[size=14pt]"Buhari" Calls for 'total' Sharia in Nigeria[/size]
2001-08-27 21:32

Lagos - A former military ruler of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has called for the introduction of 'total' Islamic law across the country, reports said on Monday.

Buhari, who ruled Nigeria from a coup in December 1983 to his ouster in 1985, told a seminar in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, at the weekend that the strict Islamic law code known as the Sharia should be introduced in full across Nigeria.

"I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria," Buhari said, quoted in press reports.

"God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country," Buhari said.

Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim but southern Nigeria is mainly Christian and has led criticism of the introduction of Islamic law in a dozen northern states in the past 18 months.

Africa's most populous country has been shaken repeatedly in the past by religious unrest. In February 2000 between 2 000 and 3 000 people were killed by Christian-Muslim riots in Kaduna over the introduction of Sharia.

Call for Sharia across the country

Buhari's comments were interpreted by the southern-based papers as a call for the imposition of Sharia all across the country, even in the mainly Christian south.

"Buhari calls for Sharia in all states," was the headline of the respected newspaper The Guardian.

Buhari's comments were defended by supporters as simply a call for the full implementation of Sharia in areas where Muslims predominated.

But the comments are the second by Buhari that have courted controversy after he called earlier this year for Muslims to vote at the next presidential elections only for someone who would defend their faith.

This was criticised by the press as a call for voting along religious lines, as well as an attack on the current president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a Christian.

Buhari made the latest comments at a seminar organised by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, a newly set up body attended by northern state governments and Islamic scholars.

"It is a legal responsibility which God has given us, within the context of one Nigeria, to continue to uphold the practice of Sharia wholeheartedly , and to educate non-Muslims that they have nothing to fear," he said.

"What remains for Muslims in Nigeria is for them to redouble their efforts, educate Muslims on the need to promote the full implementation of Sharia law," he went on. - AFP

- SAPA

http://www.news24.com/xArchive/Archive/Calls-for-total-Sharia-in-Nigeria-20010827

Ngwakwe:
There are tons of other acts of political suicide he committed which include the quoted

chinwike2:
Yes buhari has nothing like TAN(the most active group right now) & whether he made that statement or not, it is too late- the damage has been done ! But wait o o o i thought the OP has retired from politics. Is ribadu aware that she's still on political section. . . rather jokes section will do

EdCure:
Buhari doesn't look like a man who changes his team. He runs his campaign group like the civil service full of monotonous staffers.

Obiagelli:

Ngwakwe, even though i have learnt to take every statement by buhari quoted in the papers with a pinch of salt, the article above is one of my reason.

This statement (if true) was made in 2001 and i believe was directed at Muslim around Nigeria. Sorry i have to go personal, for instance you are deeper life and i believe you will like your doctrine to be a standard for Nigerian Christian (you sure believe it will change a lot of things) but that doesn't mean you will force it on anyone.

Secondly sharia has been practiced in Nigeria for several years now but i have never heard where a christian has been punished under sharia law, to the best of my knowledge, sharia actually protects good relationship with other faiths.

Thirdly buhari made this statement as an ordinary Nigerian, a personal statement, he wasn't holding or contesting any position. Cut the guy some slack.

Ngwakwe:


You see, Mohammadu Buhari is a Soldier who has tested power and was trained to be straight and nowhere around being diplomatic with his speeches especially when addressing his electoral power base.

Ask yourself this question, why does Buhari command such cult-like grassroot movement in the North among the uneducated al'majiris who can only be aroused by absolute religious loyalty?

Remember, Buhari is not an Iman nor an Emir. There was this belief in him that the Northern Nigeria votes can make him the President hence he supported total Sharia without apology.

Obiagelli:

True buhari commands a lot of followership up north, but to base that on religion is unfair to his followers and the man himself. Buhari is not the only Muslim leader up north. I think his humble lifestyle is the appeal.

Obiagelli:
Full article and link

When, as my friend, Pius Adesanmi, did in a recent
essay, we raise the uncomfortable question of Buhari’s
association with and reliance on the financial largesse
of corrupt characters to conduct his political campaigns
and surmise, reasonably, that these investors would
populate and insidiously hijack a Buhari presidency to
recoup their investments from the government of a
beholden, impotent, Shagariesque president, his
supporters say this scenario is farfetched and that
their man is impervious to quid-pro-quo arrangements.
We are basically supposed to just take their word
about Buhari and hope that the man will do the right
thing. We are supposed to get on board on account of
this blind faith. They want us to simply trust Buhari to
do right by us if or when he gets into Aso Rock.

Most of us who have no direct personal stake in
Nigeria’s political game clearly see the problem with
Buhari and we will continue to say it even if his
supporters resent us for doing so or do not want to
hear it. Given the desperate need for an alternative to
the current PDP oligarchy, it would be a crime not to
scrutinize, and in doing so, better position the opposition
candidates that are emerging to challenge President
Jonathan.

So, in that spirit of refining and challenging the
opposition to be better than the status quo, here, below,
are my itemized contentions on how Buhari’s political
career, since his entry into elective politics in 2003, has
been largely mismanaged. Implicit in this analysis is
what he needs to do differently to improve his standing
with Nigerians.
.

Ngwakwe:


Shehu Shagari is also humble to the core

Do you know till now, I'm yet to see stupendous wealth acquired by Shehu Shagari as epitome of corruption labelled against his government for them to have overthrown his regime. Most Senators are making more money than whatever he must have acquired.

Buhari needs to apologise to Nigerians for being a party to our democratic setback and consequently explain his involvement in the 1983 coup that truncated democratic rule.

Let him be humble enough to offer an explanation, then we can forgive him and give him a chance.

Remember, repentance comes before forgiveness.

Iamkbstarr:


To be frank, Nobody can ever successfully convince you they will do well, when voted. The best anyone could do, is convince you to trust them, by presenting their achievement, records and capabilities. So asking people to trust someone isn't really a grave crime, afterall Mr Goodluck today was reported by some people to have "Failed their trust". It doesn't mean they were emotionally attached or they became a cult follower of him in 2011. It means they simply considered their options and choose to rather trust him.

Since the advent of democracy in 1999, I have clearly observed Nigerians both at the state and federal level. They love being on the wining side, so they always felt reluctant to oppose PDP, whose rigging techniques gave them a huge advantage. So in the end, when the nation's intellectuals are done scrutinizing the opposition (and ready to support), the election will long be over and the preceding tribunal cases will just be a distraction.

Anyone still scrutinizing, few months to election. Asking questions which have long been asked in far away 2001, is not paying attention to the elections really. My people in the PDP are long done with scrutiny and are finalizing their move........ But their wise, intellectual, professors opponents are still scrutinizing

Don't feel offended, but when Nigeria is ready for developmental turnaround, we will scrutinize long before election.

Iamkbstarr:


To be frank, Nobody can ever successfully convince you they will do well, when voted. The best anyone could do, is convince you to trust them, by presenting their achievement, records and capabilities. So asking people to trust someone isn't really a grave crime, afterall Mr Goodluck today was reported by some people to have "Failed their trust". It doesn't mean they were emotionally attached or they became a cult follower of him in 2011. It means they simply considered their options and choose to rather trust him.

Since the advent of democracy in 1999, I have clearly observed Nigerians both at the state and federal level. They love being on the wining side, so they always felt reluctant to oppose PDP, whose rigging techniques gave them a huge advantage. So in the end, when the nation's intellectuals are done scrutinizing the opposition (and ready to support), the election will long be over and the preceding tribunal cases will just be a distraction.

Anyone still scrutinizing, few months to election. Asking questions which have long been asked in far away 2001, is not paying attention to the elections really. My people in the PDP are long done with scrutiny and are finalizing their move........ But their wise, intellectual, professors opponents are still scrutinizing

Don't feel offended, but when Nigeria is ready for developmental turnaround, we will scrutinize long before election.

Q. In our last edition of Rariya newspaper, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme has denied the allegation made by Buhari’s government against that of Shagari saying it was toppled because of widespread corruption. He said it was the Southern papers which were mainly owned by top UPN stalwarts that were spreading the false rumours. Since you were in that government; what do you have to say?


What he said is true. There is widespread corruption even now, but the newspapers only focus their attention wherever they want, not necessarily where the corruption is taking place. You see newspaper looking the other way, even if they knew something wrong is happening in a particular place because of certain interests.

During Shagari’s tenure, only two or three ministers were accused. One of them fled to England after the coup, but don’t forget that while he was there, he was being fed, but the rumour then was that he had amassed lots of dollars. Another one had to sell his property to feed his family after he returned. That is proof enough that the allegations of corruption against them were not true.

After the military coup, we had soldiers who stole so much that up to now, no one has stolen as much as they did. I don’t have to mention names. Just check critically yourself, from the time of Gowon to date, between the military guys and civilians like Shagari whom we were in government together with, and whom we have been in politics with for over 60 years, who stole the most?
Shagari began politics with the Sokoto youth party, and I with Kano youth party in 1946, and Shagari began before me by one year, and he is older than me with one year.

Go and see at least three people who started politics in that era, people such as Shagari, Ali Monguno and Maitama Sule; they have held all sorts of positions, but go and meet people close to them and let them tell you how much each has in his bank account. I swear to you none of them has more than three million naira in his account, except may be one person, and even you see it there, may be someone gave it to them. They were just engaged in politics and not stealing.


Shagari and Alex Ekwueme were investigated for more than twenty months, at the end of the day, Justice Ayo Irekefe said Alex Ekwueme went into politics a rich man, and left as a poor man. They investigated Shagari extensively, but could not establish a case of stealing a dime on him before they let him be. But we saw what the person investigating him did afterwards, he is still extremely rich. If you read the history of Shagari, I have a copy, I can give you; in chapter 17, the writers used about 70 pages discussing what they did to Shagari.


Q. Let’s go back to the issue of coup, we were on it before we diverted to your stay in prison. Where were we?



In the book I was telling you about, they said Obasanjo told Umaru Shinkafi, that shortly after the election of 1979, some military officers went to him and informed him not to hand over to Shagari. Obasanjo told them that he had already told the world he was going to hand over power, and that he inherited the office, after a coup attempt that was not successful. He stated that his predecessor promised to hand over, and it means he must hand over.

Obasanjo also told them that he has initiated an election process which was successful. Shagari won, people went to court and he won there as well. ‘So on what grounds should I tell the world I would not hand over to him? Who do you even want me to hand over to? And they said, ’hand over to Buhari’!’

So even before power was handed over to Shagari, the military attempted to steal it and hand over to Buhari. So it wasn’t about bribery and corruption or not to hand over to Alex Ekwueme. I am not the first person to say this; the boys who published Shagari’s book said it first. But, I have also relayed it in my book. And I will give you a copy to go and read.

And since his assumption of power by Shagari, there were several attempts to topple him until they eventually succeeded. It was revealed in that book that the military had attempted to stage a coup even before the second election in 1983. They sought the advice of one of their senior officer who had retired, he told them he supported the idea of a coup, but if they did it before the election, Awolowo would say it was because he was billed to win the election, and the Yoruba owns the newspapers and most editors at the time were also Yoruba and so they would give it widespread publicity such that the world would reject the coup. He advised them to let the election take place first, before they do whatever they want to do.

There was also a revelation in the book that General Domkat Bali’s wife thought her husband was having an affair when she noticed that he always came home late, unlike him. When her suspicion became too much, one day he told her that he was not having an affair, but he was always coming back late because they were meeting in Buhari’s house to stage a coup. Buhari was the GOC in Jos at the time, and he told her not to tell anyone. Incidentally, Domkat Bali’s wife is related to the wife of Solomon Lar, the then Governor of Plateau State. She realised that a coup would affect her relatives’ husband, and she could not take it, because she feared he could be killed. So, she told Lar’s wife, and Lar’s wife also told her husband. It happened that Shagari was going to open the school in Kuru. Solomon told Shagari that he had something to tell him, but Shagari advised him to wait until after the event.

After the event, Solomon Lar told Shagari what he was told at the Presidential lodge in Jos, he mentioned Domkat Bali’s wife as the source of the information. Lar said he had wanted to bring up the issue at the meeting of the National Security Committee, but when he realised that he is not the Commander in Chief, he thought it best to wait, since Shagari is also coming to Jos. Shagari now informed Solomon Lar to go and tell Buhari that this is what he heard, that he was planning a coup. But Lar said I can only do that if you let me inform him that the message came from you. Shagari agreed to that. So when they met with Buhari while they were seeing off President Shagari, Solomon Lar excused Buhari aside and said he wanted to see him, and would come see him at home. But Buhari said how can you a governor come to my house? Lar insisted that he would go. So he went to Buhari’s house and informed him that it was Shagari that sent him to let him know that there was a rumour going round that they were planning a coup.

Buhari said it was not true, there was nothing like that. He asked Lar to go and assure Shagari that it was not true. After Lar left, Buhari called Umaru Shinkafi because they were friends and asked him to meet as soon as possible in Kaduna. Umaru Shinkafi informed Shagari and he was given an aircraft to take him to Kaduna. When they met, Buhari told Shinkafi that he was going to retire since the Commander in Chief does not trust him anymore. There was a time, the military authorities wanted Buhari transferred to Abeokuta but people like Umaru Dikko kicked against it because they said bringing someone like Buhari closed to the seat of power is dangerous. That was why Shagari asked that Buhari be transferred to Jos.

He was very angry with that decision because he felt, he was not trusted. So the second incident made him tell Shinkafi that he was going to retire, since no one trusted him anymore. Shinkafi, in his capacity as the Security Adviser to Shagari, informed Buhari that he knew the president trusted Buhari, so he should not think of retiring. He went back and informed Shagari that Buhari said he should not worry; there was no cause for alarm.

That was what prompted Buhari’s group; they realised that the issue had begun to leak, so they had to strike early. But even before this incident, they had also planned to topple the government on the day Shagari was sworn-in for his second term. In fact Umaru Shinkafi even though did not come out to tell the president that he suspects something was wrong, advised the president to wear a bullet proof vest on his way to the inauguration. Shagari asked him why? I will not wear it. It got to a point Umaru Shinkafi was even shedding tears before Shagari agreed to wear it. In the book, they quoted Babangida as saying they were aware of all this, but Shagari’s people did not know that plans had changed.

Before then, all plans had been perfected and a plane had even been dispatched to Jos to fetch Buhari with instruction to wear his full military regalia, and text of his national speech was already given to him for his inputs before 1st October, 1983. Why they changed their minds, no one knows.This means that they had planned the coup even before the one Solomon Lar got wind of and informed Shagari.


(The interview was granted in Hausa to Rariya newspaper and PREMIUM TIMES has the former’s permission to publish in English).

swtdrms:

Whr re u from? I thnk u make lots of senses...all these scrutinizing hv bn made long before now and coming back to rescrutinize means we are not ready for the election yet, the must important things we all need in a leader are the basics wch we all agree buhari has the qualities wch are discipline, credibility, experience and anti corruption stance...with that we are good to go, and every other qualities will be hoped for in the next person who'l take over power from him, abi do stil want hold onto Mr GEJ longer than 2015?

Ngwakwe:
I know Mohammadu Buhari knew about the coup by extension he was an accomplice and no amount of denial will excuse him

Let him apologise

Please, Obiagelli stop repeating this lie that he was invited by the planners to become head of state after the coup.


Well, in this abridged interview, Tanko Yakassai insists that Buhari was fully aware of the plot and that some of the meetings of the coup plotters, were, in fact, held in his then residence in Jos.



SOURCE; http://premiumtimesng.com/news/150148-exclusive-why-dying-yaradua-was-sneaked-into-nigeria-without-jonathans-knowledge-tanko-yakasai.html

idumuose:
Obiagelli, since you have decided to be the spokesperson for Buhari instead of
Rotimi Fashakin,what have you got to say about the abridged interview posted here by Ngwakwe
that Buhari was aware of the coup that toppled Shagari?

Ngwakwe:
There are tons of other acts of political suicide he committed among them are contained in the quote below

nigerianvenom:


pls tell them for me.they think they can decieve us,but no where will that happen.

idumuose:
Obiagelli, we all know Abacha was very corrupt,was he not? And we know Buhari
served in Abacha's government as PTF chairman.

Why did Buhari say Abacha was not corrupt?
Here is the link to Buhari's declaration that Abacha wasn't corrupt;

‎​http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/10/buhari-heck-no/

I will expose those kings who collected Abacha's money - Oba Rilwan Akiolu

Obiagelli:
Yes, there are many instances. You might want to
verify this from Gen. Buhari, he was not the initiator of
that coup that brought him in as Head of State, it was
Gen. Ibrahim Bako and Babangida that initiated it. But
because they wanted a credible figure as a face, he
was brought in. He did not know the genesis of that
coup. He was not quite aware of the original idea
behind the coup and that was why when he decided to
make a change, he was forced to step aside. So, if
this could happen to a whole Gen. Buhari, who was
supposedly the leader of a coup, it shows how many
soldiers can be brought in that way.


Does that mean overthrowing Shagari’s government was
IBB’s idea?

It was the idea of late Gen. Bako and IBB. Buhari
was only brought in because they needed a face with
integrity.

IBB, not Buhari, overthrew Shagari’s govt — Col.
Nyiam
www.punchng.com/feature/interview/ibb-not-buhari-overthrew-shagaris-govt-col-nyiam/


@ Ngwakwe idumuose