Coup Speech of Major-General Muhammadu
Buhari, January 1, 1984
In pursuance of the primary objective of saving our great nation from total collapse, I,
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari of the Nigerian army have, after due consultation
amongst the services of the armed forces, been formally invested with the authority of
the Head of the Federal Military Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed
forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is with humility and a deep sense of
responsibility that I accept this challenge and call to national duty.
As you must have heard in the previous announcement, the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (1979) has been suspended, except those sections of it which are
exempted in the constitution.The change became necessary in order to put an end to the
serious economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting our nation.
Consequently, the Nigerian armed forces have constituted themselves into a Federal
Military Government comprising of a Supreme Military Council, a National Council of
States, a Federal Executive Council at the centre and State Executive Councils to be
presided over by military governors in each of the states of the federation. Members
of these councils will be announced soon.The last Federal Military Government drew
up a programme with the aim of handing over political power to the civilians in 1979.
This programme as you all know, was implemented to the letter. The 1979 constitution
was promulgated. However, little did the military realise that the political leadership of
the second republic will circumvent most of the checks and balances in the constitution
and bring the present state of general insecurity. The premium on political power became
so exceedingly high that political contestants regarded victory at elections as a matter
of life and death struggle and were determined to capture or retain power by all means.
. . . . .
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It is true that there is a worldwide economic recession. However, in the
case of Nigeria, its impact was aggravated by mismanagement. We believe
the appropriate government agencies have good advice but the leadership
disregarded their advice. The situation could have been avoided if the
legislators were alive to their constitutional responsibilities; Instead, the
legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales, fringe
benefit and unnecessary foreign travels, et al, which took no account of the
state of the economy and the welfare of the people they represented.
As a result of our inability to cultivate financial discipline and prudent
management of the economy, we have come to depend largely on internal
and external borrowing to execute government projects with attendant
domestic pressure and soaring external debts, thus aggravating the
propensity of the outgoing civilian administration to mismanage our
financial resources. Nigeria was already condemned perpetually with the
twin problem of heavy budget deficits and weak balance of payments
position, with the prospect of building a virile and viable economy.
The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties
that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig.
There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources
available to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not
developed confidence in the presidential system of government on which the nation
invested so much material and human resources.While corruption and indiscipline have
been associated with our state of under-development, these two evils in our body politic
have attained unprecedented height in the past few years. The corrupt, inept and
insensitive leadership in the last four years has been the source of immorality and
impropriety in our society. Since what happens in any society is largely a reflection
of the leadership of that society, we deplore corruption in all its facets. This government
will not tolerate kick-backs, inflation of contracts and over-invoicing of imports etc.
Nor will it condone forgery, fraud, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and
illegal dealings in foreign exchange and smuggling.
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Arson has been used to cover up fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am referring to
the fire incidents that gutted the P&T buildings in Lagos, the Anambra State Broadcasting
Corporation, the Republic Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of Education, the
Federal Capital Development Authority Accounts at Abuja and the NET Building.
Most of these fire incidents occurred at a time when Nigerians were being apprehensive
of the frequency of fraud scandals and the government incapacity to deal with them.
Corruption has become so pervasive and intractable that a whole ministry has been
created to stem it. Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of truth. My colleagues
and I – the Supreme Military Council, must be frank enough to acknowledge the fact
that at the moment, an accurate picture of the financial position is yet to be determined.
We have no doubt that the situation is bad enough. In spite of all this, every effort will
be made to ensure that the difficult and degrading conditions under which we are living
are eliminated. Let no one however be deceived that workers who have not received their
salaries in the past eight or so months will receive such salaries within today or tomorrow
or that hospitals which have been without drugs for months will be provided with enough
immediately.We are determined that with the help of God we shall do our best to settle
genuine payments to which government is committed, including backlog of workers’
salaries after scrutiny. We are confident and we assure you that even in the face of the
global recession, and the seemingly gloomy financial future, given prudent management
of Nigeria’s existing financial resources and our determination to substantially reduce
and eventually nail down rises in budgetary deficits and weak balance of payments
position.The Federal Military Government will reappraise policies with a view to paying
greater attention to the following areas:
The economy will be given a new impetus and better sense of direction.
Corrupt officials and their agents will be brought to book.
In view of the drought that affected most parts of the country, the federal government
will, with the available resources, import food stuffs to supplement the shortfalls
suffered in the last harvest.
. . . . .
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Our foreign policy will both be dynamic and realistic. Africa will of course continue to be
the centre piece of our foreign policy. The morale and combat readiness of the armed
forces will be given high priority. Officers and men with high personal and professional
integrity will have nothing to fear.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other holders of judiciary appointments within the
federation can continue in their appointments and the judiciary shall continue to function
under existing laws subject to such exceptions as may e decreed from time to time by the
Federal Military Government. All holders of appointments in the civil service, the police
and the National Security Organisation shall continue to exercise their functions in the
normal way subject to changes that may be introduced by the Federal Military Government.
All those chairmen and members of statutory corporations, parastatals and other
executive departments are hereby relieved of their appointments with immediate effect.
The Federal Military Government will maintain and strengthen existing diplomatic
relations with other states and with international organisations and institutions such
as the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and its organs, Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth etc. The Federal
Military Government will honour and respect all treaties and obligations entered into by
the previous government and we hope that such nations and bodies will reciprocate this
gesture by respecting our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully intervened to save this nation from imminent
collapse. We therefore expect all Nigerians, including those who participated directly or
indirectly in bringing the nation to this present predicament, to cooperate with us. This
generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than
Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.
May God bless us all. Good morning.
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