President Muhammadu Buhari has said he was removed from office 31 years
ago because he was planning to purge the military hierarchy of corruption.
Buhari, who has not spared the military even in his ongoing
anti-corruption war, said senior military leaders, led by a former
military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, and General Aliyu Gusau,
removed him in August 1985, to save themselves from his wrath.
In an exclusive interview published in the current edition of The
Interview magazine, Buhari challenged Babangida and Gusau, to tell the
truth on why they carried out the coup against him.
“I learnt,” he said, “that Aliyu Gusau, who was in charge of intelligence,
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 at that time. I confronted them and
took the case to the Army Council in a memo…I wanted Gusau punished.”
In a statement on www.theinterview.com.ng, the Managing
Director/Editor-in-chief of The Interview, Azu Ishiekwene, said, “This is
one edition that won’t let sleeping dogs lie.”
Babangida had told The Interview in its December edition that there was
nothing in the memo which Buhari said he submitted to the Army Council.
“Don’t forget that I was one of Buhari’s closest aides. I was the chief of
army staff. So, I had an important position, an important role to play in
that administration. I don’t think it had to do with a memo,” Babangida
said.
But in a tone which revealed that the past might neither have been
forgotten nor forgiven, Buhari challenged Babangida and Gusau to come
clean on why they removed him, asking The Interview to choose whose story
to believe.
He also fielded questions about his health, the 2016 budget, the pace of
his government, former President Goodluck Jonathan and why Mr. Babatunde
Raji Fashola was handed three ministerial portfolios.
The edition also features interviews with Liberian presidential hopeful,
Mr. Winston Tubman, and retired Justice Dahiru Saleh, the controversial
judge whose court nailed June 12.
And in an interview which indicates that the battle for 2019 could be well
and truly underway, pharmacist and Rotarian, Dr. Mike Omotosho, aims at
the Kwara State government house.
His roadmap would give rivals sleepless nights.