{"id":5871,"date":"2015-08-28T21:15:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T21:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=5871"},"modified":"2015-08-28T21:15:19","modified_gmt":"2015-08-28T21:15:19","slug":"why-buhari-was-overthrown-in-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=5871","title":{"rendered":"WHY BUHARI WAS OVERTHROWN IN 1985"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Delta<\/a>Read the coup speech from August 27, 1985
\nwhen General Muhammadu Buhari (now
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari) was
\noverthrown.
\nI, Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro, of the
\nNigerian Army, hereby make the following
\ndeclaration on behalf of my colleagues and
\nmembers of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
\nFellow country men, the intervention of the
\nmilitary at the end of 1983 was welcomed by
\nthe nation with unprecedented enthusiasm.
\nNigerians were unified in accepting the
\nintervention and looked forward hopefully to
\nprogressive changes for the better.
\nAlmost two years later, it has become clear
\nthat the fulfillment of expectations is not
\nforthcoming. Because this generation of
\nNigerians and indeed future generations have
\nno other country but Nigeria, we could not
\nstay passive and watch a small group of
\nindividuals misuse power to the detriment of
\nour national aspirations and interest.
\nNo nation can ever achieve meaningful
\nstrides in its development where there is an
\nabsence of cohesion in the hierarchy of
\ngovernment; where it has become clear that
\npositive action by the policy makers is
\nhindered because as a body it lacks a unity
\nof purpose.
\nIt is evident that the nation would be
\nendangered with the risk of continuous
\nmisdirection. We are presently confronted
\nwith that danger. In such a situation, if
\naction can be taken to arrest further
\ndamage, it should and must be taken. This
\nis precisely what we have done. The Nigerian
\npublic has been made to believe that the
\nslow pace of action of the Federal
\nGovernment headed by Major-General
\nMuhammadu Buhari was due to the enormity
\nof the problems left by the last civilian
\nadministration.
\nAlthough it is true that a lot of problems
\nwere left behind by the last civilian
\ngovernment, the real reason, however, for the
\nvery slow pace of action is due to lack of
\nunanimity of purpose among the ruling body;
\nsubsequently, the business of governance
\nhas gradually been subjected to ill-motivated
\npower play considerations. The ruling body,
\nthe Supreme Military Council, has, therefore,
\nprogressively been made redundant by the
\nactions of a select few members charged
\nwith the day-to-day implementation of the
\nSMC\u2019s policies and decision.
\nThe concept of collective leadership has been
\nsubstituted by stubborn and illadvised
\nunilateral actions, thereby destroying the
\nprinciples upon which the government came
\nto power. Any effort made to advise the
\nleadership, met with stubborn resistance and
\nwas viewed as a challenge to authority or
\ndisloyalty. Thus, the scene was being set for
\nsystematic elimination of what, was termed
\noppositions. All the energies of the rulership
\nwere directed at this imaginary opposition
\nrather than to effective leadership. The result
\nof this misdirected effort is now very evident
\nin the country as a whole. The government
\nhas started to drift. The economy does not
\nseem to be getting any better as we witness
\ndaily increased inflation. The nation\u2019s
\nmeager resources are once again being
\nwasted on unproductive ventures.
\nGovernment has distanced itself from the
\npeople and the yearnings and aspirations of
\nthe people as constantly reflected in the
\nmedia have been ignored. This is because a
\nfew people have arrogated to themselves the
\nright to make the decisions for the larger
\npart of the ruling body. All these events have
\nshown that the present composition of our
\ncountry\u2019s leadership cannot, therefore, justify
\nits continued occupation of that position.
\nFurthermore, the initial objectives and
\nprogrammes of action which were meant to
\nhave been implemented since the ascension
\nto power of the Buhari Administration in
\nJanuary 1984 have been betrayed and
\ndiscarded. The present state of uncertainty
\nand stagnation cannot be permitted to
\ndegenerate into suppression and
\nretrogression. We feel duty bound to use the
\nresources and means at our disposal to
\nrestore hope in the minds of Nigerians and
\nrenew aspirations for a better future.
\nWe are no prophets of doom for our beloved
\ncountry, Nigeria. We, therefore, count on
\neveryone\u2019s cooperation and assistance. I
\nappeal to you, fellow countrymen,
\nparticularly my colleagues in arms to refrain
\nfrom any act that will lead to unnecessary
\nviolence and bloodshed among us. Rest
\nassured that our action is in the interest of
\nthe nation and the armed forces.
\nIn order to enable a new order to be
\nintroduced, the following bodies are
\ndissolved forthwith pending further
\nannouncements: (a) The Supreme Military
\nCouncil (b) The Federal Executive Council (c)
\nThe National Council of States. All seaports
\nand airports are closed, all borders remain
\nclosed. Finally, a dusk to dawn curfew is
\nhereby imposed in Lagos and all state
\ncapitals until further notice. All military
\ncommanders will ensure effective
\nmaintenance of law and order. Further
\nannouncements will be made in due course.
\nGod bless Nigeria.
\nCulled from THE CABLE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the coup speech from August 27, 1985 when General Muhammadu Buhari (now President Muhammadu Buhari) was overthrown. I, Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro, of the Nigerian Army, hereby make the following declaration on behalf of my colleagues and members of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Fellow country men, the intervention of the military at the end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[564,565],"class_list":["post-5871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","tag-brigadier-joshua-nimyel-dogonyaro","tag-mohammadu-b"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-1wH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5872,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5871\/revisions\/5872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}