The former military president of Nigeria, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, has recounted how he orchestrated that coup that removed his predecessor, Mohammadu Buhari from the seat due to his “holier-than-thou attitude.”
In his book, A” Journey in Service,” launched at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja on the 20th of February, he revealed that Buhari and his deputy, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, were known for massive violations of human rights and economic measures that left the country’s economy in a bad shape. He said, “My predecessor in office, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, and his deputy, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, had separated themselves from the mainstream of the armed forces by personalising what was initially a collective leadership. They both posited a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude, antagonising the civil populace against the military,
IBB also added that “the fundamental rights and freedoms were being routinely infringed upon and abused.” He further added that the military administration was presiding over a society that was predominantly scared of them. He referred to the duo’s rulings as “Draconian decrees,” which according to him, led to the abuse, causing “severe limitation of basic freedoms as people were clamped into indefinite detention, most times for minor infractions.”
Further, he noted that under Mr Buhari’s regime, the army as a national institution was seen “as the private personal autocracy of a stubborn few.” While this was the case, ordinary people were deep in severe economic hardship. The general economy and people’s living conditions were worsening day by day. Scarcity of essential goods and supplies became the order of the day, “yet arbitrary controls in all aspects of economic life and an ancient resort to barter in international trade meant that the nation’s financial woes would not end soon.” The whole of this led to a change in leadership. He wrote: “ this tense atmosphere culminated in the unanimous decision of a broad spectrum of senior and middle-level officers to change the nation’s leadership. The processes associated with this change were completed without bloodshed by midnight on August 26, 1985.”
However, reports have it that the former military leader and two-time president of Nigeria, Buhari, told The Interview that he was removed by IBB due to his non-corruption principles which according to him was targeted at top military officials. During his interviews, he was asked who should be believed over the situation that led to his removal from office by IBB, and he decided to go into details. He stated that it was a situation that involved the then Military Intelligence fund, headed by General Aliyu Gusau, whom he said “took import licence from the Ministry of Commerce, which was in charge of supplies, and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe. It was worth N100,000, a lot of money then.” Discovering this, he confronted them and took the case of the army council. “ He further stated: “I was the head of state. I said, if I didn’t punish Aliyu Gusau, it will create a problem for us. It’s North versus South; Majority versus Minority; Muslim versus Christian. That was what it showed. When people want to hide incompetence, they attempt to hide under religion, ethnicity, into simply political issues. So I said General Aliyu Gusau had to go. He was the chief of intelligence. That was why Babangida got some officers to remove me. Let him repeat his own story. Aliyu Gusau is still alive.” He concluded his narration by noting that he still stood by what he had earlier said in an earlier interview and that, “ you can choose which one to believe.”
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