Military coup? Perish the thought!

IN recent weeks, the polity has been abuzz with rumours of a coup plot by certain disgruntled officers of the armed forces. The rumours came in the wake of reports that certain military officers had been arrested and subjected to sanctions in line with military rules. According to the military authorities, the officers were arrested during a routine military exercise over issues of indiscipline and breach of service regulations. Investigations, they said,  revealed that their grievances stemmed largely from perceived career stagnation caused by repeated failure in promotion examinations, among other issues. Some of the apprehended officers were said to have been under jurisdiction for various offences, either awaiting or undergoing trial, and their conduct was deemed incompatible with the standards of military service. Media reports indicated that some of the officers implicated in the dastardly plot were attached to the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu. However, reacting to the story last weekend, the military authorities, in a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Tukur Gusau, dismissed the reports linking the detention of the 16 military officers in question to a failed coup. According to Gusau, the story was “intended to cause unnecessary tension and distrust among the populace.” As he pointed out, the cancellation of the October 1 anniversary parade, which news reports had claimed was a major grouse of the coup plotters, was meant to allow President Bola Tinubu to attend a bilateral meeting abroad and enable troops to sustain ongoing operations against insurgency and banditry.

While declaring that “democracy is forever” in the country, Gusau said: “The ongoing investigation involving the 16 officers is a routine internal process aimed at ensuring discipline and professionalism is maintained within the ranks. An investigative panel has been duly constituted, and its findings will be made public.” Subsequently, on Sunday, October 19, the Minister of Information, Mr Mohammed Idris, said that the Federal Government had no reason to doubt the military’s claim that the detention of the officers in question was a military affair, and unrelated to a coup plot.  His words: “The Federal Government believes that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is committed to ensuring the territorial integrity of the country and also strengthening its fight against insecurity. The Federal Government commends the military, and it will continue to support them in their task of ensuring the security of Nigeria.”

Naturally, the reports have generated outrage in the polity, with major stakeholders, including the opposition parties, deploring the alleged potential putsch and urging the government to get to the root of the matter. However, whatever is the motivation behind the alleged military insurrection, assuming that there is indeed such a move by disgruntled army officers, it cannot be rooted in anything other than lawlessness. If the stories consistently published by certain online mediums are, as the military high command has indicated, categorically false, then there is no need for Nigerians, many of whom are still nursing visible scars from the misadventure of the military in Nigerian politics, to panic. Fake news, especially on such a sensitive issue as a military coup that borders on treason, is dangerous to the health of Nigeria’s democracy and every effort that can be made to curb it, if only to avoid panic among a populace already beset by many existential challenges, deserves to be made. If, however, any group of military officers are indeed nursing any grudges against the Bola Tinubu-led administration and making steps to topple it, then those officers and their collaborators must be fished out and tried for treason. Military rule in Nigeria ended in 1999 when the Abdulsalami Abubakar-led military junta handed over to the democratic government of President Olusegun Obasanjo and, regardless of whatever genuine complaints anyone may have about civil rule in the country, the barrel of the gun is no legitimate means of ventilating such grievances.

Warts and all, democracy offers the best, and only, route for Nigerians to access the prosperous future that they deserve. During military rule, as the well-known Nigerian poet, Tanure Ojaide, captured very poignantly, the “owl” woke Nigerians up with songs, only to “throw questioners to hyenas.” By its very nature, military rule is antithetical to the expression of dissent, a cardinal feature of democracy. It is a tyrannical imposition. Nigerians know that very well: they can look back to the many years of agony that the supposed saviours of the country who turned out to be nothing but brutes and savages caused them. Parading fake promises and pretending to be imbued with a nationalistic spirit, soldiers raped this land to stupor and made existence a nightmare for millions of Nigerians. They divided the country along ethnic and religious lines and promoted suppression as a policy. They became extremely wealthy while many Nigerians literally scrounged and starved.

We say no to military coup of any kind in Nigeria. To be sure, we have grave concerns about the practice of democracy in Nigeria, and will continue to ask questions. What we shall never accept is a return to the hell called military rule. Whoever is nursing subversive thoughts should simply bury them. Completely.