Abuja: Bola Tinubu, an influential leader of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, denounced suggestions that soldiers and politicians may be plotting a coup, saying democracy in Africa’s most populous nation is too mature to be overthrown.
Army Chief of Staff Tukur Buratai said last week he’d received information that “individuals have been approaching some officers and soldiers” to discuss a plot and warned that they should desist.
“We had a warning that some people were trying to entice the military out of the barracks,” Tinubu said in a statement Monday. “I say don’t try it.”
The rumours of a plot surfaced as President Muhammadu Buhari, a 74-year-old former military ruler, is currently in London receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment. Nigeria has had six successful coups and several failed putsches since gaining independence from the UK in 1960. Democracy returned in 1999, when former general Olusegun Obasanjo was elected president. Buhari’s victory in 2015 marked the first time that the opposition had ousted a ruling party by a vote in the oil-rich nation.
With Nigeria roughly split between a mostly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south, there’s been an unwritten agreement among the political elite to rotate the presidency. The prospect of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, a 60-year-old Christian, serving out the remaining two years of Buhari’s term should he not be able to continue in office may stoke sectarian tension.
A group of political leaders known as the Northern Elders’ Forum said in a May 17 statement that Osinbajo may complete Buhari’s term if he’s unable to continue, but must not run for the next elections in 2019.
