EXCLUSIVE: RUMBLE IN THE MILITARY.

President Mohammadu Buhari’s draconian style of administration is
impacting negatively on the nation, fuelling ill feelings, despondence and general discontent among the populace and spiking a gloomy future with an ever spiraling economic downturn.

The effects of his harsh policies and perceived lopsided anti-graft war, reminiscent of his stint as military head of state between 1983 and 1984 is so pronounced that even his former constituency, the military, is weighed down by his high-handedness.

Investigation has uncovered an existing plot by some elements in the military to unseat President Mohammadu Buhari.

Niger Delta militants under the aegis of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF) had Wednesday revealed that some top army officers had approached them to intensify the oil pipeline bombing campaign which would be used as a justification to overthrow President Buhari’s dictatorial administration.

The media has long monitored developments in the military and has since confirmed that indeed, like a de’ ja vu, there is a plot to oust President Buhari’s government a second time owing to his inflexible and self-centered disposition in discharging the affairs of state each time he is given the opportunity.

But like Julius Ceaser, who trained his sights on conquest of more territories for Rome without paying attention to what happened at home, Buhari’s enemies, like Caesar’s, are coming from the most unexpected quarters: his own constituency.

The alarm sounded by Niger Delta militants appeared to have unwittingly altered the calculations of the coup plotters, our investigations has revealed.

But with hindsight, Buhari had embarked on a half-hearted cleansing of the military starting with those involved in the $2.1 billion arms scandal originally meant for the procurement of arms for the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram. Most of the service chiefs that handled the funds under former President Jonathan, were retired and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.

President Buhari went further to retire more top army officers mostly from the South-east and South-south geo-political zones of the country, an action that is viewed as ethnic cleansing. Many of the affected officers were said to be those involved in the 2015 general elections and the arms scandal.

But the affected officers have countered that they were neither involved in the general elections nor had anything to do with arms purchase and only saw their retirement letters on their desks on resumption of the duty.

The EFCC has since indicated its intention to prosecute the 38 retired officers in court.

President Buhari for the first time by any sitting president, addressed staff of the Presidential Villa on Wednesday and cautioned them against involvement in corrupt practices. A circular, it was gathered, was later circulated to all staff, demanding absolute loyalty with concomitant threats of severe sanctions against leakage of top secret information and links to outside forces working against the government.

These measures, President Buhari believes would rid the army of officers whose loyalty is in doubt and who are still believed to nurse some feelings for the former administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The media has learned of the existence of a political arm of the coup plot hatched by Buhari’s own people. The Hausa-Fulani ethnic stock are also believed to have carried out an extensive threat analysis of the present political situation and the long term effects of President Buhari’s political misadventure vis-a-vis his inability to understand Nigeria’s diversity and his inclination to stubbornly stick to his outdated view of the present political realities in Nigeria.

Fulani political tacticians have suddenly realised that the political power they enjoy presently may slip through their hands if a deft political calculation is not applied immediately to arrest the drift, a situation where the entire country is held down by harsh economic conditions and the mishandling of the Niger Delta situation which led to the emergence of more militant groups and a rapid dip in the oil output from 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) to as low as 400,000bpd with constant threats by the militants to get Nigeria to zero output level in a few weeks.

“The problem is that he is blind to reason. The service chiefs and officers he has removed and still plans to remove whether they are involved in arms scandal or elections and the innocent ones have thousands of other officers they mentored and who owe their employment and present ranks and positions in the army to such officers and service chiefs. He was in the military and he knows it.

“Up till today, there are still those who are linked to him even though he left the military many years ago. If you think because you retired these officers and therefore, there wont be a plot against you, then, you need to look back at Nigeria’s military history in relation to coup plots. If you do not carry your constituency along or if you decide to humiliate them, you are bound to pay for it especially when you even have a history of the corruption you are fighting”, a competent military source revealed.

From the political constituency, former Vice-President and the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) chieftain and a fellow Fulani, Atiku Abubakar, recently described President Buhari as a man who has refused to learn from history. He has also called for a restructuring of the federation, a call that has resonated with the politically marginalised sections of the country but the call is also seen by political pundits as a deft move to sell a better Fulani alternative to Nigerians ahead of 2019 general elections.

“We have a leader who is not prepared to learn from the past. Again, here we come back to the same economic challenges that are facing the country but we also have a leadership that is not prepared to learn from the past and the leadership that is not prepared to lead,” he had said at a recent function.

Senator Shehu Sani, a Fulani from Kaduna State recently tackled Kaduna Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, who is also of the Fulani extraction for training his sights on President Buhari’s position instead of concentrating on the governance of the state.

“It would be counter-productive for the governor to start thinking of evicting Buhari in 2019 to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. El-Rufai should do his job and stop putting his eyes on the Presidency,” the senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, said in a recent interview.

“The plot to oust President Buhari is anchored on three planks: the politicians of his ethnic stock, who are disenchanted with his mismanagement of their political fortune, top military brass from the same ethnic stock, who are no longer used to business as usual and are encouraging younger officers from the same area to effect a regime change after which a short transition that would see to the handing over to another preferred Fulani would be consummated.

“So far, cocooned in his ethnic world view, President Buhari is unwittingly removing those who would have made his removal difficult and playing into the hands of those he thinks would protect him but are determined to remove him quietly and consolidate their hold on power”.

“The original plot was to prepare the ground for Buhari’s reelection in 2019 by removing every perceived or imagined security obstacle part of which is the deployment of only Hausa-Fulanis as GOCs, police commissioners, Department of States Security (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), state commandants of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the southern states, the reason why you cannot have any meaningful investigation in the cases of Fulani herdsmen attacks in many states in the Middle belt and the South or killing of Biafra agitators.

“The issue of service chiefs have long been resolved so the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, the New IGP of Police, heads of Immigration, NSCDC, Prison Service the same with state commands in the South are all mostly core northerners and you know what this means. These are instruments of state, force and coercion.

“The political level or cabinet level have all been resolved with the Minister of Defence, Justice and Interior all occupied by his kinsmen so his plan for full blown dictatorship was long consummated so the rest of the country is at the mercy of Buhari and his kinsmen. Do you understand?

That is why you have indescreminate prosecutions without obedience to court orders so except you have a coup or armed rebellion that matches or surpasses government’s arsenal, the rest of the country, especially the South, even with the involvement of the Yoruba, is screwed.

“Remember that Buhari is partnering the Kanuris in this project with the appointment of the Chief of Army Staff, NSA, Chief of Staff to the President as well as the North-East Development Commission project as a new unifying factor. But the original reelection strategy is now hampered by Buhari’s misrule hence the need to get rid of him. But as it is, the reckless statement by the militants will definitely alter the arrangement but it is still there”, an impeccable military source said.

Other Northern leaders notably former Governor of Kaduna State and Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji  Balarabe Musa and Chairman of the Northern Elders Council (NEC), Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, have also condemned President Buhari’s dictatorial style of governance.

“We are quite sure from all the evidence we have gathered that there is selectivity in the anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government. Of course, other governors in the country should be investigated if Fayose could be investigated.

“And their bank accounts should also be scrutinised and frozen if they are found to be corrupt. Certainly, there seems to be selective probe, if Fayose alone is singled out.”

On the forgery allegation against the Senate President and his deputy, Musa said “we are terribly concerned about the situation in the Senate because this may lead to a serious political crisis in Nigeria. “It can lead to an attempt by the government to undermine the Senate and by implication the National Assembly. And if this is done, then the implication is that the President will be a dictator. He will work alone according to his agenda.

“Now, this action against the National Assembly by the Presidency implies that there is an attempt to destroy the National Assembly to enable the president to work alone and, at the same time, apply fascist measures in the country.

Yakasai on his part said: “I think it is now certain that presidents, governors and other serving public officers can be investigated and their bank accounts frozen. But, the President, Vice President and deputy governors are conferred with immunity by the constitution. The things that are happening these days make me develop some fears about this country.

“I want you to read the history of Nazi Party, with particular reference with the formation of Gestapo. After Hitler came to power, he merged the party with the police and other security agencies put everybody in Germany in fear”

“And if care is not taken, to start with one governor in Nigeria, it will end up with everyone in the whole country. So, I think the media in this country should immediately help to rescue this country from dictatorship. If you don’t do it then you are not performing your duty in a democracy.”

“I am 90 years now; I’m on my way going. You have a duty to protect democracy in this country. I know what we did when Olusegun Obasanjo denied Lagos State Government of its statutory allocation. He is a military man and I’m not afraid of any military man in government.However, the right thing must be done. We must protect our democracy”, he said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

The military, has, however issued a statement denying any plot to topple the government as alleged by the Niger Delta militants. The statement signed by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col Sani Usman, restated its loyalty to President Buhari’s democratically elected government stating that indeed, the military fared better in a democracy. “This is baseless and most unfortunate allegation that existed in the warped minds of the originators of such weighty allegation. The Nigerian Army wish to state that this is not true and hereby distanced itself from this weighty allegation”, he said.

According to him, the military “is the greatest beneficiary of democracy and therefore cannot ever contemplate any anti-democratic misadventure, certainly not under the command of the present Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.  “We wish to state further that the NA is the greatest beneficiary of democracy and therefore cannot ever contemplate any anti-democratic misadventure, certainly not under the command of the present Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai. Rather, we see this type of dangerous speculation as a declaration of war to destabilise the present government by these unscrupulous elements.” He said the army was investigating those behind the “dangerous insinuation” and the motive behind it .

“We would like to reiterate our unalloyed loyalty to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We would also like to reaffirm our unconditional support and obedience to civil authority,” the statement said.