A recently declassified CIA file
of 1984, obtained by Naij.com. has revealed that the then military
president - Major-General Buhari was slow in setting up his cabinet, due
to corruption that was eating deep into the Nigeria military ranks.
According
to the CIA document, some officers of the consulate spoke to officers
who complained about slowness in getting the new administration going,
rooting out corruption and controlling prices.
The files further noted that there was a great chance that Buhari's indecision may lead to coup.
How Buhari came into power
Buhari
was selected to lead the country by middle and high-ranking military
officers after a successful military coup d'etat that overthrew civilian
President Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983.
At
the time, Buhari was head of the Third Armored Division of Jos. Buhari
was appointed Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,
and Tunde Idiagbon was appointed Chief of General Staff (the de facto
No. 2 in the administration).
Buhari justified the military's seizure of power by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt.
Hence he stressed that he emerged as part of the military's bid to save Nigeria from total collapse.
Changes within the Buhari-led government
When
he came into power, the military government did away with the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979), suspending it,
except those sections of it which were exempted in the constitution.
According
to Buhari, the change became necessary in order to put an end to the
serious economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting
the nation.
Consequently, the
Nigerian armed forces 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.
Corruption and the emergence of council members
The
Federal Military Government before Buhari's, drew up a programme with
the aim of handing over political power to the civilians in 1979. The
programme 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
a 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.
As
of the time, Buhari opined that there was a worldwide economic
recession. However, in the case of Nigeria, he said the impact was
aggravated by mismanagement. He however believed that the appropriate
government agencies had good advice but the leadership disregarded their
advice.
The situation he noted 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.
Buhari
further stressed that as a result of the government's inability to
cultivate financial discipline and prudent management of the economy,
the nation came 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.
Buhari
noted in his take-over speech that while corruption and indiscipline
had been associated with the nation's 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."
According to
Buhari, as of the time, arson was used to cover up fraudulent acts in
public institutions. 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, were all pre-planned.
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 became so pervasive and intractable that a whole
ministry had to been created to stem it.
The
Federal Military Government (FMG) under Buhari's leadership was
prepared to reappraise policies with a view to paying greater attention
to the economy, as to give it a new impetus and better sense of
direction.
FMG of 1984 was also prepared to ensure that corrupt officials and their agents were brought to book.
In
view of this position, nineteen military governors were formally
appointed by the new Head of State, Major-General Mohammed Buhari, and
other members of the country's Supreme Military Council (SMC) in Lagos
on January 4 to run Nigeria's federal states.
General
Buhari attended the official swearing-in ceremony, which came four days
after he led a bloodless coup ousting former President Shehu Shagari.
Speaking
at the ceremony, Buhari reminded his new governors of their duties.All
were chosen, he said, for their ability to discharge their
responsibilities in the best interests of the country.
He went on to warn them that crime and corruption for personal gain, one reason for the coup, would be ruthlessly punished.
General Buhari added the corruption and hoarding in the private sector would not be tolerated.
He
ended his speech by telling the assembled governors they were
answerable to the country's military chiefs of staff and subject to
redeployment at any time.
All former state governors have been given a week to report to police.
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