I Knew Babangida Was Planning To Overthrow Me-Buhari | The Eagleyereport

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• Muhammadu Buhari, former head of state, said he was 
• aware Ibrahim Babangida was planning to overthrow him
•  in 1985 but did not move against him because he detests
•  bloodshed.
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• Buhari became head of state on December 31, 1983 after
•  the military overthrew the elected government of 
• Shehu Shagari.
• But on August 27, 1985, Buhari himself was overthrown by Babangida,
•  his chief of army staff and key actor in the 1983 coup.
• Buhari, a retired major general and presidential aspirant on the platform
•  of All Progressives Congress (APC), told TheCable: "It is true that I learnt
•  he was planning a coup against me. And I sat and discussed it with him in 
• my office.
• "He brought the news that he went to Kano and people complained that
•  I pulled a pistol during a council meeting. I said Ibro ─ I called him Ibro
•  because I was just senior to him by a few months ─ I said whoever wants
•  to sit on this chair let him come and sit here. And he decided to do it."
• Reminded that the punishment for coup making was death and he could
•  have put Babangida on trial, Buhari replied: "Yes. Remember how many
•  people he killed subsequently for trying to overthrow him? But when I 
• came in, there was no bloodshed. I think a couple of policemen were killed
•  and [Brigadier Ibrahim] Bako also died in an ambush.
• "But deliberately, nobody was killed. I was in the front, the real front in the
•  Nigerian civil war. I had seen enough of death and I know what God 
• means by human life. Any human being, God values their life. 
• And anybody who hopes to meet God, he should be careful about killing.
• "When there is law and due process of law took place, the question 
• is clear. Like the cocaine convicts that were executed, the decision 
• was taken in supreme military council."
• Below is the concluding part of the serialised interview. 
• TheCable: People say that you were not really involved in the coup 
• that overthrew Shehu Shagari but you only happened to have been
•  made head of state. But we also heard that Alhaji Umaru Dikko, 
• then minister of transport, felt you were a threat and asked that
•  you be watched. How true are these reports?
• Buhari: General David Jemibewon is still alive. He was the 
• adjutant-general of the army at that time. When I came back from the
•  War College in the United States, I was posted to Ikeja and I was made 
• the GOC of the fourth division. I think I lasted for about four to six months
•  there because some people in Shagari’s government said I was too 
• dangerous to be kept around. So I was sent to Ibadan to command second
•  division. I lasted about six months there.  Again, I was posted to Jos to
•  command the third armoured division. Then Jemibewon said to me,
•  Buhari, the way they are moving you, your next posting will be to 
• Daura (Buhari's home town in Katsina state). I had a good laugh. I will 
• never forget. It was during the chief of army staff conference.
• TheCable: How much did you know about the 1983 coup?
• Buhari: I am working on my memoirs... (But) I have something to say now
•  about the way we treat our military officers who really served this country.
•  Along the line we have gone through so much, those of us in my 
• generation. We served under people like Generals Shuwa, Adekunle,
•  Murtala, Danjuma. I think these people have sacrificed so much. I think 
• Nigeria should really honour them. When I went to greet the family of
•  (Benjamin) Adekunle after his death, and I saw that he was living in a
•  glorified boys quarters, I was very sorry for this country. 
• I felt sorry for this country. What type of people are we? For him to finish
•  up like that, I was very sorry for this country. Unless people believe in God,
•  I think they will forsake this country.
• TheCable: Alhaji Umaru Dikko is dead now. There was an attempt to
•  smuggle him into the country from the UK to Nigeria. 
• Your government was suspected as the brain behind it but you
•  denied it then. Can the information be declassified now?
• Buhari: No. (General laughter). I'm surprised that I am making you laugh.
•  It is classified and it remains so.
• TheCable: Were you really aware that Babangida was planning a 
• coup against you in 1985?
• Buhari: Yes, it is true that I learnt he was planning a coup against me. 
• And I sat and discussed it with him in my office. He was the chief of army 
• staff and I was the head of state. He brought the news that he went to
•  Kano and people complained that I pulled a pistol during a council 
• meeting. I had never heard that before, except a newspaper cartoon 
• I saw many, many years ago about Mengistu Haile Mariam (former 
• Ethiopian head of state). They were just making up stories. 
• I said Ibro ─ I called him Ibro because I was just senior to him by a few
•  months ─ I said whoever wants to sit on this chair let him come and sit 
• here. And he decided to do it.
• TheCable: But the punishment for coup making is death...
• Buhari: Yes. Remember how many people he killed subsequently for 
• trying to overthrow him? But when I came in, there was no bloodshed. 
• I think a couple of policemen were killed and (Brigadier Ibrahim) Bako 
• also died. That was when they went to pick Shagari from somewhere, 
• I think in Abuja. But deliberately, nobody as killed. I was in the front, the 
• real front in the Nigerian civil war. I have seen enough of death and I 
• know what God means by human life. Any human person, God values
•  their life. And anybody who  hopes to meet God, he should be careful 
• about killing. When there is law and due process of law took place, the 
• question is clear. Like the cocaine convicts that were executed (in 1984), 
• the decision was taken by the supreme military council (SMC).
• TheCable: But when he eventually overthrew you, didn’t you regret 
• that you should have taken action when you heard that he was 
• planning against you?
• Buhari: Taking action pre-empting and jailing or killing people does not
•  solve the problem. But let people honestly ask now, as you said, those 
• who are bothered about Nigeria, let them ask now: what did I attempt to 
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• do for the time Babangida and his group allowed me to stay and what did
•  they do in his eight years in office? I told you about the naira and the dollar
• , and the IMF programme. What did they do? They wanted to impress the 
• world? The naira was devalued by about 122 percent. We have never 
• recovered. Go and ask any economist. When you devalue a currency, 
• it can never recover. Some of the politicians that were jailed for corruption,
•  they were released and their loot was returned to them by Babangida. 
• So it’s a big joke. That means I was there then before my time.
• TheCable: Having been a military ruler who overthrew a democratic
•  government, how did you now come around to subscribe to 
• democracy?
• Buhari: At the risk of sounding like a broken gramophone record, 
• I will tell the story again. After I came out of detention and went home in
•  December 1988... then in 1989, 1990, 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed
•  and that had a terrific impact on me. People were coming to me for advice. 
• Thank God, they did not come to me to ask for money because 
• they knew I had no money. 
• I declared my assets as many times as I occupied political office because
•  that was the law. 
• And when I left I declared my assets.  All those of us, our generation, 
• from Obasanjo 
• downward, if the country is serious about 
• questioning them on how they acquired what have, it is easy because by 
• law you have to declare your assets before office and after you leave office.
•  But because it is so convenient to ignore the and accumulate wealth, 
• that is what the big men and big women are doing.
• Now, when the Soviet Union collapsed I realised that there was something
•  right about multi-party democracy. I believe it was superior. But then how 
• can we get it done in Nigeria? That was what eventually took me to 
• partisan politics. And why did I leave the ANPP and form CPC? 
• Why was I active in the merging of the opposition to become APC? 
• It is all about strengthening our democracy and stabilising the system.
•  I don’t like any person to see me as an impulsive person. I deliberately
•  take decisions for my actions. That it is why when ANPP gave me the 
• presidential ticket in 2003 and 2007, I went into the field, did my best but 
• unfortunately we didn’t achieve success. But then while we were in court
•  the party’s leadership took two marginal ministerial positions in the 
• government of the late Umaru Yar'Adua. The party chairman said his 
• son was taking up an appointment as special adviser while we were still
•  in court.
• Since 2005, we discovered that none of the opposition parties could face
•  the PDP. The PDP has become so amorphous and it didn’t care about 
• the opposition. If you see what happened to our members during elections.
• .. the killings, the burning. We realised we had to come together to face the
•  PDP. This is the best way I think we can stabilise the system. When we 
• stabilise the system impunity will not be acceptable. That is why we 
• formed the APC. We need multi-party democracy to stabilise the system.
• TheCable: What does a typical day in your life look like these days?
• Buhari: Firstly, as you know, normally the practising Muslims have to
•  wake up about five in the morning and pray. And I am an avid listener 
• of the Voice of America and the BBC, Hausa service. This is because 
• over the years I have discovered that they have been very, very helpful in
•  educating the mostly illiterate Hausa-speaking populace. From Agadez or
•  even from Tripoli down almost to South Africa, and from Senegal to 
• Central Africa Republic, there is large body of Hausa-speaking 
• communities, not necessarily Nigerian or Hausa, but those who speak
•  the language because of trading over the centuries.
• I found out VOA and BBC commentaries on politics and economics very
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•  good. They help to educate people. And they allow people to discuss, 
• express different opinions and they interpret it, and I find that very helpful. 
• And it is very current for Nigerian politics for that audience. I listen to that,
•  and then I try to rest again. And then by 10am I have my breakfast, and 
• go to the office or stay in the house if I choose to work without any 
• interference. Otherwise, I go to the office and try to attend to official 
• duties if I have appointments. About 4pm and 5pm I come back home,
•  and mostly up to 10 in the night I will be with people discussing things.
• These days, it is very difficult. This time scheduling is too tight. 
• Sometimes I wish I had more than 24 hours to keep up with the 
• demands of meeting people. Again, Nigerian politics, especially
•  this time around, is the main issue. It is keeping me extremely busy.
•  I go to bed nothing earlier than half past 11pm. I wish I could observe
•  siestas. Sometimes I do. If I can escape from the office by 3:30 pm.

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