The coup conversation

After 24 years of unbroken democracy, we’re really not too far from where we took off, with political managers unwilling to deliver quality governance that’s sufficient to exorcise and banish the coup mentality.

In case some have forgotten, the last years of military rule, mostly under General Sani Abachi, were traumatic for everybody, including the military. If you were a soldier and in service, you were watched and monitored as your loyalty must not be doubted.

Civilians were not safe as well because every form of dissent was considered anti-state and treasonable. The economy was remote-controlled and everything revolved around the head of state and his family. All forms of freedoms and rights were curtailed and many had to scamper through the borders to escape terror at home.

The situation became murky by 1995, when former military Head of State, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo, and his deputy, Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua, were framed in an alleged coup plot, tried and sentenced to death. Yar’Adua died in detention while Obasanjo survived, when another military panel reviewed and commuted his sentence to 30 years.

The eyes of the international community were on Nigeria, a pariah state, as Abacha closed his ears to entreaties of world leaders. He was set to transmute from maximum military ruler to a democratic president. He looked unstoppable. Nigerians watched helplessly, hoping for a break.

Then another coup was announced in April 1998, this time involving Abacha’s deputy, Lt. Gen Oladipo and cabinet ministers, Maj. Gen Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Maj. Gen. Abdulkareem Adisa. They were tried in a military tribunal and sentenced to death. Then Abacha died on June 8, 1998 and tension simmered. The process of democratisation was fast-tracked under Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, which gave birth to the fourth republic.

The 1999 Constitution proclaims its supremacy and a binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the country. In Section 2 of its Chapter One, it states: “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.”

That implication is that coup is outlawed and Nigerians are very mindful of the sensitive nature of the coup subject. But that has not stopped conversations around it, sometimes in veiled and advisory terms, seeking to caution political operators not to forget those years of pestilence.

Since 1999, millions of Nigerians who witnessed firsthand the horrors of military rule, have pledged that never again shall they surrender this polity to the rule of one man. However, they have also observed distressfully, that the evils and excesses associated with military regimes have not disappeared from today’s democratic governance.

Some would even argue, that the bad old days have multiplied and are indeed haunting people in government, forcing them to perceive every opposition advisory or citizens’ hunger-induced exclamation as incitement to coup.

In the blighted days of the Buhari regime, there were tales of coup incitements and veiled warnings to citizens and politicians who market opposing views. Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, in May 2017, warned the military to stay off politics as coup rumours spread.

He gave that order in a statement issued by the Army Spokesman, Sani Usman, a Brigadier. He said: “This is to inform the general public that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Nigerian Army, 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.”

At that time, Buhari frequented London to attend to undisclosed ailments. His long absence and failure to engage citizens on the extent of his physical impairment caused apprehension in some quarters and that was profiled by government as incitement to coup.

In December 2020, Buratai warned army generals against coup. He vowed that the Nigerian army would not tolerate moves by some persons to destabilise the country. He spoke when the Army decorated 39 newly promoted Major Generals.

In May 2021, the military again warned politicians and soldiers not to contemplate any military intervention. The Defence Headquarters’ Spokesman, Onyema Nwachukwu, said it was reacting to a statement by a lawyer, to the effect that the military should take over government to restructure the polity. In that instance, one man’s view was exaggerated to mean call for a coup.

In line with that protocol, today’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, described as “evil people” those calling for a coup in Nigeria, arising from citizens’ discontent with the present economic hardship in the land.

Musa said: “Whoever is making that call (coup) 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. And any of those ones that are calling for anything other than democracy are evil people and I think they don’t mean well for Nigeria.”

As commendable as these pledges of loyalty to civilian rule are by the military chiefs, let it be canvassed that even in the best of democracies that deliver quality living standards, citizens are entitled to voice their displeasures.

There are protests in Europe over high cost of living and opposition politicians are taking advantage of such to market their programmes for the next election. Protests are expressions of the democratic principles enshrined in constitutions, provided they are not violent.

The Labour Party in Britain is upbeat, hoping to gain from the Conservative Party’s average performance. In the United States, the polity is sharply divided ahead of November elections, with politicians of the two major parties – Democrats and Conservatives – using every lawful means to undermine one another.

Our local politicians who invested huge resources to contest the 2023 election are citizens and stakeholders, and are entitled to their opinions on the economy, especially now there is hunger in the land. That should not amount to evil plots.

Military chiefs and intelligence agencies should stop playing to the gallery. Let them face their job of securing the country and ensure that their rank and file are well taken care of, just the way politicians are taking very good care of themselves and their families.

Let the National Security Adviser (NSA), advise government to deliver the promises outlined in the Constitution and in their campaign manifestoes, so that ordinary Nigerians will have no reason to take to the streets on hunger protests.

Nigerians understand that military chiefs want to be on the good side of history; they’re in a hurry to exculpate themselves from the past adventures and attendant misrule. They’re very careful now and are too overwhelmed by the complexities of today’s polity, domestic and global, to contemplate any misadventure.

That’s what Nigerians recommend, but let them not surrender professionalism to manipulations of unrepentant, scavenging politicians. Let them not join politicians to cry wolf when there’s none, but speak truth to power in the closets. If politicians push the country down the cliff as they had done severally, the burden will be on the military to salvage the pieces.

Let authorities not think of the coup phenomenon as what only the military can manifest. The series of uprisings that were staged in the wake of the Arab Spring were not executed by the military. From one single, backwater one-man protest in the north of Africa, the flames spread across the Middle East, sacking governments and resetting new agenda for relations between rulers and the people. Let people in government respect citizens and stop this air of arrogance and invincibility.

Lest we forget, there is a generation of Nigerians who did not witness the era of military coups. The obliteration of the subject of history in today’s academic curriculum has denied this segment quality knowledge about the country’s politico-history. The more they hear of the term coup, the more they are fascinated to ask questions.

A chance encounter with one of the curious minds yielded a robust conversation. The young man needed to know the country’s romance with military coups. One was able to trace the history from the first case on January 15, 1966 to the events that closed the Abacha years, the bloodshed and loss of precious souls.

On how military rules are run, one managed to explain that a close-knit unit of top generals populate the apex council, popularly known then as the Supreme Military Council (SMC), headed by the head of state. He is supported by a deputy, who is the chief of staff, just like a president and his vice. Decisions are swiftly taken and executed, in the absence of the National Assembly. There were military governors managing in the states, which the military by themselves created in the course of their years of adventure.

On whether there were advantages and disadvantages, one had to recall to the curious mind that decisions and executions were swifter and funds saved. However, it’s a tough system during which rights were curtailed. You couldn’t say what you wanted and democracy activists were locked up for voicing opposition to draconian rules. One recalled too that incidents of public corruption were not rampant because fewer persons had access to the public till.

Curious mind seemed excited and did a comparison with today’s system. He fears this democracy has little to offer to his generation. He is bothered that democratic governance is a showcase of unchecked raw power, with civilian governors acting and behaving worse than military administrators.

He is worried that operators of democratic rule are untouched by citizens’ deprivations. He is unable to see marked differences between what is and what history recorded.

Let a word be enough for the wise.