President Mohammadu Buhari’s draconian style of administration is
impacting negatively on the nation, fuelling ill feelings, despondence and
general discontent among the populace and spiking a gloomy future with an
ever spiraling economic downturn.
The effects of his harsh policies and perceived lopsided anti-graft war,
reminiscent of his stint as military head of state between 1983 and 1984
is so pronounced that even his former constituency, the military, is
weighed down by his high-handedness.
Pointblanknews.com investigation has uncovered an existing plot by some
elements in the military to unseat President Mohammadu Buhari.
Niger Delta militants under the aegis of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation
Force (NDLF) had Wednesday revealed that some top army officers had
approached them to intensify the oil pipeline bombing campaign which
would be used as a justification to overthrow President Buhari’s
dictatorial administration.
Pointblanknews.com had long monitored developments in the military and has
since confirmed that indeed, like a de’ ja vu, there is a plot to oust
President Buhari’s government a second time owing to his inflexible and
self-centered disposition in discharging the affairs of state each time he
is given the opportunity.
But like Julius Ceaser, who trained his sights on conquest of more
territories for Rome without paying attention to what happened at home,
Buhari’s enemies, like Caesar’s, are coming from the most unexpected
quarters: his own constituency.
The alarm sounded by Niger Delta militants appeared to have unwittingly
altered the calculations of the coup plotters, our investigations has
revealed.
But with hindsight, Buhari had embarked on a half-hearted cleansing of the
military starting with those involved in the $2.1 billion arms scandal
originally meant for the procurement of arms for the prosecution of the
war against Boko Haram. Most of the service chiefs that handled the funds
under former President Jonathan, were retired and handed over to the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.
President Buhari went further to retire more top army officers mostly from
the South-east and South-south geo-political zones of the country, an
action that is viewed as ethnic cleansing. Many of the affected officers
were said to be those involved in the 2015 general elections and the arms
scandal.
But the affected officers have countered that they were neither involved
in the general elections nor had anything to do with arms purchase and
only saw their retirement letters on their desks on resumption of the
duty.
The EFCC has since indicated its intention to prosecute the 38 retired
officers in court.
President Buhari for the first time by any sitting president, addressed
staff of the Presidential Villa on Wednesday and cautioned them against
involvement in corrupt practices. A circular, Pointblanknews.com gathered,
was later circulated to all staff, demanding absolute loyalty with
concomitant threats of severe sanctions against leakage of top secret
information and links to outside forces working against the government.
These measures, President Buhari believes would rid the army of officers
whose loyalty is in doubt and who are still believed to nurse some
feelings for the former administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Pointblanknews.com has learned of the existence of a political arm of the
coup plot hatched by Buhari’s own people. The Hausa-Fulani ethnic stock
are also believed to have carried out an extensive threat analysis of the
present political situation and the long term effects of President
Buhari’s political misadventure vis-a-vis his inability to understand
Nigeria’s diversity and his inclination to stubbornly stick to his
outdated view of the present political realities in Nigeria.
Fulani political tacticians have suddenly realised that the political
power they enjoy presently may slip through their hands if a deft
political calculation is not applied immediately to arrest the drift, a
situation where the entire country is held down by harsh economic
conditions and the mishandling of the Niger Delta situation which led to
the emergence of more militant groups and a rapid dip in the oil output
from 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) to as low as 400,000bpd with
constant threats by the militants to get Nigeria to zero output level in a
few weeks.
“The problem is that he is blind to reason. The service chiefs and
officers he has removed and still plans to remove whether they are
involved in arms scandal or elections and the innocent ones have thousands
of other officers they mentored and who owe their employment and present
ranks and positions in the army to such officers and service chiefs. He
was in the military and he knows it.
“Up till today, there are still those who are linked to him even though he
left the military many years ago. If you think because you retired these
officers and therefore, there wont be a plot against you, then, you need
to look back at Nigeria’s military history in relation to coup plots. If
you do not carry your constituency along or if you decide to humiliate
them, you are bound to pay for it especially when you even have a history
of the corruption you are fighting”, a competent military source told
Pointblanknews.com.
From the political constituency, former Vice-President and the ruling All
Progressives Party (APC) chieftain and a fellow Fulani, Atiku Abubakar,
recently described President Buhari as a man who has refused to learn from
history. He has also called for a restructuring of the federation, a call
that has resonated with the politically marginalised sections of the
country but the call is also seen by political pundits as a deft move to
sell a better Fulani alternative to Nigerians ahead of 2019 general
elections.
“We have a leader who is not prepared to learn from the past. Again, here
we come back to the same economic challenges that are facing the country
but we also have a leadership that is not prepared to learn from the past
and the leadership that is not prepared to lead,” he had said at a recent
function.
Senator Shehu Sani, a Fulani from Kaduna State recently tackled Kaduna
Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, who is also of the Fulani extraction for
training his sights on President Buhari’s position instead of
concentrating on the governance of the state.
“It would be counter-productive for the governor to start thinking of
evicting Buhari in 2019 to be the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. El-Rufai should do his job and stop putting his eyes on the
Presidency,” the senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local
and Foreign Debt, said in a recent interview.
“The plot to oust President Buhari is anchored on three planks: the
politicians of his ethnic stock, who are disenchanted with his
mismanagement of their political fortune, top military brass from the same
ethnic stock, who are no longer used to business as usual and are
encouraging younger officers from the same area to effect a regime change
after which a short transition that would see to the handing over to
another preferred Fulani would be consummated.
“So far, cocooned in his ethnic world view, President Buhari is
unwittingly removing those who would have made his removal difficult and
playing into the hands of those he thinks would protect him but are
determined to remove him quietly and consolidate their hold on power”.
“The original plot was to prepare the ground for Buhari’s reelection in
2019 by removing every perceived or imagined security obstacle part of
which is the deployment of only Hausa-Fulanis as GOCs, police
commissioners, Department of States Security (DSS), the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), state commandants of the Nigerian
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the southern states, the
reason why you cannot have any meaningful investigation in the cases of
Fulani herdsmen attacks in many states in the Middle belt and the South
or killing of Biafra agitators.
“The issue of service chiefs have long been resolved so the Chief of Army
Staff, Chief of Air Staff, the New IGP of Police, heads of Immigration,
NSCDC, Prison Service the same with state commands in the South are all
mostly core northerners and you know what this means. These are
instruments of state, force and coercion.
“The political level or cabinet level have all been resolved with the
Minister of Defence, Justice and Interior all occupied by his kinsmen so
his plan for full blown dictatorship was long consummated so the rest of
the country is at the mercy of Buhari and his kinsmen. Do you understand?
That is why you have indescreminate prosecutions without obedience to
court orders so except you have a coup or armed rebellion that matches or
surpasses government’s arsenal, the rest of the country, especially the
South, even with the involvement of the Yoruba, is screwed.
“Remember that Buhari is partnering the Kanuris in this project with the
appointment of the Chief of Army Staff, NSA, Chief of Staff to the
President as well as the North-East Development Commission project as a
new unifying factor. But the original reelection strategy is now hampered
by Buhari’s misrule hence the need to get rid of him. But as it is, the
reckless statement by the militants will definitely alter the arrangement
but it is still there”, an impeccable military source said.
Other Northern leaders notably former Governor of Kaduna State and
Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji
Balarabe Musa and Chairman of the Northern Elders Council (NEC), Alhaji
Tanko Yakasai, have also condemned President Buhari’s dictatorial style of
governance.
“We are quite sure from all the evidence we have gathered that there is
selectivity in the anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government. Of
course, other governors in the country should be investigated if Fayose
could be investigated.
“And their bank accounts should also be scrutinised and frozen if they are
found to be corrupt. Certainly, there seems to be selective probe, if
Fayose alone is singled out.”
On the forgery allegation against the Senate President and his deputy,
Musa said “we are terribly concerned about the situation in the Senate
because this may lead to a serious political crisis in Nigeria. “It can
lead to an attempt by the government to undermine the Senate and by
implication the National Assembly. And if this is done, then the
implication is that the President will be a dictator. He will work alone
according to his agenda.
“Now, this action against the National Assembly by the Presidency implies
that there is an attempt to destroy the National Assembly to enable the
president to work alone and, at the same time, apply fascist measures in
the country.
Yakasai on his part said: “I think it is now certain that presidents,
governors and other serving public officers can be investigated and their
bank accounts frozen. But, the President, Vice President and deputy
governors are conferred with immunity by the constitution. The things that
are happening these
days make me develop some fears about this country.
“I want you to read the history of Nazi Party, with particular reference
with the formation of Gestapo. After Hitler came to power, he merged the
party with the police and other security agencies put everybody in Germany
in fear.
“And if care is not taken, to start with one governor in Nigeria, it will
end up with everyone in the whole country. So, I think the media in this
country should immediately help to rescue this country from dictatorship.
If you don’t do it then you are not performing your duty in a democracy.”
“I am 90 years now; I’m on my way going. You have a duty to protect
democracy in this country. I know what we did when Olusegun Obasanjo
denied Lagos State Government of its statutory allocation. He is a
military man and I’m not afraid of any military man in government.
However, the right thing must be done. We must protect our democracy”, he
said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
The military, has, however issued a statement denying any plot to topple
the government as alleged by the Niger Delta militants. The statement
signed by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col Sani Usman,
restated its loyalty to President Buhari’s democratically elected
government stating that indeed, the military fared better in a democracy.
“This is baseless and most unfortunate allegation that existed in the
warped minds of the originators of such weighty allegation. The Nigerian
Army wish to state that this is not true and hereby distanced itself from
this weighty allegation”, he said.
According to him, the military “is the greatest beneficiary of democracy
and therefore cannot ever contemplate any anti-democratic misadventure,
certainly not under the command of the present Chief of Army Staff,
Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
“We wish to state further that the NA is the greatest beneficiary of
democracy and therefore cannot ever contemplate any anti-democratic
misadventure, certainly not under the command of the present Chief of Army
Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai. Rather, we see this type
of dangerous speculation as a declaration of war to destabilise the
present government by these unscrupulous elements.”
He said the army was investigating those behind the “dangerous
insinuation” and the motive behind it .
“We would like to reiterate our unalloyed loyalty to the President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
and defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We
would also like to reaffirm our unconditional support and obedience to
civil authority,” the statement said.