Coup contagion

THE Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, is appropriately worried that some faceless people on the social media are calling for a coup in the country. He said recently: “Whoever is making that call does not love Nigeria. We want to make it very clear that the Armed Forces of Nigeria are here to protect democracy. We all want democracy and we do better under democracy.

“We will continue to support democracy and any of those ones who are calling for anything other than democracy are evil people and I think they don’t mean well for Nigeria. They should be careful because the law will come after them.”

He went further: “we can see that with democracy a lot of things are happening in Nigeria. Yes, we are going through trying periods. I mean in life nothing is one hundred per cent. Everybody goes through difficulties and come out better. You will really appreciate what it is to build a nation. We are going through our trying period but I can assure Nigerians that it will get better.”

During President Muhammadu Buhari’s eightyear rule, there were such coup rumours once or twice during those periods that he went abroad on medical pilgrimage. On one of those occasions, about May 2017, the Nigerian Army Spokesman, Brigadier Sani Usman, issued a statement on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.

He said: “This is to inform the general public that the Chief of Army Staff has received information that some individuals have been approaching some officers and individuals for undisclosed political reasons. On the basis of that he has warned such persons to desist from these acts.”

In a country where there is hunger, comprehensive hunger and where the prices of food, fuel and drugs are high, roof- top high, it is no surprise that there are people who think, without proof, that a military government may have the magic wand for rapid results in the transformation of our economy. This is happening at a time that there are some people who are still disgruntled about the results of the last election. So, hunger mixed with politics can be a devastating concoction.

Our economy is weak right now because of several factors which include weak currency, low electricity and high prices of diesel, raw materials and low patronage of goods and services. This weakness in the economy leads to low living standards and lack of opportunities for growing numbers of young people.

This has led to increasing anger and protests and the demand for fabulous salaries and the scramble to go abroad by our highly qualified personnel. This japaism is contributing to the dislocation of families, loss of family values and disconnectedness within families.

Nigeria has had not less than 10 coups since January 15, 1966. we have lost many lives in these coups which have affected Nigeria’s unity and stability.

A coup is not a joke. It is a serious matter planned in absolute secrecy by a small group of like- minded people and the planning must exclude people who will not share in the core values of the core coup planners or people who do not keep their mouths shut. It is a life- anddeath matter.

If it succeeds, they become kings and kingmakers and folk heroes. If it fails, they are rounded up and hastily tried and shot as villains. So, it is not a matter that is often publicly discussed. It is one that is spoken about in murmurs and low tones so that words about it do not leak and filter into the wrong ears, since walls have ears. The 1999 Constitution forbids it. It says in chapter one section 2: “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”

On the occasions that coup plotters have taken power in Nigeria from elected governments they always made sure they suspended the constitution immediately and only decided to rule by decrees, decrees that were often backdated. Nigerians have gone through this horror of military rule, epitomised by authoritanism, illegalities, freezing of people’s freedoms and rights and absolute arbitrariness.

That is why for many years before 1999, Nigerians from all walks of life fought fierce battles for the military to return to the barracks and leave the stage for elected civilians. They, too, fought to stay on, closing down newspapers and magazines, throwing journalists and other activists into detention and ensuring that some activists actually disappeared. My colleagues in Newswatch and I were thrown into jail and our magazine shut down for publishing a document that was to encourage the Ibrahim Babangida government to start work on the return to civil rule.

And when Gen. Sani Abacha overthrew Chief Ernest Shonekan, who was the Interim Administrator, we interviewed David Mark, one of the officers who helped Abacha to get to the throne. Mark told our magazine that Abacha was planning to stay in power beyond the period they agreed on.

Abacha got Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and I arrested and tried for mutiny, yes mutiny for publishing a harmless interview. It is purely by God’s benevolence that the three of us are still alive today. In his later days in office, Abacha was terror personified. Phones were tapped and speech was monitored and people, lots of people, considered to be enemies of the government and friends of democracy were eliminated.

Even his Deputy, Lt Gen. Oladipo Diya, as well as Major General Abdulkareem Adisa and Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, were accused of coup plotting. They were tried in a military tribunal and sentenced to death. This was in April 1998. By God’s benevolence they were saved when Abacha died mysteriously on June 8, 1998.

This coup conversation in Nigeria is coming at a time that several coups have taken place in various parts of Africa. In the last few years, there have been successful coups in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Sudan and Gabon. There have also been unsuccessful coups in Guinea Bissau and Central African Republic.

This coup contagion is a potent indication that democracy has been weak in these countries and has not delivered the dividends that the politicians promised them. But as we had seen in Nigeria, soldiers are not magicians. They do not have any magic wand, or any magic talisman for delivering wonders and miracles. There are not many developmental problems that can melt away with the use of a swagger stick or an AK47.

The world’s economy is in a quandry. That is why hunger is growing around the world. That is also why there are protests in various countries, including the developed ones based on the decrease in earning power, the rise in prices of essential commodities and the fall in the standard of living.

Nigeria is not alone in this trauma. Those who think a coup is the answer have probably not lived long in Nigeria. If they had they would have known that we had many years of military rule and our problems did not disappear. Instead, the problems got multiplied.

The military boys disfigured the state structure which General Yakubu Gowon created. They created local governments in a manner that caused dislocations and boundary disputes. They were not the messiahs that some people thought they were. They gave us a unitary constitution in a federation that needed a federal constitution.

They piled more functions on the plate of the Federal Government, instead of giving states the power to exploit the resources in their territories as was done fruitfully in the 50s. Today, states are simply idle. Every month they carry a bowl to Abuja for the collection of money with which they use in paying salaries.

I know of no country in the world that this happens, not a developed country, not a developing country, not any of the twenty something federations in the world. That is what the military did to our country, a policy that has retarded the progress of the country.

Now we are trying to review the constitution because all right- thinking persons are convinced that the constitution needs to be amended if we want to move into the path that will take us to the First world.

Certainly, President Bola Tinubu’s policies are hurting millions of Nigerians. That is why there is tension in the country and protests here and there. But I believe that the President is hearing the cry of distressed Nigerians and will do something to severely ameliorate the situation.

He cannot achieve much overnight because the economy he inherited had been amputated in the last one decade. And the economy cannot be successfully rebuilt within a short time. While the government appeals to us for patience there is also need to put in place short term measures that can reduce the pain we feel, not the terror of a coup. No, a coup is not the answer.

This coup contagion is a potent indication that democracy has been weak in these countries and has not delivered the dividends that the politicians promised them. But as we had seen in Nigeria, soldiers are not magicians. They do not have any magic wand, or any magic talisman for delivering wonders and miracles. There are not many developmental problems that can melt away with the use of a swagger stick or an AK47.