Former military president, Ibrahim Babaginda, has said coup d’état and overthrowing of democratically elected government is no longer fashionable and acceptable in the contemporary world.
Speaking during an interview with Channels Television, he said only a stupid soldier would contemplate the idea of coup, explaining that the era of such was was long gone.
He said the idea of military forcefully taking over from a civilian government has been wiped out of the consciousness of the soldiers because such action was generally frowned on by the world.
“I can tell you no that only a stupid soldier will think of a coup d’état because this is outside their head, it is no longer in their psyche, it is no longer acceptable in Africa and in the world generally, so he is intelligent enough to know that if he stages a coup, the country will be ostracised in the world community of nations, there can be an uprising in your own country, so it’s no longer fashionable,” he said.
Babangida, who said he could not be convinced that the best for the country was secession, noted that his generation fought a civil war to keep the country as one, hence would do everything possible to make sure the country did not disintegrate.
“You cannot convince me that this country should break; I wouldn’t talk to you for a long time because I know people died trying to keep the country one, so my generation will insist this country remains one,” he said.
“There are 200 million people in this country and there are some people in my generation and the one after mine, who will always believe in this country and those generations, will move this country towards the required objective.”
The former military president said for the country to make giant stride and meaning development in every facet of human endeavour then it had to be circumspect and critical of the kind of leaders that manage its affairs.
He said “The whole thing depends on the leadership selection; one of the things I would have loved to see is if you want to pick a leader, you should be able to access his thought about the country, the unity, he will not jeopardize it, try to use everything within his powers legitimately to make sure that the country remains one,”
“Our selection of leadership is the most important thing; political, military and economic leadership. Once this is strong, and everybody in this sector believes in this country, I think we won’t have a problem.”