Was There Really A Coup?

By Dr jarlat Uche opara

At the brink of thinking that Nigeria and Nigerians have gone beyond the arrows of coup, boom! rumours of coup started filtering.

The last coup Nigeria experienced was 35 years ago when the interim Government of Ernest Shonikon was toppled by Gen. Sani Abacha. He ruled for seven years plus, at the verge of turning himself Into a democratically elected president, boom! nature struck and he was removed from the stage. Since then Nigeria has had peaceful transitions of power through elections however dirty and barbaric the processes have been.

The question is, is military take-over still a garment that would be fitting for Nigeria and Nigerians at this time? After 25 years of unbroken democracy? Or would it too tight? Unfiitting making us as Nigerians look like a well drenched bird?

For the records Nigeria has experienced 29 years of military rule and 35 years of democratic governance (including the current, longest unbroken period) since gaining independence in 1960

Scanning through the achievements recorded by the Military and Civilians administrations what would be the score card? Where would the scale of more efficiency and productivity be tilting to? Military or Civilian?

By now President Tinubu would have either been in jail or on the run. National and States Assemblies under lock and key. All States governors lost their lucrative jobs, party offices cease to exist, constitution dropped and decrees upon decrees the only radar for governance if the alleged coup was successful.

The fever of defection galore witnessed recently would have been of no benefit and the 2027 elections, its strategies, permutations and gerrymandering fizzled, like pack of cards, falling flats, If Brigadier Gen. Musa Abubakar and his group had pulled their trigger well and the shots fired with a bull eye precision. All these are not happening because the bull eye was missed. To the glory of God? Or an opportunity to breath fresh air missed?

Brigadier General Musa Abubakar Sadiq ( N/ 103421 who allegedly was the leader of the plot would have become our president if the coup was pulled through. Who is Brigadier Sadiq? He was detained in October 2024 for alleged diversion of palliatives and military equipment, selling military vehicles as scraps( condemn iron) That would be the kind of President we would have had. Your guess is as good as mine what a country he would have turned Nigeria and Nigerians into, probably would have sold us as condemned iron to the highest bidder.

But wait a minute, would it be different from what we are presently experiencing? Would it be just a case of jumping from a frying pan into fire or the other way? Flying from the ground to perch on the ground?

The truth is coups are a sign of deeply rooted political instability and institutional failure, not a solution.” – Attributed to political scientists in analyse

*My last word*:. “The only thing that would stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”.

Though nobody in this age and time would support military takeover. But the truth is, coup is mere dictation of chronic ailments but may not have the solution to cure it. Now that we know that Nigeria is having chronic disease what is the next action the masses?

Jarlathuche@gmail.com