Former governor blasts Buhari, says his 1983 coup was meant to derail Igbo presidency ~ Zeniths Blog

Former governor blasts Buhari, says his 1983 coup was meant to derail Igbo presidency

– Elder statesman, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has provided some fresh insights into the 1983 military coup d’etat

– The coup was led by Nigeria’s current president, Muhammadu Buhari, then a military president

– The then military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari

Former governor of old Anambra state, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has provided some fresh insights into the 1983 military coup d’etat.

Buhari’s 1983 coup was to derail Igbo presidency – Ezeife

In an interview with The Authority, Ezeife claimed that the 1983 was meant to short-change the Igbo people and keep them out of the presidency.

He alleged that the ploy which has continued till this present political dispensation.

READ ALSO: Igbos are a gift to Nigeria – Chukwuemeka Ezeife

Former Vice President Alex Ekwueme was Shagari’s deputy and was poised to replace his boss after his tenure.

Ezeife said: “The then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had already resolved that Dr Alex Ekwueme, who was the Vice President, would be given automatic presidential ticket, an arrangement which didn’t go down well with the political elite in the North, prompting the Northern military officers to stage a coup against the Shehu Shagari administration which was already doing a second term in office.”

The former governor went on to say the 1999 intervention by General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), which installed Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, was also a northern script to prevent Ekwueme from succeeding Obasanjo’s predecessor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd).

His words: “The Buhari coup was meant to prevent the handover of power to Ekwueme. Then, this time again, the party we formed – we are the G-34 who formed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The party gave Ekwueme

the candidacy unopposed, unchallenged”.

“Ekwueme, in consideration of fairness of the Ndigbo, said no; let’s go for a proper primary. Weeks to that proper primary, my friend and big helper, Babangida, thought of how to get back to power.

“He went and made a deal with Obasanjo that he wants to step aside and after four years of Obasanjo he returns. That was how what was for Ekwueme was given to Obasanjo. So, that was what happened to us”.

Ezeife noted the 1914 North-South amalgamation by the British was to use Southern resources to cover the deficit in the North but observed that even today, the resource gap was even wider, a scenario that makes the North more desperate for resources than the South.

“What was the immediate cause of amalgamation? It was to use the surplus resources of the South to cover the deficit of the North. What did the amalgamation do? It took Igbo resources, Igbo ability to develop the whole.

“That’s what amalgamation achieved. The resource gap today is wider than what it was in 1914, with the North more desperate for resources than the South,” he said.

READ ALSO: Ezeife says Buhari is a blessing in disguise