The chief of defence staff said the military has “learned our lessons” that “coups will do us more harm than good.”
The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, has issued a stern warning to politicians attempting to lure military officials to stage a coup against the Muhammadu Buhari regime.
Mr Irabor gave the warning while speaking at a virtual media chat titled “Open Ears Dialogue” on Friday.
“The leadership of the armed forces is also telling politicians to leave us alone, do not mix us up with issues that have to do with politics and do not use political inclinations and persuasions to want to lure anybody from the armed forces into the idea of having to undertake coups and all,” warned Mr Irabor.
According to him, the leadership of the armed forces are of the opinion that a coup would do “more harm than good” in the present regime, hence it was not an option to be contemplated even by the younger military operatives.
“The armed forces of Nigeria have nothing whatsoever to do with anything that has to do with coup. We have learned our lessons over the years and we have come to our conclusion that coups will do us more harm than good,” he said.
He stated categorically that “this is what the leadership of the armed forces is passing down the chain, and educating everyone under our command that there is no reason whatsoever for anyone to contemplate that.”
Reiterating his standpoint on the subject of coup in Nigeria, Mr Irabor emphasized “We will not. That’s the reason why perhaps the discussions you may have been having in the media, we have been insulated from such discussions because they already know our viewpoint in this regard.”
Mr Irabor’s statement comes in the wake of successful coups staged against democratic governments in other African countries.
In January, the military ousted Burkina Faso’s democratically elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, out of office over bad governance.
In the same vein, Bah N’daw, Mali’s President in 2021 was overthrown by a coup to the hearty cheers of citizens who were dissatisfied with the president’s incompetence.
Meanwhile, 83-year-old President Alpha Condé of Guinea was also deposed by a 41-year-old colonel over reports of corruption and mismanagement of the country’s resources.
The successful coups in other African countries may have led some politicians to mount pressure on Nigeria’s military to toe the same path.
