Lieutenant General Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro (Retired), a serial coup plotter who read the speech that ousted Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in 1985 and brought in Gen Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and was part of what was known as the Langtang Mafia (a clique of military men from Langtang, Plateau State), has died.

Dogonyaro died at 3:30am on Thursday at the Jos University Teaching Hospital.

The former Chief of Defence Staff under Abacha had been admitted to hospital following a brief illness. His body was transferred to the Air Force Hospital in Jos, Plateau State.

Lt Gen. Dogonyaro had served as the head of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in 1990 in Liberia  to “make way for an interim government and prepare for elections” and was known for his “blood and thunder style” that got the rebels who were within a mile of State House, out of Monrovia.

Like Buhari, Babangida, Abacha and many other generals, Dogonyaro had also fought in the Nigerian Civil War and had participated in several coups during the decades of military rule in Nigeria.

A Nigerian political commentator on Twitter, Gege, said, “The youth might not remember how bad it was. Those were the days when a political army officer would have top of the range cars, luxury House in Ikoyi and kids either schooling abroad or living large. Meanwhile, their non-connected mates would be in the barracks suffering.”

The death of Lt. Gen Dogonyaro marks the gradual end of a political era in Nigeria when generals were more involved in politics and running the country. Dongonyaro’s contemporaries, some of who are still alive, include Gen Yakubu Gowon and Gen Ibrahim Babangida.