Nigeria in ‘war of wits’ as rumours emerge of a coup, 18 years since democracy
IT USUALLY starts with most people calling on the military to take over the reins of leadership.
Such coups have mainly been successful when civilians welcome coup broadcasts with jubilation.
However, analysts say what is happening in Nigeria cannot be compared to the suffering of those civilians who invite the military to take over the government.
The hardship could be termed a war of wits between a government that is set to fight corruption and restore the country to its past glory and those who allegedly soiled their hands.
In the Nigerian parlance: “Corruption is fighting back”.
A recent pronouncement by Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, that he had received information that some individuals were approaching officers and soldiers for undisclosed political reasons has therefore come as a shock to Nigeria which witnessed several coups since the first one in 1966.
The warning has since drawn reaction from Nigerian political leaders and citizens, who cannot fathom any reason for a coup in a country that has practised uninterrupted democracy for 18 years.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), warned that Nigerians would not buy into a coup because the country had paid a high price to achieve the democracy it has enjoyed for the past 18 years.
“A few days ago we heard a warning that some people were trying to entice the military out of the barracks,” Tinubu said.
“I want to add my voice to that warning of coup attempt. We will not buy it. Lagos will resist it.
“Nigeria is hard to be broken.
“Many died to get this democracy and those who intend to break it are mistaken.”
At the State House of Assembly on Monday during a programme to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of Lagos state, the former Lagos state governor warned that Nigeria had gone too far democratically to allow antidemocratic forces into its governance process.
Tinubu noted that those enticing the military to come out of the barracks wanted to undermine the democratic process.
“The coup plotters will not get ready buyers for their product because a lot of people sustained injuries and sacrificed their lives for the country to have its present democracy,” he said.
Tinubu called on all those planning to stage a coup to have a rethink.
Another APC leader, Chief Tony Momoh, a former minister of information under a military junta, also warned against any coup in the country, saying those plotting to take over the government of the nation through undemocratic means would not succeed.
Momoh was quoted as saying no coup in Nigeria succeeded when it was resisted.
“Historically, there is no coup in Nigeria that was successful where it was resisted.
“In our history, all the coups in Nigeria have been radio coup.
“What the coup planners did was to seize the radio and television stations and broadcast a takeover of the government.
“Since 1992, we have deregulated broadcasting and instead of the concentration of the network in Nigeria in the hands of Radio Nigeria, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), we now have hundreds of radio stations and diversified ownerships and even online radio and newspapers,” he said.
While addressing participants in Abuja at a public hearing on 12 bills to amend the country’s Electoral Act of 2010 on Monday, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Suleiman Yussuff Lasun, also lent his weight to warnings to the armed forces of the consequences of embarking on a coup.
He said that after 18 years of democratic rule, any thought of military interference in Nigeria’s democratic governance by way of a coup should be seen as unthinkable, unfashionable and condemnable.
Even the military are opposed to a coup in the country.
A group of retired members of the Nigerian armed forces are reported to have also warned serving soldiers and officers against engaging in what they termed an unprofessional act against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The report quoted a statement signed by Awwal Abdullahi Aliyu, the regional co-ordinator; Anthony Agbas, the national chairperson; and Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, the national spokesperson of the group, as saying any plan to undermine the government would be resisted.
Femi Adesina, the special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, has, however, described the warning by Buratai on the alleged romance with politicians as a routine procedure.
He advised Nigerians not to stretch the warning beyond the information provided by the army chief.