Mamman Jiya Vatsa

Mamman Jiya Vatsa Biography / Profile

Mamman Jiya Vatsa was born on December 3rd, 1940 in Bida, Niger State, Nigeria.

Mamman Jiya Vatsa Age

Mamman Jiya Vatsa would have been 84 years old, if he were alive today. May his soul rest in peace.

Mamman Jiya Vatsa Early Life

Vatsa was childhood friends with Ibrahim Babangida. In 1959, both of them met at the Government College, Bida in Niger State where they were admitted to study. Born just eight months apart and both hailing from Niger State (Vatsa was Nupe while Babangida is Gwari), both of them became fond of each other and quickly became friends. Both of them shared an interest in joining the military and in 1962, both of them were recruited into the Nigerian Army same day. Together, they also attended the Indian Military School in 1964. When the Nigerian Civil War broke out in 1967, they were also at the warfront together.

Mamman Jiya Vatsa Career

Vasta was a senior Nigerian Army officer and writer. He served as Minister of the Federal Capital Abuja, and was a member of the Supreme Military Council. A gifted writer since youth, Vatsa was just a nameless twenty-something junior officer in the early 1970s when he emerged onto the national literary scene.

On March 5th, 1986, Lt. General Domkat Bali, the Minister of Defence of the Nigerian military government and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, GCON made an announcement to the Nigerian nation and it was not a nice one at all. He said that nine military officers have been tried, convicted and that they had been sentenced to death by a Special Military Tribunal for plotting to violently overthrow the Babangida regime, a junta less than 100 days in power. The cold announcement to a shell-shocked nation actually came two hours after the officers had been secretly executed by the regime. On the same day, Vasta was shot (along with nine others) by command of his childhood friend — the dictator Ibrahim Babangida. Babangida rejected clemency appeals from the Vatsa family he knew well. He has since justified his harshness by arguing that Vatsa would have continued plotting against him in prison or in forced retirement. “Rawlings did it in Ghana,” Babangida said. “And you know Vatsa was very stubborn.”

Mamman Jiya Vatsa Personal Life

Vatsa was married to Hajia Safiya Vatsa, his Efik wife from Calabar. The best man on the wedding day was Ibrahim Babangida. When it was also the turn of Babangida to get married to Maryam in 1969, Vatsa was also his right-hand man and it was he who mounted the military ceremonial horse. With Safiya, Vasta had four children including Haruna Vatsa (a on time Director of Protocol, Niger State Government House, Minna.), and Jibrin Mamman Vatsa.