Mamman Jiya Vatsa

Mamman Jiya Vatsa OFR (3 December 1940 – 5 March 1986) was a Nigerian general and poet who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Abuja, and was a member of the Supreme Military Council.

On 5 March 1986, he was executed by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida (who was his childhood friend) following a military tribunal conviction for treason associated with an abortive coup.

Vatsa was childhood friends with Ibrahim Babangida and both men were peers who attended the same educational institutions. Like Babangida, Vatsa attended the Government College Bida from 1957 to 1962 and started his career with the Nigerian Army by enrolling in the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) on 10 December 1962.

Quotes

• "Our homebound journey begins / To end at the center / So, everyone shall know the beauty."[1]
• "My countrymen / How can indigenisation / Survive without the mind?"[2]
• "Africa is a jungle / They say, / Why import a ladder / Into a jungle?"[3]