IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE BEGET IRRESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP BY FREDRICK NWABUFO

In society responsibility is customarily shared between the people and the government. Responsibility is also implicit in social contract which wards off anarchy. Going by this unconvoluted truism, it therefore follows that the blister-inflicting twine of irresponsibility too is tugged between the government and the people. Irresponsibility is a shared lapse; a damnable testament to people-government failure.

As a matter of fact, everyone, that includes people in the saddle, go through the gestational stage of socialisation, after which parturition

of idiosyncrasies, bias, views, beliefs and predilections, occurs. Indubitably, the role of society in character formation is significant. Therefore, everyone is a sculpture of the moulding of society.

Again, society is people governed by traits of culture- progressive or regressive. The dominant cultural aura or vibe of a given society determines to an extent the behavioural output and proclivities of the people in that society.  That is, if corruption is a permissible cultural aberration, it becomes dominant among other cultural deviations in the genome of that society. This is in no way a sociological absolute, but a verifiable claim that can be exhumed from comparatively examining peoples of different societies and their behaviours.

Hinging on this dialectical plank, it is therefore apt to aver that the Nigerian leadership is a grotesque representation of the Nigerian people and society. The leadership is as bad as the people. The anodyne expression, “you cannot give what you do not have” captures picturesquely the Nigerian situation in this purview. Nigerian leaders are the scions of Nigerian society. Their odious discharges are from the malodorous miscarriages of the society they are born and forged in. Even those that are contaminated (in a good way) by the la dolce vita and pheromones of the better world still carry albeit regrettably, the Nigerian stink. This is not making an argument for the lamentable ineptitude of Nigerian leaders; rather it is to espouse the logic that the Nigerian leadership is a manikin of the Nigerian people and society. There is just no shade of difference between the two- the Nigerian leadership and the people.

Both the Nigerian leadership and the Nigerian people bear the ignominy of culpability in driving the country to the Paleolithic precipice. Inter alia, what is more sickening is the discomforting fact that none in the enterprise of running Nigeria aground takes responsibility for its irresponsibility. The Nigerian leadership indiscriminately throws blame at past governments and obverse groups; the Nigerian people in turn see the distant Nigerian leadership as the provenance of their woes, thus they blame it for even fiddling discomforts such as the angry army of mosquitoes that torpedoes them in their sleep at night and the sour taste of balls of "kwuli-kwuli" in their mouths.

In the same symmetrical logic, not taking responsibility for actions, inactions, situations, problems, and faults seems to be in the Nigerian genome. To illustrate this, some Nigerian parents take pugilism to their children’s school with the uncouth aim of battering their teachers for failing them. They induct their children into the “hallowed hall of irresponsibility” at a nascent age by wittingly or unwittingly encouraging them not to take responsibility for their failures and actions. There must always be someone or something to blame.

In the same vein, when such children from “molly-coddled” homes fail in WAEC, their parents become their feisty advocates, barking to all who care to listen to their racket that their children have been robbed of their true results or failed unfairly by WAEC; You hear, " WAEC sold my son's result". This is usually against the back drop of dereliction of study and laziness of their children. The same thing happens when they fail in JAMB. The excuse is usually that JAMB is corrupt, and that they have been marginalised for the sheer reason that they are not from a particular part the country. So it is when they are finally at higher institutions. The excuse for their failures in this case is that their lecturers are victimising them because of their relationship with some “fine girls” that the lecturers too are “eyeing”. And so the tradition of not taking responsibility for their irresponsibility progresses to points of rude disregard for ideals of excellence, hard work, discipline and performance.

As pointed out tangentially earlier, the Nigerian leadership and the Nigerian people share morsels of garbage from the entrée of irresponsibility. The irresponsibility of the Nigerian people is visible in the corruption of the most unlikely person of the rabble, plebian malfeasance, celebrated ignorance, denuded scruples, unabashed disrespect for simple rules and regulations, veiled peccadilloes, and the culture of low expectation according to Okey Ndibe. In fact, to be ignorant of fundamental rights; to stand and defend those rights, and to have high expectations of the government smack of gross irresponsibility on the part of the Nigerian people. On the other hand, irresponsibility of the Nigerian leadership needs no adumbration. It is evident in the insalubrious and gangrenous state of the nation. The Nigerian leadership here implies all the governments that have failed to give Nigeria the elixir of even marginal development.

Having drawn the Nigerian leadership and people irresponsibility quadrant, it is germane to etch in the minds of Nigerians the need for the evolution of a new thinking; a thinking that the Nigerian leadership mirrors them. They are as good as the leadership and they are as bad as the leadership. Therefore corrective, surgical operations must be performed on the national body to remove the decayed arm of irresponsibility; that is by taking responsibility for their individual and collective predicaments and finding solutions to them.

Finally, Nigerians are fighting multidimensional battles which coalesce into a single armageddon-like war; they need to join hands to form a giant fist to deal it a coup-de-grace. In all,  the country's quandary proves emphatically that irresponsible people beget irresponsible leadership.

Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and poet. Email:fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com 08167992075

GlobalReportersVienna

Oprah Winfrey Shuns Obama, Refuses White House Invitation

Oprah Winfrey has been notably distancing herself from President Obama and First Lady Michelle and apparently her latest slight came against Obamacare.

The media icon was asked to attend a meeting at the White House along with other celebrities to see how they could help create some positive publicity for the Affordable Care Act.
Rather than jumping on board like Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson, Oprah reportedly quickly said that she would not be attending the meeting.
‘All of Oprah’s top people thought she would go, because when the president invites you to the White House, most people automatically say yes, but Oprah said she didn’t have the time or inclination to go. It wasn’t like she had to think it over. It was an immediate, flat-out, unequivocal no,’ an Oprah advisor told journalist Ed Klein.
According to Klein, the slight is just the talk show host’s latest way of getting back at the Obama administration for failing to live up to the alleged promises that they agreed to when Winfrey campaigned for Obama in 2008.
The talk show host used her sizable clout to help get the then-one-term Senator elected, and she thought that in return, she would be able to have special access to the administration.

There were big plans, and a team was put together to come up with proposals that would have been mutually beneficial. But none of that ever happened.
Oprah sent notes and a rep to talk to Valerie Jarrett, but nothing came of it. It slowly dawned on Oprah that the Obamas had absolutely no intention of keeping their word and bringing her into their confidence.
This is a burnt bridge that will not be fixed anytime soon, Klein argues, which could come at more of a cost to the TV host than the President.
‘Obama hasn’t budged, and neither has Oprah. She’s hurt and angry, and I seriously doubt that Oprah will ever make up with the Obamas. She knows how to hold a grudge,’ a source close to Winfrey said.

InformationNigeria

GENERAL GOWON ON THE PEOPLES GENERAL BUHARI:

When he was chairman at General Buhari’s book launch a few years ago at the Trade Fair Complex in Kaduna, he asked Buhari whether he still remembered that day in July 1966 when the then Major Murtala Muhammed marched him (Buhari, then a lieutenant) to him, saying if he (Gowon) needed a trustworthy and competent ADC, he (Buhari) was his best bet. That was the day Gowon took over as head of state. Gowon then told Buhari it was only God that knew then that all three of them (Murtala, Buhari and himself) would be heads of state. Gowon was not bitter that both Murtala and Buhari were among those who removed him from power in 1975. That is the kind of human being that Gowon is. When Murtala marched Buhari to him to be his ADC, Gowon took a careful look at Buhari and said, “If I make this one ADC, people will not know who is the head of state.” Buhari was far taller than him and, for that, he found him unsuitable as his ADC. He appointed someone else and posted Buhari to Makurdi for an assignment far beyond Buhari’s rank, since he had been well recommended by Murtala. It was a difficult assignment but Buhari performed well, paving the way for his own rapid rise in the army. He also did not forget to thank General Buhari for the extraordinary kindness he showed him when he (Buhari) was head of state and he (Gowon) was still in London.

But no one should take Gowon’s seeming meekness for weakness. General Obasanjo would be the first to tell you that. At the beginning of Obasanjo’s presidency (1999-2007), when fuel scarcity had started embarrassing the country, Gowon led former heads of state to the presidential villa and told President Obasanjo that Buhari had an idea of how the fuel scarcity problem would be solved. Buhari was Obasanjo’s petroleum minister when he was military head of state and, throughout that period, there was never fuel scarcity. But Obasanjo would not let Buhari explain. He kept interrupting him at every turn. At a point, Gowon shouted at Obasanjo and asked him to shut up and listen to what Buhari had to say. Obasanjo kept quiet immediately and Buhari continued with his narrative. Of course, Obasanjo did not implement any of the suggestions as he was really not interested in solving the problem.

KNOW GEN. MOHAMMADU BUHARI (PART 4) EVENTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS AS HEAD OF STATE

- Buhari made it very clear he would not be doing any business with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and had no need of their bogey loans which are in reality, booby traps (IBB would later gladly take them). Buhari instead, advocated for barter and direct countertrade with Brazil and other nations of the Third World. He was more interested in bartering oil for technology, spare parts and raw materials. Naturally, that pitched him against the West even if that meant good news for the economy of the world’s most populous black nation. However, this move was severely criticized by people like General Olusegun Obasanjo and Major-General James Oluleye.

- Corrupt civilian governors and ministers under the Shagari government were all rounded up by Buhari and jailed. IBB would later release them in droves. President Shagari himself and his vice, Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme were slammed with corruption charges.

-Expulsion of foreigners: About 700,000 foreigners, especially from Ghana and other West African nations were expelled from Nigeria following an announcement on the 15th of April 1985. The Internal Affairs Minister dropped the bombshell and illegal immigrants had to scurry to meet the deadline of 10th May. The exodus was massive but it was not the first time it would occur.

-Death sentence for drug mules: The Buhari regime is also notorious for sentencing to death those convicted of drug trafficking with Decree 20. However, nothing caused more uproar than the retroactive application of the laws even though this has been disputed. Bartholomew Owoh, Bernard Ogedengbe and Lawal Ojulope were made to face the firing squad. Some argue that Owoh was the only one arrested BEFORE the promulgation of the decree. In April 1985, six Nigerians were convicted by a Special Military Tribunal headed by Justice Adebayo Adesalu and condemned to death for drug trafficking: Mrs. Sidikatu Tairi, Miss Sola Oguntayo, Oladele Omosebi, Lasunkanmi Awolola, Jimi Adebayo and Gladys Iyamah.

I remember clearly one of the women fainting upon hearing the death sentence and prison officials had to come to her rescue. Gladys Iyamah, locked up at the Federal Maximum Security Prisons in Kirikiri, Lagos, was a crippled mother of two and was the first woman in the history of Nigeria to be sentenced to death. The Federal Military Government knew the implication of executing a paralysed mother of two and the sentence was secretly approved. But thankfully, it was never carried out.

-War Against Indiscipline (WAI): On the 20th of March 1984, the Buhari/Idiagbon regime launched this programme that many Nigerians will remember biting their fingers and desperately preventing a tear from dropping ….lmao! Not a few will forget the koboko (horse whip) lashes that lacerated their backs when they became unruly at bus-stops or littered the environment. And if you fail to do the environmental sanitation activities at that time, you don enter one chance be dat. Just pray that a miracle will occur and Idiagbon’s WAI Brigades (set up in each state under the Ministry of Information and Culture) do not catch you.

The essence of WAI was to instill discipline and order in a society that has now all but broken down as far as morality and etiquette were concerned. Today, indiscipline and entropy reign in the Nigerian society. Even while outside the country, quite a lot of Nigerians are thoroughly indisciplined, shouting at airports, making noise inside the aircraft (or refusing to switch off phones or use seat belts), fighting over things that will leave you smh..ing, not obeying simple instructions in their host countries and all sorts of abanilojuje behaviour.

Nigeria surely needs a new version of WAI, with vigorous implementation from the Presidency downwards because the level of entropy today is alarming. Soldiers beat up policemen, civilians are regularly harassed by uniformed men to the point that many ‘bloody civilians’ think it is a normal thing…and so on, and so on. WAI was first launched in Kano by the late Major General Tunde Idiagbon.

Then came Buhari and his anti-corruption goons, and they were bent on getting their hands on people like Dikko, who was accused of stealing $1 billion before negotiating with his legs. Thus, he was drugged, put into a crate and labelled as ‘Diplomatic Baggage’. An empty Nigerian Airways Boeing 707 plane was already waiting at the Stansted Airport waiting for him to be ‘extradited’ back to Nigeria (I laugh so hard each time I remember this story, sounds like a comedy-filled drama). Just at the last moment, one of the eagle-eyed British officers at the airport noticed some unusual activity and demanded a thorough search. The Nigerian team of ‘kidnappers’ had rented an apartment and actually posed as refugees seeking asylum from Buhari’s regime while the Israeli guys disguised as anti-apartheid activists and tourists from Africa…lol!

Later on, the team combed all the high-brow areas of London, sifted through the registries but saw no trace of Dikko until one day when one of the Israelis sighted him while driving. He parked and trailed Dikko to his home. The Director of MOSSAD, Nahum Admoni was immediately contacted and an Israeli consultant anaesthetist was hired to administer anaesthetic agents to Dikko and fit in an endotracheal tube to prevent him from choking to death in his own saliva.

The next day, Dikko was abducted right in front of his home and put in a van driven by Yusufu. And off to the airport, where he was passed off as ‘diplomatic luggage’ from the Nigerian embassy. Dikko said in an interview with the BBC in 1985: “I remember the very violent way in which I was grabbed and hurled into a van, with a huge fellow sitting on my head – and the way in which they immediately put on me handcuffs and chains on my legs.”

Unfortunately for them, Dikko’s secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, had witnessed the abduction and she alerted the authorities thinking it was an act by criminals, even the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was informed. And again, they failed to actually label the crate as diplomatic baggage and as the airport officials were clearing the ‘cargo’, a list arrived alerting them of a kidnap. That was how the plan was foiled. The crate was opened just minutes before the plane was to take off and inside it was Dikko, without shoes, socks or shirt but with a heart monitor placed on his chest and handcuffs on his ankles, lying on his back and the Israeli doctor, who was inside with his kit of anaesthetics to ensure that the poor dude does not die in flight. The cargo manager, narrated that the cargo was not labelled and did not have the proper documentation and they had to opened and do the accreditation in the presence of a Nigerian diplomat, who was already present, he said to the BBC:

…the cargo manager, hit the lid on the bottom and lifted it. And as he lifted it, the Nigerian diplomat, who was standing next to me, took off like a startled rabbit across the tarmac,” Mr Morrow said.
“You have to remember we are on an airfield which is square miles of nothing. He ran about five yards (4.5m), realised no-one was chasing him and then stopped.
“Peter looked into the crate and said: ‘There’s bodies inside!’
Even after that, the kidnappers insisted that Dikko was the biggest crook in the world…lol!
If not, Dikko would have opened his eyes only to meet himself under the bright shiny sun of Ikeja and he go do him like dream……e for sweet die….lolololol! He was later taken to a clinic and he sustained no injuries and later lived in Britain for more than 10 years before returning to Nigeria. In an interview in November 2012 with the BBC, Dikko said he has not forgiven his kidnappers:

”Those that orchestrated my kidnapping are still alive; it was just wickedness and blatant lies against me. They are still alive and why would I forgive them? Why would I forgive such inhuman and barbaric act against human being, without them asking for forgiveness? This is the lies we face in Nigeria and the truth is clear, I haven’t forgiven them, it is just propaganda that they used through the media. Have they repented? Before you forgive a person, he must repent and say it is a mistake or intentional, but have they repented? This is my stand, if some agreed that they made a mistake then you forgive them; but they have not and I haven’t forgiven them. What have they found after all these plots?

Diplomatic relations between Britain was broken off for two years and even when a formal application was made to the British government by Buhari’s junta, it was turned down. Omo, e no funny o…lol! The drama did not end there. The Nigerian Airways crew was detained (Buhari also responded by ordering a British Caledonian plane that was already in the air flying from Lagos to London via Kano be returned back to Lagos where it was also detained by the Nigerian authorities. Immediately the United Kingdom released the Nigerian Airways crew, Buhari also freed the British plane to fly to London…lol) and total of 17 men were arrested and four of them were later sentenced to 10-14 years, these included the anaesthestist, two MOSSAD agents who hid in the second crate and Yusufu. All of them were released after spending 6-8.5 years in jail and were silently deported. Nigeria retaliated too buy promptly picking up two British engineers (for stealing aircraft….rotflmao!!!) in Nigeria and slamming 14-year prison sentences on them. Do me I do you, man no go vex…lol!

Interestingly, both the Nigerian and Israeli governments denied any responsibility in the saga. However, Nigerians were overwhelmingly in support of Buhari at this time and even called for diplomatic relationship with Britain severed. Even the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) commended Buhari for the way he handled the affair.

NB: I must state that this operation was covert and was carried out despite the fact that both countries were yet to normalize diplomatic relations. Israel was still getting a huge chunk of her oil from Nigeria while Israel was a major supplier of arms to Nigeria. Both nations still had underground relations. Even till today, Israeli forces are involved in providing security for the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

-His regime also managed to reduce inflation, rejected all IMF’s conditionalities, such as the devaluing the naira, sharply reduced unnecessary imports, minimized oil bunkering and when bunkered oil was seized, he used it to get relevant commodities, equipment and machinery using the counter trade policy. The latter measure ensured that Nigeria was exporting even above the OPEC quota. Today, what happens? An entire tanker full of bunkered oil disappears right under the nose of the Nigerian Navy…lol!

-There was also a sudden creation of new notes to halt currency smuggling and there was considerable refinancing of trade debt arrears.

KNOW GEN. MOHAMMADU BUHARI (PART 5). LOVE, ROMANCE AND MARRIAGE

General Buhari’s first wife was the late Hajiya Safinatu (nee Yusuf) Buhari. He courted her when she was fourteen and married her at the age of eighteen. A very shy and conservative Muslim woman, she was not too visible on the social radar. They married in 1971 and the marriage was blessed with four children, all girls (Zulaiha Magajiya (the first daughter, and she was named after Buhari’s mother) Fatima, Hadizatu Nana, and Safinatu Lami). Buhari was so focused on salvaging Nigeria that he preferred to remain single throughout the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) and it was not until the war ended that he got married to his sweetheart, Safinatu. Although he was so passionate about his job that he was said to have being ‘married to the Army’, he always called his wife on the phone on a regular basis. As the First Lady of Nigeria, Hajiya Safinatu was not in the spotlight. Actually, she avoided the limelight for religious and cultural reasons, and coupled with the fact that her husband led a life free of ostentation, Nigerians do not know much about her.

After Buhari was released from jail, he divorced Safinatu for reportedly receiving financial assistance from IBB while he was in prison. Later in December 1989, he got married to Hajiya Aisha Halilu, a Fulani lady from Adamawa State. Hajiya Safinatu later died in February 2006 from the complications of diabetes. The Hajiya Safinatu Buhari Foundation (HSB) was created by her late daughter, Zulaiha, in her honour. The foundation caters for destitutes suffering from diabetes (now, that’s a noble idea).

Now you know!

KNOW GEN. MOHAMMADU BUHARI (PART 6). PERSONAL STYLE AND FUN THINGS ABOUT HIM

-He is said to be the only Nigerian leader who did not touch the prices of petroleum products from Gowon’s regime.

-Buhari can be strong-headed atimes. At a time, he actually went against the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Aliyu Usman Shehu Shagari. It was in the year 1983 and some Chadian forces invaded Nigeria via Borno State. Without wasting time, Buhari deployed the troops under his command to the border to repel the Chadians. As he was chasing them, he actually got into the Chadian territory. President Shagari had to order that the Nigerian troops be withdrawn but Buhari flatly refused the Presidential Order. His argument was that doing so would compromise Nigeria’s security and territorial integrity. It was not until the Chief of Army Staff, General Inuwa Wushishi intervened that Buhari decided to calm down and back off from the Chadians. But note that he was not the only one who felt that Shagari was unnecessarily interfering with the duties of the military and when Shagari was finally overthrown and replaced with Buhari, it did not come as a surprise to keen observers.

-Buhari was also seen as just too iron-fisted, the Nigerian version of a Saparmurat Niyazov. For example, there was the Miscellaneous Offences Decree, under this decree, cheating in examinations, stealing or vandalizing public property such as those of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) or the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) means you will be promptly arrested, made to face military tribunals and people were jailed for up to 20 years for these offences. Some felt this was too harsh a punitive measure. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was sentenced to ten years in prison in what the Amnesty International called trumped up charges.

-IBB and Abacha were very terrified of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime and had to orchestrate a coup of survival. According to the former Minister of Defence during Buhari’s era, General Domkat Bali: “Babangida and Abacha were
really very frightened under Buhari. Nobody knew the reason but
they were really hysterically jittery and desperate.” Buhari and Idiagbon were hinted about the plot to overthrow them but the underestimated the capacity of IBB and his gang. The coup to overthrow Buhari has been described as a coup of survival by IBB and his clique. IBB was implicated in a scandal and Buhari and Idiagbon had him slated for retirement and possible prosecution. IBB knew that the game was up for him unless he did something desperate to save his neck. And you know, desperate men do desperate things. IBB’s survival instinct kicked in. According to Femi Segun, who worked as a Protocol Officer and Interpreter at the State House: ”…IBB was asked to step out of the meeting which was going on because they wanted to discuss about him. For about three hours, IBB, as the then chief of army staff was just walking up and down outside without shoes and cap thinking seriously. We didn’t know what was going on but it was clear that he was asked to step out of the meeting. A few days later, he staged a palace coup.”

-However, it must be said that Buhari was not blindly punitive. When 250 politicians from all over the country were declared by investigators not have any case to answer, he ordered all of them released. These included Adamu Ciroma, the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Audu Innocent Ogbeh, Alhaji Aliyu Maitama Yusuf, Dr. Bode Olowoporoku, Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, Chief Michael Koleoso and many others.

KNOW GEN. MOHAMMADU BUHARI (PART 7).GEN. BUHARI'S OVERTHROW & JAIL

Buhari’s overthrow is one of the most dramatic in the history of Nigeria. He was eased out by the same set of officers who propped him into power (a historical parallel with Gowon). The ring leaders of the coup that toppled Buhari included the dudes you know. General Ibrahim Babangida (also known as the Phoenix, Maradona and of course, the Evil Genius) and his brother-in-mischief, the late General Sani Abacha (also known as the Khalifa or the Successor). The two had paranoid fear of Buhari and Idiagbon and the rumour mill has it (I hope one day the government will declassify certain documents so we get to know more) that both generals had been implicated in some scandals. IBB on his own, was linked to some drug trafficking and IMF-related loan plundering, and as a general in Buhari/Idiagbon’s regime, if you are found guilty of these charges, your own don set be that -summary dismissal from the army plus maybe 700 years imprisonment…lol! If you are lucky enough not to have faced the firing squad.

According to the analysis done by Naiwu Osahon, IBB and his clique had to get Buhari and his rigid boys out of the way. They had to shift back their planned day of the coup to August 1985 when news started filtering out that they IBB and co were already pencilled for retirement. They would wait for an inauspicious moment and grab Buhari by the jugular. On the 27th of August 1985, millions of Muslim faithfuls in Nigeria were celebrating the Odun Ileya (Eid el Kabir) and the stern Idiagbon was safely away in Saudi Arabia on Lesser Pilgrimage (Umrah). There was a public holiday and the national mood was festive. No one expected IBB and his boys, or anyone for that matter to stage an ouster at such a period. They were wrong. Instead of IBB to be enjoying fried agbo (mutton) with his beautiful wife and kids at home, he summoned his boys at their various formations all over the country -it was time to make history.

David Bonaventure Mark, now the third most powerful man in the nation by virtue of his office as the Senate President of the Federal Republic was the military governor of IBB’s Niger State at that time and he provided enough cover for IBB during the coup plotting. As the army chief, IBB would visit Niger State on ‘routine inspection tours’, and later, he and other generals would meet clandestinely to hatch their plot on how to remove Buhari. Osahon would also state that IBB and co planned the coup that brought IBB in so as to destroy the evidence of the NNPC’s $2.8 billion that suddenly developed wings and transformed into a peregrine falcon (and punish the whistleblowers). At a point, when Buhari hinted at stepping down and Idiagbon insisted he would take over, IBB disagreed saying the throne was his, citing experience in plotting coups amongst other things. The SMC was divided. To worsen matters, when IBB proposed that Haliru Akilu, just returning from a course from India be made the new head of the Secret Service, Idiagbon spurned his proposal and even went ahead to select a new head for the agency without consulting IBB, who was the Chief of Army Staff. The stage was set for a showdown.

Then the Gloria Okon issue came up, she was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport with cocaine, and upon being interrogated, she pointed at two top-ranking members of the SMC. Trouble was brewing. While that was on, the late Chief MKO Abiola imported a massive consignment of newsprint (a contraband) into the nation, and Idiagbon had no option but to impound the newsprint worth millions. Again, the Buhari/Idiagbon regime had just made another very powerful enemy (some reports indicate that MKO dropped millions of dollars to fund the Buhari overthrow). As if the turn of events was not bad enough, one Ikuomola was caught while attempting to fly out with a huge batch of cocaine. He was interrogated and in the process, implicated one of the Dantatas, one of Nigeria’s most influential families. Both of them were sentenced to death. Immense pressure was then put upon the SMC by the Dantatas that the sentence be commuted to at least a life sentence.

As you might have expected, the two high-ranking officials of the SMC implicated in the Gloria Okon saga sympathized with the Dantatas. But Buhari and Idiagbon would hear none of that. Idiagbon queried that if the poor could be sentenced to death for drug trafficking, why should the wealthy and affluent be spared? The enemy camp of Buhari/Idiagbon swelled by the day and it got so bad that the SMC was a point completely divided into two camps and Idiagbon had to impose a compulsory leave on IBB, who was also placed under close surveillance. But never underestimate a man with the ways of the wily fox. IBB would later remove the rug under their feet, despite all the close surveillance and wiretapping.

Later on, the King of Saudi Arabia, Fahd ibn Abdulaziz ibn Al Saud would invite Idiagbon as a Special Guest (MKO, Shehu Yar’adua and the Dantatas were said to have arranged the whole thing using their immense influence to convince King Saud to invite Idiagbon, hope you get the whole plan? IBB baited MKO with the promise of his contesting for the presidency in a little while) to the Kingdom. Idiagbon, a man of integrity, was deeply honoured by the invitation, and he would leave for the KSA with a team of his supporters in the SMC, and that included the late soldier-poet, Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa. With Idiagbon out of the country on Umrah, with his supporters, the coast was clear for the gap-toothed General IBB. It was time to strike. And they struck.

It was the evening of the 26th of August, 1985, a Monday, and the Head of State Buhari had some four interesting visitors. These were Majors Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Harvard graduate and former ADC to General Hassan Usman Katsina, former governor of the Northern Region and Chief of Army Staff), Lawan Gwadabe, Sambo Dasuki (son of the deposed Sultan of Sokoto, Ibrahim Dasuki and now the National Security Adviser to President Jonathan) and Abdulmumuni Aminu. The five of them watched the nightly news together and after that, they brought out their guns and placed General Buhari under arrest. The next day, 6am, Brigadier Joshua Dogonyaro went on air to list all the evils of the Buhari regime but he did not state that he had been overthrown. It was Abacha who would later do that -in a cold voice.
Later, the putschists would celebrate their success and later met at Bonny Camp on how they would go about selecting a new leader. The meeting was a very colourful one as all the guests arrived in their full combat attire, kitted from head to toe. You can guess those present:

- General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida
Major-General Sani Abacha
Brigadier-General Joshua Dogonyaro
Brigadier-General Aliyu Mohammed (Head of the Military Intelligence)
Navy Commodore Murtala Hamman-Yero Nyako (now Governor of Adamawa State, former Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and owner of one of the largest dairy and mango farms in Nigeria)
Lt. Col. Tanko Ayuba (Commander, Nigerian Army Signal Corps)
- Lt. Col. Ahmed Abdullahi (Communications Minister)
Lt. Col John Nanzip Shagaya (Commander, 9th Mechanized Brigade, Ikeja, Lagos, later Senator representing Plateau North Senatorial District)
Major Abubakar Umar (Administrator, Federal Housing Authority)
Lt. Col. Anthony Ukpo
NB: Other IBB ‘boys’ included Mohammed Buba Marwa, Chris Garuba, Lawan Gwadabe, Joshua Madaki, John Mark Inienger, Tunde Ogbeha and Ndong Essiet Nkanga. IBB had taught them as an instructor back in the Nigerian Defence Academy or was their superior when he was in charge of the armoured tanks.

Idiagbon, far away in the desert kingdom of Arabia was livid with rage. Against all advice (not even an offer of a lifetime retirement in a posh mansion in the oil-rich nation could convince the Kwara General to stay back), he thanked his hosts and headed back to Nigeria where he was hailed as a hero and courageous soldier. But trust the IBB clique, Idiagbon was immediately arrested at the airport and put under house arrest. Vatsa, who was part of the Idiagbon team to Saudi Arabia came back to meet his friend and old classmate as the new Head of State. Vatsa pledged his loyalty to the new government then tendered his resignation. IBB rejected his resignation and appointed Vatsa the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. You know the rest of the story.

JAIL

Immediately after IBB overthrew his chief, he knew the danger of letting him loose or walk around freely. So, without wasting time, IBB’s boys surrounded Dodan Barracks, arrested Buhari and flung him into jail (his personal property was looted), promptly locking him up the very same day he deposed him. His ADC, Jokolo, whom he had sent to the Ikeja Cantonment to act as a sentry got the beating of his life. From the 27th of August, 1985 till the 14th of December, 1988, Buhari would languish in jail in Benin City, Edo State. His marriage would not survive his 40 months of incarceration.