The Story of Major Saliba Daddy Mukoro
When Nigerians remember the failed military coup of April 22, 1990, one name usually comes to mind Major Gideon Orkar, the officer who announced the coup over national radio.
But Orkar was not the only key figure behind the operation.
Among the senior officers linked to the plot was Major Saliba Daddy Mukoro of the Nigerian Army, who was identified in several historical accounts as one of the principal planners of the attempted overthrow of the military government of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
The coup began in the early hours of April 22, 1990, when rebel soldiers attacked strategic military installations in Lagos, including Dodan Barracks the official residence of the Head of State and seized the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), where Major Orkar broadcast the coup announcement.
Within hours, however, troops loyal to General Babangida regained control.
The coup collapsed, and one of the largest military manhunts in Nigeria’s history began. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians were arrested, while many of those found guilty by Special Military Tribunals were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad.
Major Saliba Mukoro was one of the few principal suspects who escaped.
As the operation unraveled, he fled Nigeria before he could be arrested.
Unlike many of his fellow officers, he was never brought before the tribunal and never faced execution.
Instead, he lived in exile for many years while Nigerian security agencies continued to regard him as a wanted participant in the failed coup.
His absence became one of the lesser-known chapters of the 1990 coup story.
While the nation watched the televised trials and executions of dozens of officers, Mukoro had vanished beyond the reach of the military government.
Years later, the Nigerian government formally acknowledged his status in an unexpected way.
In 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo granted a presidential pardon to Major Saliba Daddy Mukoro and several others who had been declared wanted for their alleged roles in the coup.
Although the pardon was granted in 2007, it was officially published in the Federal Government Gazette in 2020, confirming that he had never been captured, imprisoned, or executed for the role attributed to him.
The story of Major Saliba Daddy Mukoro reflects one of the most remarkable twists in Nigeria’s military history.
While many officers involved in the April 1990 coup paid with their lives, Mukoro disappeared into exile and survived one of the bloodiest periods in the country’s military era.
His story remains a reminder that history is not only shaped by those who fall, but also by those who vanish.
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