Gbemiga Olakunle
We wouldn’t have attached any attention to it if the news of a purported coup-planning from a section of Nigerian soldiers was not credited to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Lieutenant General T.Y. Buratai, himself. And to underscore the seriousness of the matter, the British Ambassador to Nigeria corroborated the issue. If the disturbing news was credited to other sources, we would have waved it aside as one of the wild rumours. This is because the secrecy surrounding the activities and personalities of some high ranking public officials makes Nigerians to be peddlers of rumours. This makes the rumour mill a big industry in Nigeria with its dissemination through the social media and some soft-sell tabloids.
When the public is not regularly briefed on the activities of government, they will be left with no choice than to scoop up and sniff out information. This will inadvertently put managers of public information on their toes and make them clarify such information as either fake or genuine. Consequently, Nigeria has become a rumour mill.
Nigeria’s uninterrupted democracy will be 18 years on Monday. It should have clocked 57 years since our independence in 1960, if not for military coups and counter-coups partly because of the maladministration of some politicians and the need by some powers to preserve sectional or vested interests.
But we are still at loss as to why any group of soldiers with their suspected collaborators from the civil populace thought in their wildest imagination that this is the right time to stage a coup and put an abrupt termination to the ongoing civil rule in Nigeria? Despite the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is ill, the wheel of progress of governance is uninterrupted.
The government has been running smoothly since the president transmitted powers to his able and loyal Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as Acting President. For now, there is no noticeable vacuum in government and there is no reported incidence of pipeline vandalisation by the Niger Delta militants. Besides, apart from improved national security, there are clear signs that the economy will exit recession very soon, by God’s grace.
So, on what basis will some disgruntled elements want to strike and forcefully bring democracy to an abrupt end? If anybody or group of persons have an axe to grind with the extant democratic government, they should wait for another election and mobilize enough votes from the Nigerian electorate to vote the ruling APC. Another democratic avenue is through the impeachment process of President Buhari his vice if there are sufficient reasons to do so.
Or could the motive be sectional/ethnic or religious? This second line of thought is not new to students of Nigeria’s political evolution and reasons behind some of the past military takeovers in Nigeria. This is more so when some leading politicians of northern extraction have started to drum it into the ears of those that care to listen that the North is entitled to 8 years presidency should anything happen to President Buhari. This is because the acting president is a Christian from the South.
Little do they know that some young people who wished President Buhari dead have died in their prime while Buhari survives them by God’s grace. “A le so pe ki igi gbigbe wo, ki o je pe igi tutu lo ma wo o”, meaning instead of expecting the dried tree to fall, it might be fresh tree with green leaves that will fall down.
Nobody should try to increase the political tension in a country where some people are still battling with an ailing economy whose foundation was laid by the former Goodluck Jonathan administration. It is no news that some Nigerians, young and old, have been committing suicide while thousands of our youths have died on their ill-fated trips to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. So far, over 5,000 Nigerians have reportedly lost their lives through such daring ventures.
However, the current administration is trying to alleviate these economic sufferings through its social safety nets/economic empowerment programmes like N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfers, and several others. The government through the Office of the Vice President, who now doubles as acting president, is consistent in expanding the frontiers of these programmes on a periodic basis.
This demonstrates government’s commitment and seriousness to rescue Nigerians from abject poverty and of hunger. For the next two years therefore, Nigerians will do well to give the ruling party at the federal level a benefit of doubt to prove its commitment to their wellbeing through its poverty eradication programmes, security, among other dividends of democracy. If the operators of the federal government still find it difficult to deliver on their mandate, Nigerians, through their valid votes and legal process, show them the exit door, but definitely not through the barrel of the gun. Nigeria’s democracy has outlived such undemocratic exploit and is now a role model in Africa.
Meanwhile, we do not want to make further comments on this sensitive issue as military intelligence has begun undercover investigations to get to the root of the matter. At the same time, we have no doubt in the ability of our defence/military intelligence to carry out thorough investigations and ensure there is no case of trying to tie a piece of bone around a dog in order to hang it.
We are on the same page with the chief of army staff, who advised military officers who want to hobnob with the political class, to in their own interest resign their commission. In other words, they should pull off their khaki and put on agbada with marching babarigas. It is in their own interests to heed the COAS’s warning and save themselves of any dire consequences.
Or is the alleged coup plot another political game/agenda to transit power from civilian to military politicians? Only God and the insiders in the corridors/chambers of power can tell. As for ordinary Nigerians who may not distinguish their right hands from their left hands when it comes to intricate game of power in Nigeria, we will continue to rely on God who remains the main source of our deliverance and help in line with Psalm 121:1 – 8, KJV.
General Secretary, National Prayer Movement
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gbemigaolakunle.blogspot.com
Abuja
