80th birthday of General Olu Bajowa (rtd)
According to him, a visit to him by Bajowa, which delayed him at home a little bit, was the excuse that fate needed to save him.
He sad at the event: “I want to say something about Olu – either he knew it or he didn’t know. When Dimka coup came, if Olu had not been what he is, I would have gone with the coup.
“Olu is very respectful. He is very conscious of our culture. He had a child, a boy, and wanted to name the child after me. He had to call me early in the morning, that morning Dimka struck.
“And because Olu said he was coming, I had to wait a little bit. I waited beyond the time I would have gone out. Olu then came, he made the request and I granted the request.
“So, I was a little bit late in going on the route that I normally took to work. And Reinumuje went ahead of me and they thought it was me and they shot his car. They shot his car, Murtala was shot. Indirectly, that is how Olu Bajowa saved my life.”
