Retired Nigerian military figures have cautioned against calls on the Armed Forces to usurp power from President Bola Tinubu, emphasizing the importance of democracy for the nation’s governance.
In the wake of criticisms over troop welfare and fuel subsidy removal, some citizens have voiced online appeals for military intervention in governance.
In a firm statement, Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau labelled such appeals as “wicked and unpatriotic” on Friday evening.
Gusau said, “We wish to state unequivocally that the military is happy and better under democracy and will not get involved in any act to sabotage the hard-earned democracy in our country.”
Maj. Gen. Ishola Williams (retd.), reacting to the calls for a military takeover in an interview with Punch, said the military should disregard the calls and cease making statements on the matter.
Williams said, “The announcements by the DHQ have never led to any arrest. If it is true, the military should activate their intelligence to arrest those people calling for a change of government as a deterrent and warning. In Sierra Leone, it was done recently. Some ‘coup mongers’ were arrested.
“The military’s loyalty is not to the president but to the nation. If they know that a coup would be detrimental to the nation, then, they should disregard calls for it.
“That is because of the system of governance in most African countries. In Nigeria, you have a president who is like a god. What do you find the opposition doing? In a presidential system, the president is both the head of the party, the head of the government, and the head of state. These are three roles in one person. This is not a good system.”
Also speaking, a retired captain from the United States of America Army, Bishop Johnson, said he could not fathom why people were calling for a military takeover, given that there were many ‘sacrifices’ for Nigeria to achieve democratic rule in 1999.
He said, “I do believe that democracies at their initial stages would have mistakes and difficulties but as long as one is learning from one’s experiences and taking steps to mitigate these problems be it institutional and citizens alike. Eventually, you will get to where you need to be.
“Democracy offers the best hope for an ordinary man to get to power. I have to emphasise that the fundamentals of democracy have to be there for democracy to thrive.”
He added that the reason why Sub-Saharan Africa was witnessing a lot of coups was because the foundations of democracy were not there.
A retired colonel, Foluso Saka (retd), warned Nigerians against such entreaties, noting that similar outcry in the past emboldened the military to topple democratically elected presidents in the past.
Saka in an interview with Punch said, “This was the same way Nigerians did when (the late Sani) Abacha and (Ibrahim) Babaginda took over power. What became of them after they did? Human beings are insatiable.
“Looking at it, do we have the same problem with the Niger Republic? Our problem is internal while theirs is more of an external problem.”
Also reacting, a retired Colonel, Hassan Stan-Labo, stated that from experience, military rule would not help in solving challenges confronting the country.
He said, “We should not be calling for military intervention. Given our experience with that, it will not solve any problem. Military rule in today’s world is an abomination this will take us years backwards. If you call for one and if you don’t have the right person at the helms of affairs we would be back to ground zero.”
