Last Friday, blood flowed in Turkey when a section of the country’s Army attempted to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The foiling of the coup was a combination of the people’s power and military might, as civilians as well as soldiers loyal to the president resisted the forceful take over of government. Close to 300 people were killed, as supporters and anti-Erdogan forces squared up in what could pass for rise of the “people’s army.”
From the look of things, the end of bloodletting may not be over. With the charging of about 99 Generals and Admirals to court over the failed coup and the body language of the president, the country will likely see more killings in the coming days. If the accused are found guilty, which is most likely, there is no indication that Erdogan, known for his repressive tendencies, will spare them.
Indeed, in the last one week, much has happened in Turkey after the failed coup. Military Generals and Admirals are standing trial. About 1, 577 university teachers and administrators have been asked to resign.  No fewer than 21, 000 teachers and 15, 000 education ministry officials were asked to quit. A total of 626 institutions, the majority of them privately owned, have been shut. People in the top echelon of the country’s highest administrative court have been detained. And Fethullah Gulen, the United States-based Islamic cleric, has been accused of masterminding the coup, with a request to the United States government to extradite him. With these, it is obvious that Turkey will remain in the news for a long time and for bad reasons.
Many nations, including Nigeria, have condemned the attempt by the Army to take over government in Turkey. President Muhammadu Buhari, no doubt basking in the euphoria of the failed forceful takeover, had said that what happened in Turkey was an indication that coups were no longer popular. And the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) boasted that if federal lawmakers, for instance, tried the rumoured impeachment plot against President Buhari, Nigerians would rise, just as the Turks did in resistance of the coup, to frustrate and foil the move. These are good wishes and thinking in Nigeria. However, it is pertinent not to lose sight of what could have prompted the Army in Turkey to attempt a takeover of government. This, to me, is the lesson to be learnt from the Turkish experience.
In the last couple of years, President Erdogan had taken actions that alienated him from many people, especially the elite in Turkey. He came to power as Prime Minister and after the constitutionally approved third term, he, in 2014, changed his AKP party’s rule and transformed to an executive president, with full powers, as against the former ceremonial role the president played in government. He had come to power, having aligned with the Hizmet movement, a worldwide body, with members from all religions and founded by Gulen, the same man, who has become a villain in his eyes today.  Claiming to love the ideals of Hizmet movement, which has hundreds of secular co-ed schools (secondary and university), hospitals and relief agencies, across the world, including Nigeria, established to help humanity, the Turkish president rode on the popularity of the body to be elected Prime Minister at first. Soon after emerging Prime Minister, he shifted from what he pretended to be. He had tampered with the constitution and changed the rule that brought him to power. He influenced a referendum, which approved the emasculation of the military and the judiciary. He became autocratic and started hounding political rivals, including former political friends. He deviated from the initial plan of making Turkey join the European Union (EU) and started aligning more with the Middle East. His relationship with Israel, which was initially robust, nose-dived, as he started hobnobbing with the fundamentalists of Middle East.
President Erdogan took measures to silence the vocal press by intimidating newspaper and television owners to sell their shares and, therefore, taking over the publishing houses, where he appointed his preferred editors and chief executives to sing his praises instead of the earlier objective criticisms. He jailed journalists and closed down newspapers he could not take over by proxy. He censored the Internet and started interfering with academic institutions. He even made a law, which empowered the government to arrest people on “reasonable suspicion,” leading to the arrest and detention of political rivals while the smart ones flee to exile. Gulen, himself, went into self-exile in United States where he has been since 1990s. This was the profile of Erdogan’s Turkey before the failed coup of last week.
From the foregoing, the failed coup in Turkey was a rebellion against an abuse of power, against a man, who has made himself the centre of government, who is the law in his country, who is intolerant of opposition and whose draconian tendencies have made him one of the most vicious “elected” presidents in the world. This explains why there are insinuations that the failed coup could even be one of President Erdogan’s gimmicks to deal with the opposition and establish himself, as the untouchable. Indeed, under Erdogan’s rule, Turkey is divided along sectarian lines than ever before, with the Kurds at the receiving end.
Coming home in Nigeria, I hope that those in power today will learn a lesson from Turkey. While no Nigerians will wish that there is a military coup in the country or that President Buhari is removed from office by the National Assembly, the question is: Are we doing things that would ensure this never happens other than wishing they don’t? As the APC boasted, will Nigerians troop to the street to resist the impeachment of President Buhari if it happens today? Or would they rejoice, like they did in 1998 when the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died?
Today, Nigeria is divided more than ever, along ethnic and religious lines. There is insurgency in the North East, with the activities of Boko Haram, which are being tackled head on. There are attacks on oil pipelines in the South South, as the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups bare their fangs. There is self-determination agitation in the South East, with the pro-Biafra groups, saying they would prefer the Igbo to be in a different nation.  There are allegations that the government in power is bullying the opposition, as vocal voices are either facing corruption charges/investigation or placed under watch. There is the allegation that government appointment is skewed in favour of a section of the country, with majority of the key appointments, going to the northern part of the country. The Senate is alleging attempt  by the Executive to cow it, with the Senate President and his deputy, standing trial. The judiciary is being accused by the Executive of slowing down the war against corruption. The economy is in dire strait, with businesses, finding it difficult to cope. And inflation has hit the roof.  These are some of the things that Erdogan caused in Turkey.
For me, therefore, the issue is not that impeachment cannot happen in Nigeria, but how to avert it by doing what is seen to be right and consciously doing things that would better the lot of the majority. The way things are, I bet that if today the National Assembly begins and completes the process of President Buhari’s impeachment, the reverse of what happened in Turkey will manifest here. I am persuaded that rather than the majority of Nigerians, not hired crowd, genuinely marching in the street against it, there will be dancing, in celebration of what many would consider as end of a reign of hardship.

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