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Condemns northern military extraction involved in the coup
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From John Adams, Minna
The former Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Hon Jonathan Vatsa, has said that the aborted coup against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by a group of military officers was a huge threat to national stability.
The APC chieftain, who was reacting to the alleged coup for the first time after the Defence Headquarters confirmed it, condemned the military officers, who are mostly of northern extraction.
Speaking with journalists in Minna on Wednesday, the former publicity secretary of the APC in the state pointed out that had the coup succeeded, it would have destroyed the unity of the country forever, stressing that “that would have been the end of Nigeria; it has the resemblance of the 1966 bloody coup.
“The event of 1966 would have repeated itself, which would have been disastrous for the unity of the country called Nigeria,” he added.
He maintained that Nigeria is more sophisticated, and the people are more enlightened now than in 1966, warning that any bloody coup will end the country called Nigeria.
While expressing dismay over the involvement of the military officers, mostly of northern extraction, he maintained that, whatever the sin of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration committed more sins against Nigerians.
“I strongly believe that the current situation in the country is worse than what we witnessed under eight years of Buhari. As a matter of fact, it is the garbage littered everywhere in the country by the Buhari administration that Tinubu is trying to clear.
“My question is that, where were the coup plotters when the late former President Muhammadu Buhari administration brought the country to its knees with his clueless policies?
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“Are they saying that everything was fine under the eight years of Buhari because he is from the north, but everything is now wrong under President Tinubu’s three years? I think the north should be careful,” he warned.
Vatsa, who insisted that the unity of Nigeria is sacrosanct and more important than any region’s selfish political interest, however, reminded the north that “the south does not need the north as much as the north needs the south, except we are deceiving ourselves.”
According to him, “We can see the level of poverty in the north compared to the south. Poverty is steering on our faces here in the north, with thousands of northern youths migrating to the south every day for meaner jobs just to earn a living.
“The current security situation in the north has further worsened the plight of the average Northerner; therefore, we must remind ourselves that any political instability in the country will not be good for the north.
“Our political leaders have behaved irresponsibly in the past, and the region is paying greatly for the irresponsible leadership. The current insecurity in the north has taken the region back 30 years,” he said.
He nevertheless blamed politicians in the country for what is happening today in the military, stressing that politicians have killed the military, forcing the institution to throw away professionalism, and the barracks are now heavily politicised.
“Now the same politicians want to do the same thing to the judiciary. The moneybags amongst them have hijacked the judiciary, and you hear conflicting court judgments and injunctions here and there.
“Every moneybags politician is now running to the court with dollars to get a backyard injunction. Right now, the judiciary has taken over the affairs of political parties, and political parties’ constitutions have been thrown into the dustbin.
“You see tribunals installing governors, senators, House of Representatives members, and other elected officers. Elections are no longer won at the polling units but at the election tribunals,” he submitted.
