Background
Ishaya Bakut was born on 16 August 1947 in Kurmi-Bi, Zonkwa in Kachia LGA in Kaduna State.
politician Governor of Benue State
Ishaya Bakut was born on 16 August 1947 in Kurmi-Bi, Zonkwa in Kachia LGA in Kaduna State.
He attended Government College, Kaduna (1961–1965) on a Shell Boite Postale Scholarship. He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1971–1975) where he earned a B.Sc Engineering. He attended the United States School of Engineering (1977–1978), the Command and Staff College, Jaji (1979–1980) and the Indian National Defence College, New Delhi in 1985 where he obtained his Master of Science
He was Field Commander in Liberia of the ECOMOG West African multinational force from September 1991 to December 1992. In 1966 he went to the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, graduating in March 1969, when he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. He was a Company and Battalion Commander in the Infantry during the Nigerian Civil War (1969–1970).
He was appointed Commander of 41 Engineers Brigade, Kaduna in 1976 and became a Senior Operations Officer, Operational Engineering.
He served in the Nigerian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (April 1980 – February 1981). Other positions were Directing Command and Staff College, Jaji (1981–1983), Colonel, General Staff and Army Headquarters, Lagos, and Commander 41 Engineers Brigade, Kaduna.
Colonel Bakut was appointed Military Governor of Benue state on 18 September 1986.
There were no major developments in the state during his rule, which ended in December 1987. He was appointed Field Commander in Liberia of the ECOMOG West African multinational force on 28 September 1991.
He declared his intention that ECOMOG would be an impartial and non-political peacekeeping force. Shortly after, troops from Senegal arrived to strengthen ECOMOG, and were later deployed to Bong County in preparation for a planned disarmament of the rebel forces.
However, Charles Taylor ordered his troops to attack the Senegalese, whom Bakut persuaded with difficulty to remain on the defensive.
Soon after the Senegalese withdrew from the mission. His replacement by General Adetunji Olurin had just been announced in October 1992, when Charles Taylor launched a terror attack on Monrovia. His troops barely maintained control of parts of the city until Olurin arrived in December 1992.
In 1995 he was Principal Officer to Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant
General Oladipo Diya. On 21 March 2015, he died at the age of 67.