This is why military coups don’t make sense

Coups don’t make sense; it’s as simple as that. Forget the speeches coup plotters deliver after the coup, promising a marked departure from all that was wrong with the previous administration. When you look at everything with the benefit of hindsight, you can’t help but conclude that military coups in this country were made up of calculated but senseless killings. They were avenues to waste our time and embezzle our resources, to make us look like a powerless and undignified people.

To see what I’m talking about, let’s consider what successive coups have done to us critically.

Sometimes, in the execution of the coup, Nigerians like you and I are killed. To quell it also, the same things happen.

Remember the killing of some of our political class during January 15, 1966, coup? Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria, Chief S.I. Akintola, the Premier of Western Region, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of Nigeria, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Federal Minister of Finance and other military officers were all killed.

The coup that followed six months later took the lives of General J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi and a number of high-ranking military officers.

A coup executed by Col. Buka Suka Dimka also cut short the life of Gen. Murtala Muhammed. A quelling of that led to the arrest and subsequent execution of one civilian and 38 soldiers, including Major-General Illya Bisalla, five Colonels, four Majors and other officers for their role in the failed coup.

An attempted coup during General Babangida’s regime led to the death of nine loyal soldiers. 69 soldiers of various ranks were accused of treason and they were killed by firing squad.

According to the Chief of General Staff, Vice-Admiral Augustus Aikhomu revealed that at least three of the plotters of the April 22 coup were arrested, cautioned and released in 1987 over an alleged coup plot to overthrow the government. They were later released. Aikhomu also alleged that the officers regrouped once again in January to overthrow the government and had intended to kill not only the president but also, the AFRC members and military governors, all civilian members of the council of ministers and senior military and police officers.

The suspects were later tried by the treason and other offences special military tribunal. After the trial, 42 persons were found guilty and condemned to death by firing squad. This was the largest execution of coup plotters in Nigeria’s history breaking the record of the 1976 coup, led by Buka Suka Dimka in which 38 officers and men were executed.

This low-down is to show you the human resources we lose to coups and the paranoia of military dictators. And when these rulers are entrenched in power, they can do and undo. They orchestrate assassinations, suspend the law, rob the nation blind and make our best brains seek better lives outside the country.

These power usurpers basically become the law, but not to themselves. From the moment a military junta begins, the citizens lose sleep. Ways of life are censored, civilians are treated like animals by soldiers, basic human rights are taken from citizens, our country becomes a pariah nation.

So how can such way of life and the system that ushered it in make sense to me? I know a lot of things are wrong with our democracy. There is widespread corruption, and the ability of our leadership is questionable, but we have hope. We have our voice and our vote. A coup takes all of that away from us.

One comment

  1. “Sometimes, in the execution of the coup, Nigerians like you and I are killed” this is nonsense. You sound like you’re probably someone from the current ruling class afraid for his life.

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