Colonel Ahmed Usman

Colonel Ahmed Usman, one time Military Administrator (MILAD) of Oyo and Ondo State, reportedly died around 3.00am today, Wednesday, 14 April,  in Jos, the Plateau State capital, during an illness.

His corpse will be buried in his village, Okura-Lafia, Kogi State later today according to Muslim rites.

He was in charge of Ondo State from August 1994 to August 1996. From then, he was redeployed to govern Oyo from August 1996 to August 1998. That was when General Sani Abacha was the head of state.

Ahmed Usman was born on 20 August 1951. After joining the army, postings included Second in Command, 192 Battalion, Abak and 141 Battalion, Kano (1983–1985), United Nations Interim force in Lebanon (1985–1986) and Battalion Commander G Amphibious, Elele Port Hartcourt (1990–1991).

As contained in different writings on him, aggregated by Wikipedia, Usman was appointed governor of Ondo State in September 1994. While governor of Ondo State, Usman installed Oba Adeleye Orisagbemi as the Attah of Ayede Ekiti. On 17 June 1996, Usman threatened to dismiss any Ondo State judge who granted bail to secret cult suspects. Oyo Governor

‘In August 1996, Usman was deployed to Oyo state at a time of growing discontent about the military regime headed by Sani Abacha. On 12 May 1997, a bomb explosion in the state capital of Ibadan injured two soldiers and a policeman. Usman said the perpetrators were cowards. Two people were killed and about 20 wounded at the Salami Sports Stadium, Ibadan in April 1998, when supporters of the United Action for Democracy (UAD) disrupted a pro-Abacha rally that had earlier been addressed by Colonel Usman.

Seven people were killed in 1998 May Day clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters. Usman blamed “foreign enemies” of supporting the violence. Later that month, Usman said security forces had been placed on red alert to stop any protest in the state capital, Ibadan. A few days later thirty-seven Nigerians were arrested and charged with subversion. Usman said they would be treated as “prisoners of war”. Three other people, one a prominent newspaper editor, were charged with subversion. Sani Abacha died in June 1998. Usman was relieved of his position as governor in August 1998.

Usman stayed out of politics after the return to democracy in 1999, until in August 2008, when he declared that he intended to run for governor of Kogi State in 2011.’