The desperation of the elites in Nigeria may have reached its peak with allegation that a leading politician paid $10 million to some Army Generals to stage a coup against the sitting government in the country.
To this end, the Nigerian military Tuesday 14 May 2019 dissociated itself from such treasonable act and a document calling for dissolution of the present administration, according to it, was currently being circulated within the country and, furthermore, also advocated for the setting up of an interim government.
It will be recalled that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its politicians, particularly its presidential candidate in the last election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have been openly involved in plots, despite failed attempts to scuttle the electoral process, to ensure that winner of the February 23, 2019 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is not sworn-in for second term after having won the keenly contested election.
Atiku, allegedly, has been fingered in many financially induced ways of compromising not only the institutions but also the actors of the process, the latest allegation being that he paid $10 million to some Generals to organize a coup against the government before the beginning of its second term, despite that he has a suit in Presidential Election Tribunal challenging the Buhari’s victory.
Reacting to the development, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), described the document calling for coup against a doing-well government at this time as illegal and provocative.
The organisation’s reaction was contained in a press statement issued on Wednesday 15 May, 2019 by its Founder and Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
“This is unacceptable. It is irritating, preposterous and ludicrous. How can any sane individual or group be calling for a military coup d’etat in 21st century Nigeria? It is anachronistic. We have no doubt that it is the handiwork of unpatriotic and unscrupulous elements.
“They will fail. They will fail because the Nigerian people are solidly behind President Muhammadu Buhari. The people have spoken. They spoke loudly with their votes when they elected the incumbent again for the second term. It is desperation that is pushing some people to come up with this crazy idea.
“We have no iota of doubt that this document came from the corruption camp. They are bitter. They are frustrated. They want it to be business as usual but they have seen that Buhari means business. Now they want to get by the bends what they failed to get by the straight. For them it has always been by hook or by crook.
“President Buhari has inspired Nigerians and the latter have taken the cue. Nigerians have seen transparency, probity and accountability under Buhari. Modern trains are all over the place. Our roads are taking shape again. Public office holders no longer act with impunity. There is no financial recklessness in governance. There is no going back to corruption. It is dead. The corpse of corruption is in the mortuary. What remains is its burial and that will come very soon.
“MURIC commends the military for speaking out against the move. We charge the Nigerian people to reject hypocrites and parasites who are aiming to dismantle our nascent democracy. It is an invitation to anarchy. We warn that any attempt at a coup will be resisted by the Nigerian people. We refuse to be led into economic slavery once again. We will rather live as free men and women in our graves than live as paupers and slaves in our own land,” MURIC said.
