Whether he cautioned his ‘boys’ as a matter of routine or on the spur of the moment, warning them in clear terms of the dire consequence of hobnobbing with politicians, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, deserves accolades from the nation. Buratai has clearly demonstrated attributes of a trust-worthy and well-disciplined army officer.
Since the warning of General Buratai, the nation in reaction has roared and is still roaring in unison against what is perceived, rightly or wrongly, a coup in the making. As expected, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja has dismissed the media reports with regard to the coup plot.
According to the DHQ spokesman, Major-General John Enenche, “It is our responsibility to caution officers and men on routine basis to conform to the ethics of the military in all ramifications, interactions and exchange of visits among others”, adding that the mention of coup plot from some quarters was an assertion which was not confirmed.
According to him, the armed forces remain focused to their constitutional roles and would do nothing to truncate democracy which “is the best international practice of governance.”
In his reaction, the presidential spokesman on media and publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said, “The Army has spoken and let us take that position. What the Chief of Army staff said was a routine warning to military officers – don’t hobnob with politicians – and the army has explained the position. Let us take that position and not stretch it beyond what the military has said, because they are the ones that can give us the definitive position and they have spoken on it.”
Making his comment on the same, the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, warned, “I want to lend my voice to this speculation. The news was everywhere that some people were trying to entice the military out of the barracks to stage a coup. Such a move would be resisted. Lagos State in particular will never provide a fertile ground for coup plotters to hatch their evil ideas; Lagos will resist coup plotters”.
Both the organised labour and the Nigeria Union of Journalists also made it clear that they would resist all attempts to truncate democracy.
The puzzling question is, what could have provoked the alleged coup plot as the present dispensation or the prevailing circumstances do not give credence to such action? The scorecard of the present administration is on the positive side, giving room to some lapses or human errors. Except proved to the contrary, the ground is certainly not fertile now to truncate the on-going democracy.
However, for the insatiable and power-drunk politicians and the over-ambitious coupists in uniform, there is always a point of convergence for the attainment of their selfish goals. There are some Nigerians today, especially the politicians, who are so desperate for power that they would compromise anything for political relevance.
Besides, we should not forget that when you fight corruption, corruption will fight back. Is it not possible that the corrupt ones now under probe or prospective ones to fall in line would do anything to truncate this democracy through negotiating with a group in uniform to actualise their escape route? Think about it.
For those who are able to read correctly the handwriting on the wall, military coup is no longer fashionable and acceptable. The role of Nigeria, especially in Africa, to actualise this is unequivocal, even to the doubting Thomas. It’s high time we stopped this madness for peace and progress to reign.
Military coups in Nigeria, apart from being an aberration, have inflicted more damage on the fabric of the nation, giving credence to the popularly held opinion that the worst civilian administration is better than the best military rule. Take for example, the first coup of 1966 led by Major Chukuma Nzeogwu with the make-believe that this was out to salvage Nigeria from dismemberment, only to end up a bloody harvest of souls of prominent politicians from the northern and western parts of the country, as well as officers mostly of northern origin.
The subsequent coup that followed in July of the same year in which military officers and civilians, mostly Igbo, were massacred was masterminded by Hausa / Fulani officers in retaliation to the earlier coup directed by Major Nzeogwu and other officers from the eastern part of the country. Thus, the two coup destroyed consciously or unconsciously, the known and well cherished esprit de corps of the military and institutionalised both in the military and body polity of Nigeria.
Besides, the terminology “secession” as well as “civil war” got into the political dictionary of Nigeria as a result of the insatiable or misguided actions of the two young officers (Col. Yakubu Gowon and Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu) who plunged Nigeria into civil war and near breakup. Whether the civil war or secession was inevitable in this period is not the issue in discourse. What is being profiled here is how the military messed up the country almost to a point of disintegration.
Take the Major Gideon Orkar coup as another example. The coupists announced the excise of some parts of Nigeria to nowhere. What of the Murtala Mohammed’s coup that introduced reckless and indiscriminate purge of the civil service and destroyed the sanctity and permanency of the service. Ibrahim Babangida’s administration too, politicised the civil service and subjected the appointment and promotion in the service, especially at the higher echelon, to political manipulations. There are other demerits of other military administrations in Nigeria.
This is, however, not to say that the military administration of Nigeria was a fiasco. It had its merits and made the marks. There is, however, time for everything and the time for coup in Nigeria in particular, is over.
