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{{Short description| Nigerian general and poet (1940–1986)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mamman Jiya Vatsa
| honorific_prefix = [[Major General]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the Federal Republic|OFR]]
| image = File:General_Mamman_Jiya_Vatsa_OFR_(3_December_1940_–_5_March_1986).jpg
| width =
| office = [[Minister of the Federal Capital Territory]]
| term_start = 1984
| term_end = December 1985
| predecessor = [[Haliru Dantoro]]
| successor = [[Hamza Abdullahi]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|12|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bida]], [[Northern Region, Nigeria|Northern Region]], [[British Nigeria]]<br>(now [[Bida]], Nigeria)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|3|5|1940|12|3|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Lagos, Nigeria]]
| party = None (military)
| alma_mater = [[Nigerian Defence Academy|Nigerian Military Training College]]<br> [[Indian Military Academy]]
| signature =
| allegiance = {{flag|Nigeria}}
| branch = [[File:Flag of the Nigerian Army Headquarters.svg|21px]] [[Nigerian Army]]
| serviceyears = 1962–1986
| rank = [[File:Nigeria-Army-OF-7.svg|20px]] [[Major General]]
| battles = [[Nigerian Civil War]]<br>[[Bakassi conflict|Nigeria-Cameroon conflict]]
| education = [[Government College Bida]]
}}
'''Mamman Jiya Vatsa''' {{post-nominals|country=NG|OFR}} (3 December 1940 – 5 March 1986) was a [[Nigerians|Nigerian]] [[General officer|general]] and [[poet]] who served as Minister of the Federal Capital [[Abuja]], and was a member of the [[Supreme Military Council (Nigeria 1966)|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.

==Early life==
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.<ref name=Abejide>{{cite book|last1=Abejide|first1=Olusegun|title=IBB – Smart But Foolish: THE FALL OF A GOLIATH|date=21 January 2011|publisher=Trafford Publishing, 2011|isbn=9781426955938|page=55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDFqL-reWjsC&q=vatsa+secondary+school+bida&pg=PA55|accessdate=11 August 2015}}</ref>

==Military career==
Since the NMTC was not yet an officer candidate commissioning institution (it would later become one in 1964 when it was upgraded and renamed [[Nigerian Defence Academy]]), the Nigerian government sent NMTC cadets who had completed their preparatory cadet training to foreign military academies for officer training and commissioning.<ref name=Ogbebor>{{cite web|last1=Ogbebor|first1=Paul Osakpamwan|title=The Nigerian Defence Academy – A Pioneer Cadet's Memoir|url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/the-nigerian-defence-academy-a-pioneer-cadets-memoir/#sthash.Oo9A0qMO.dpuf|website=Vanguard (Nigeria)|accessdate=11 August 2015}}</ref> After graduating from the [[Indian Military Academy]], [[Dehradun]], Vatsa was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Nigerian Army<ref name=Abejide />

Vatsa, then a Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion in [[Ibadan]], was one of the many officers of northern Nigerian origin, who staged (and were led by [[Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Murtala Muhammed]] in) what became known as the [[Nigerian counter-coup of 1966]] because of grievances<ref name="Siollun">{{cite book|last1=Siollun|first1=Max|title=Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture (1966 - 1976)|year=2009|publisher=Algora|isbn=9780875867090|page=97}}</ref> they felt towards the administration of [[Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi|General Aguiyi Ironsi]]'s government which quelled the 15 January 1966 coup. Other participants in the coup included 2nd Lieutenant [[Sanni Abacha]], Lieutenant [[Muhammadu Buhari]], Lieutenant [[Ibrahim Babangida]], Lieutenant [[Ibrahim Bako]], and Lieutenant [[Buka Suka Dimka]] among others.

Vatsa commanded the 21 battalion during the [[Nigerian Civil War]] and wrote academic articles about the operational aspects of certain battles.<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa">{{cite web|last1=Omoigui |first1=Nowa |title=The Vatsa Conspiracy (Part 2) - Some Biosketches |url=http://www.gamji.com/nowa/nowa8.htm |website=Gamji |accessdate=11 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150125142602/http://www.gamji.com/nowa/nowa8.htm |archivedate=25 January 2015 }}</ref> In 1970, Vatsa was an instructor at the Nigerian Defence Academy, before being posted as a Principal Staff Officer at Army Headquarters. Subsequently, he commanded the 30 Infantry Brigade (Ogoja) until July 1975, 13 Infantry Brigade (Calabar) until February 1976,<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa" /> and the Brigade of Guards until 1979.<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa" /> It was during his tenure that the HQ of the Brigade of Guards was moved from [[Dodan Barracks]] to its Kofo Abayomi location in Victoria Island before transfer to Abuja.<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa" />

== Military command ==
Vatsa subsequently served as Commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI) 1979 to 1983. He developed the Special Warfare Wing and established the doctrinal basis for the establishment of the 82nd Composite Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu, he instrumental in naming the Division "82nd Div" after the [[82nd (West Africa) Division|82nd West African Division]] in [[Burma campaign|Burma]].<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa" /> During the latter part of President [[Shehu Shagari]]'s government, Vatsa was appointed [[Quartermaster general|Quarter-Master General]] (QMG), the post he held until the coup of December 1983. He was on leave during the Buhari coup against Shagari and did not take part.

In 1981, when Cameroon soldiers shot and killed five Nigerian soldiers in the disputed [[Bakassi]] area, then Brigadier Vatsa was named the Commander of the Joint Military Task Force during the massive border mobilization along the entire length of the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Vatsa developed the operational plan of attack through [[Garoua]] in northern Cameroon, which was approved in principle by the National Defence Council, pending the outcome of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa" />

During the 27 August 1985 Babangida take-over, General Vatsa was in Mecca with Major General [[Tunde Idiagbon]] on pilgrimage. As of the time of his arrest in December 1985 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit [[treason]], he was the Federal Minister for the Federal Capital Territory. He was a member of the AFRC, Federal Executive Council and occasionally, the National Council of States, the only military officer, other than the C-in-C, to be a member of all three ruling bodies.<ref name="Omoigui-Vatsa" />

==Works==
Vatsa was also an accomplished poet and writer. Vatsa was a facilitator and patron of the arts in Nigeria, where he organized writing workshops for his fellow soldiers and their children and got their works published. He helped the Children's Literature Association of Nigeria with funds, built a Writers' Village for the [[Association of Nigerian Authors]], and hosted their annual conferences. The Writers' Village finally became a reality on the 24 January 2013, named in his honour.<ref>[http://thenationonlineng.net/authors-inaugurate-mamman-vatsa-village/ "Authors inaugurate Mamman Vatsa village"], ''The Nation'', 25 January 2013. Izuchukwu Okeke, {{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20130302113248/http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/befi-tting-writers-village-for-mamman-vatsa/ "Befi tting writers’ village for Mamman Vatsa"]}}, ''National Mirror'', 20 February 2013.</ref>

He published eight poetry collections for adults and 11 for children with titles such as ''[https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2223482 Back Again at Wargate]'' (1982), ''[https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1687803 Reach for the Skies]'' (1984) and ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/verses-on-nigerian-state-capitals/oclc/3710283 Verses for Nigerian State Capitals]'' (1973). His books are about ordinary people's lives and simple creatures, including the [[pidgin]] collection ''[http://saharareporters.com/2006/07/16/how-babangida-murdered-mamman-vatsa-thenewssaharareporters Tori for Geti Bow Leg]'' (1981), his cultural picture book in [[Hausa language|Hausa]], ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/bikin-suna/oclc/4553567 Bikin Suna]'', and a charming picture storybook entitled ''[https://punchng.com/dont-believe-father-plotted-coup-told-didnt-mamman-vatsas-son/ Stinger the Scorpion]'' (1979).

== Bibliography ==
*[https://www.worldcat.org/title/verses-on-nigerian-state-capitals/oclc/3710283 ''Verses for Nigerian State Capitals'' (poetry), 1973].
*[https://www.worldcat.org/title/stinger-the-scorpion/oclc/8353411 ''Stinger the Scorpion'' - 1979].
*[https://wolesoyinkaonlinepostalmuseum.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/nigerian-writers.pdf ''Tori for Geti Bow Leg and Other Pidgin Poems'' (1981), Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria: Cross Continent Press, 1985; illus. Ade J. Adeyanju].
* ''[http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ClassifyDemo?search-author-txt=Vatsa,%20Mamman%20Jiya Bikin Suna]''
*[https://www.worldcat.org/title/back-again-at-wargate-poems-of-war-and-freedom/oclc/9820283 ''Back Again at Wargate'' (poetry) 1982].
*[[Reach for the Skies (poetry) 1984|''Reach for the Skies'' (poetry) 1984]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{AbujaFCTMinisters}}

==External links==
*[http://web.udl.es/usuaris/m0163949/nigeria.htm A list of Mamman Vatsa's publications]
*[http://www.dawodu.com/vatsa.htm The Vatsa Conspiracy]
*[http://www.omoigui.com/2004/09/strongthe_vatsa.html#more A Profile of Mamman Vatsa]


{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vatsa, Mamman Jiya}}
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Nigerian Army officers]]
[[Category:Participants in the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup]]
[[Category:Participants in the 1976 Nigerian military coup]]
[[Category:Nigerian generals]]
[[Category:People executed by Nigeria by firing squad]]
[[Category:People from Niger State]]
[[Category:Executed Nigerian people]]
[[Category:Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria)]]
[[Category:Nigerian male novelists]]
[[Category:Nigerian male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Nigerian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Nigerian poets]]
[[Category:Nigerian Defence Academy people]]
[[Category:Nigerian Army Brigade of Guards Commanders]]
[[Category:Commandants of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry]]
[[Category:Indian Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Military personnel of the Nigerian Civil War]]

Mamman Jiya Vatsa - Revision history

Bot at 12:36, 25 December 2022