Buhari: Between uneasiness and avarice

By Chinedu Arizona-Ogwu

THE first Nigerian national election took place in 1964, four years after the country gained independence from Britain. It wasn’t a propitious start - the election was marked by boycotts, malpractice and violence. The Nigerian National Alliance won a large majority in the election after the main opposition grouping, the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), refused to take part. A supplementary election held in the Eastern Region in March 1965 led to the UPGA winning every seat.

I have been following with utmost dismay the claims that have been made by the military ex-President Babangida pledging to transfer power to a civilian administration in 1990, explicated in newspapers his attempt to justify his role in the 1985 coup and the execution of the eight army officers, including four former aides. I am equally appalled by the arrogance with which Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (retd) spoke about the 1983 coup in a recent interview he granted in which he criticized Babangida for his cowardly acts and the latter’s response. Their utterances show that both men have not repented from their past mischievous deeds. In a democratic system each and everyone has a right to free speech, but to bluff about their roles in a coup and a regime that brought extreme pain and suffering to millions of Nigerians is a blatant abuse of the principle of freedom of speech in Nigeria. Such pronouncements are not healthy for our efforts to consolidate Nigeria’s new democracy because it gives the wrong signals to some unscrupulous characters in the country.

When Buhari arrived in Nigeria, I had expected that he would apologize to Nigerians; especially the families whose loved ones suffered or died while in detention owing to his position in the 1983 coup which shattered the democratic foundation laid by the Alhaji Shehu Shagari regime. Rather, he’s been trying to justify his mandate in the April 2007 election in spite of his bloodless coup, three months after the election of ex-president Shehu Shagari in 1983 which led to the suspension of the 1979 constitution. Buhari having been crowned Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, justified the military’s seizure of power by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt, and his administration subsequently on the verge of imposition of the “War Against Indiscipline” (WAI). The General refused to acknowledge the damage he did by truncating Nigeria’s infant democracy then. He said: “The economic mess, the corruption and unacceptable level of unemployment could not be excused on the grounds that Nigeria was a practising democracy,” but refused to understand that democracy goes through stages before it develops to the level that touches all walks of life. His arrest of prominent members of Shagari’s party (NPN), as well as Shagari himself, was unfortunate. By doing so, Buhari tried to identify himself with the much-loved Murtala Mohammed’s charisma. The attack on corruption, also called the War Against Indiscipline led to ex-ministers escaping to London to live in luxury, notably, Alhaji Umaru Dikko. The war looked promising, but lacked merit not only for lack of sanity, but for the institutionalization of injustice. Buhari , though credited very well over his attack on corruption, betrayed democracy again from his intensified attacks on the media, imposition of detention without trial, and as it became clear that Shagari’s friends were not to be tackled for corruption, Buhari’s autocracy was increasingly resented.

Today, I find his desire to defend such a horrible mandate and the savage executions in his interviews as insult to Nigerians. I share the pain and suffering of families of victims his regime killed. How did Buhari feel about his brother’s (Shehu Shagari) imprisonment by his government? How come he cries for fairness when he promulgated two decrees that restricted freedom of the press and suppressed criticism of the government?

His government introduced a comprehensive package of austerity measures. It closed the country’s land borders for a period to identify an expel illegal alien workers and placed severe restrictions on imports and heavy penalties on smuggling and foreign exchange offences yet poverty became the headmaster of the economy, because the austerity measures made it difficult for local industries to procure essential imported raw materials, leading many of them to close or to operate at greatly reduced capacity. Many workers were laid off, and government itself retrenched many workers to increase its “cost effectiveness.”

All of these actions were accompanied by high inflation. The price of basic food items rose, and life became increasingly difficult, even for the affluent. His Decree Number 4 forbade any journalist from reporting information considered embarrassing to any government official. Two journalists, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor, were convicted under the decree. Decree Number 2 gave the Chief of Staff at Supreme Headquarters the power to detain for up to six months without trial anyone considered a security risk.

As an ardent advocate of democracy, I argue that no matter the crises a country faces, military coup should never be the first or last resort. Nigeria’s historical experiences with coups have shown that they only bring further pain and suffering to majority of the people in the country. I strongly disapprove the lack of maturity in the manner in which the two men of mischief (IBB and Buhari) have comported themselves by shamelessly justifying their roles and events in the 1983 coup. It is unfortunate that the main actors in some of our country’s sordid historical experiences should proudly beat their chests over such ignoble roles.

Needless to say, the media should be a forum for discussing more important progressive issues that could create public awareness about the evils of coups and how best to prevent similar future catastrophic political events such as the 1966, 1975, 1983 and 1985 coups. All these coups have contributed to the stagnation of socio-economic development in Nigeria and cost the nation its prestigious international reputation. IBB and Buhari can conjure all the words in the dictionary to justify their respective roles, but the fact still remains that the 1983 coup was unnecessary and did Nigerians a great disservice because, although the Supreme Military Council (SMC) government itself was an illegal and authoritarian regime, at the time of the 1985 coup, major steps had already been taken by the military leaders to return the country to a democratic rule.

The ban on political parties had been lifted in the 90s by the PRC, alias Abacha regime and multiparty system was revived. This was evident in the political campaigns that were freely organized by the various political parties that turned to adopt Abacha as a concensus.

All the talk by the 1983 ‘coup makers’ to retrieve the so-called booty stolen by the other past military leaders was false propaganda.

The increase in military expenditure to protect an illegitimate regime in the 1980s contributed significantly to the astronomical increase in Nigeria’s external debt, which bloated from US $11.5 billion in 1986 to US$33.2 billion in 1990, $33.4 billion in 1991 and then fell to $29.5 billion in 1994.These figures clearly show that military coups/regimes have immensely contributed to Nigeria’s underdevelopment in the last four decades.

Regardless of the explanations the two coup makers (IBB and Buhari) give to validate their actions, the fact will forever remain that there was no single justification for any of the coups they staged in a ‘civilized’ society like Nigeria. Both men participated in an illegal and treasonable act, and inflicted severe pain and suffering on millions of Nigerians in a number of ways. They may have gotten away with their deeds, but they should never lose sight of the fact that someday it will come back to hunt them. The self-righteous indignation that IBB displayed by executing Mamman Vatsa will be remembered forever since, after participating in the Dimka coup (if only tangentially), IBB became a major player in the Buhari coup. He later staged the mother of all treacheries by ousting Buhari in yet another coup. Basically, IBB, with no record of any stellar performance as a soldier except the planning of coups, stabbed both his bosom friends in the back en route to achieving his vaulting ambition to become military president. Perhaps they should enjoy their wealth quietly as long as it lasts and IBB should focus on more productive issues that will help revamp the economy he helped to destroy or leave Nigerians alone and return to his hideout quietly.

No Nigerian hero will deprive Nigerians their livelihood for his/her self-interest and talk about unnecessary issues when thousands of people are dying of poverty, hunger and curable diseases. I think it is about time someone asked the two ‘coup makers’ to wake up to the realities of the 21st century because the period when primitive ways of usurping power through coups are something of the past and gone forever. Rather than wasting our resources and time on dubious accolades, we should rather focus our attention and debates on productive issues that could help to consolidate Nigeria’s democracy, salvage our ailing economy and help to promote social transformation.

We have the obligation to focus on how best we can use our free speech to propagate ideas that will address the needs of majority of the people who have long been deprived of their democratic and citizenship rights – socio-economic and political rights, and especially, the right to a decent livelihood. From this perspective, none of the two coup makers(Buhari and IBB) or any coup maker for that matter will ever be remembered as a hero in Nigeria’s national history.

Arizona-Ogwu wrote in from Oyigbo, Rivers State.