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| Former Military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retrd) |
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has suggested in a statement on Sunday, that former military head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida (retrd) and President Muhammadu Buhari, are lifetime enemies following a coup which saw Buhari overthrown in 1984.
Babangida had previously disclosed in an interview with a team from Zero Tolerance (ZT), that his decision to overthrow Buhari's government in 1985, wasn't because of personal rift, but because there was frustration in the society under his regime.
He said the mood in the country at the time, was that of displeasure and frustration by the people. He added that the very moment Nigerians were saying the "worst military regime is better than this government," it became clear that the people were calling for a change.
Asked on the circumstances surrounding his emergence as military president in 1985, he said "First of all, we planned a coup towards the end of 1983 that truncated the democratically elected government and the military government came in January 1984.
"Then that government also suffered the same fate as the democratic government when the military staged one of the finest coup in this country, because there was no blood, nothing was lost, smooth and everybody was treated with the most civility and our administration came.
"When we came in August of 1985 there was a plan to kick us out in December 1985, it didn’t work, they went into operation again in 1990. I think the country was going through a phase at that time, it’s a developing country and we always had one reason or the other for doing what we did at that time.
In whether a rift between him and Buhari was responsible for his actions, he responded, "No, let me give you a lesson today. A coup or change comes about if there is frustration in the society. Just get that right.
"There was frustration in the society between 1984 to 1985. The ground was fertile for a coup. It wasn’t fertile, thanks be to God, in December, 1985 when the first attempt on me was made. Neither was it fertile in April 1990 when the second attempt was made and we had the support of all of you sitting down here.
"You write, you analyze, you talk, and you demonstrated. It was not unusual then to hear, in the case of the democratically elected government in1983, a common phrase was ‘the worst military regime is better than this government’. So you were giving us the impetus to stage a coup. We are not dummies. If we didn’t have the support of all of you, we wouldn’t venture into it."
While it might appear that the two former heads of states may have moved on from the 1985 incident, Jonathan suggested that such might not be the case.
While speaking during a thanksgiving service of Bayelsa State Governor Senator Douye Diri, at the State Ecumenical Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital, the former president said whether or not to a coup succeeds, "both parties (incumbent and coup plotters) become lifetime enemies and stay as enemies till death."
He said, “In Nigeria, what we know and have witnessed at the national level is government through military coup. And in military coup, those with weapons or guns stage a coup. The assumption is that they want to kiII others to assume power.
“And of course if they fail the incumbent will kiII all those who plotted the coup. And at the end of the day, in a military coup, if you succeed or not, both parties (incumbent and coup plotters) become lifetime enemies and stay as enemies till death."
Unlike Babangida whose attempt at ruling the country as a democratic President never materialized, Buhari was able to enjoy two terms of eight years after several failed attempts in the past.