THE GENERAL WHO INSISTED HE WAS INNOCENT — BUT WAS EXECUTED ANYWAY

THE GENERAL WHO INSISTED HE WAS INNOCENT — BUT WAS EXECUTED ANYWAY

THE GENERAL WHO INSISTED HE WAS INNOCENT — BUT WAS EXECUTED ANYWAY

When General Murtala Muhammed was assassinated on 13 February 1976, Nigeria demanded answers.

One of the men arrested was not a junior officer.

It was Major General Iliya Bisalla…

The country’s Commissioner for Defence.

A Sandhurst graduate.

Former Commander of the 1st Infantry Division.

Former Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy.

One of the most senior soldiers in Nigeria.

The accusation shocked the military.

Investigators claimed Bisalla had secretly helped plan the failed coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka.

But the case against him quickly became controversial.

According to official accounts, Dimka implicated Bisalla during interrogation.

Yet historians have pointed out a troubling detail.

Dimka’s own statements were not always consistent.

At one point, the government alleged Bisalla gave the operational orders for the coup.

But another of Dimka’s statements reportedly identified Major Rabo as the officer who issued those same orders.

The contradiction has never completely disappeared from Nigeria’s military history.

The tribunal that tried Bisalla was also held in secret.

The evidence was never tested in open court.

No public cross-examination.

No public record of the proceedings.

Despite the controversy…

The tribunal convicted him of conspiracy and concealment of treason.

On 11 March 1976…

Major General Iliya Bisalla was executed by firing squad alongside dozens of other convicted coup plotters.

Until the very end…

He insisted he was innocent.

Nearly fifty years later…

Historians still disagree over one question.

Did the government execute a guilty conspirator…

Or a senior officer convicted on evidence that was never fully tested in public?

History has never given a final answer.

Do you believe secret military tribunals can ever deliver true justice in moments of national crisis?