In pursuance of the primary objective of saving our great nation
from total collapse, I, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari of the
Nigerian army have, after due consultation amongst the services
of the armed forces, been formally invested with the authority of
the Head of the Federal Military Government and the
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria. It is with humility and a deep sense of responsibility
that I accept this challenge and call to national duty.
As you must have heard in the previous announcement, the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979) has been
suspended, except those sections of it which are exempted in the
constitution. The change became necessary in order to put an
end to the serious economic predicament and the crisis of
confidence now afflicting our nation. Consequently, the Nigerian
armed forces have constituted themselves into a Federal Military
Government comprising of a Supreme Military Council, a National
Council of States, a Federal Executive Council at the centre and
State Executive Councils to be presided over by military
governors in each of the states of the federation. Members of
these councils will be announced soon. The last Federal Military
Government drew up a programme with the aim of handing over
political power to the civilians in 1979. This programme as you all
know, was implemented to the letter. The 1979 constitution was
promulgated.
However, little did the military realise that the political leadership
of the second republic will circumvent most of the checks and
balances in the constitution and bring the present state of
general insecurity. The premium on political power became so
exceedingly high that political contestants regarded victory at
elections as a matter of life and death struggle and were
determined to capture or retain power by all means. It is true
that there is a worldwide economic recession.
However, in the case of Nigeria, its impact was aggravated by
mismanagement. We believe the appropriate government
agencies have good advice but the leadership disregarded their
advice. The situation could have been avoided if the legislators
were alive to their constitutional responsibilities; Instead, the
legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales,
fringe benefit and unnecessary foreign travels, et al, which took
no account of the state of the economy and the welfare of the
people they represented.
As a result of our inability to cultivate financial discipline and
prudent management of the economy, we have come to depend
largely on internal and external borrowing to execute government
projects with attendant domestic pressure and soaring external
debts, thus aggravating the propensity of the outgoing civilian
administration to mismanaged our financial resources. Nigeria
was already condemned perpetually with the twin problem of
heavy budget deficits and weak balance of payments position,
with the prospect of building a virile and viable economy.
The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only
political parties that could complain of election rigging are those
parties that lacked the resources to rig. There is ample evidence
that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available
to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have
not developed confidence in the presidential system of
government on which the nation invested so much material and
human resources. While corruption and indiscipline have been
associated with our state of under-development, these two evils
in our body politics have attained unprecedented height in the
past few years. The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in
the last four years has been the source of immorality and
impropriety in our society.
Since what happens in any society is largely a reflection of the
leadership of that society, we deplore corruption in all its facets.
This government will not tolerate kick-backs, inflation of contracts
and over-invoicing of imports etc. Nor will it condone forgery,
fraud, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and illegal
dealings in foreign exchange and smuggling. Arson has been
used to cover up fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am
referring to the fire incidents that gutted the P&T buildings in
Lagos, the Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic
Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal
Capital Development Authority Accounts at Abuja and the NET
Building. Most of these fire incidents occurred at a time when
Nigerians were being apprehensive of the frequency of fraud
scandals and the government incapacity to deal with them.
Corruption has become so pervasive and intractable that a whole
ministry has been created to stem it.
Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of truth. My
colleagues and I – the Supreme Military Council, must be frank
enough to acknowledge the fact that at the moment, an accurate
picture of the financial position is yet to be determined. We have
no doubt that the situation is bad enough. In spite of all this,
every effort will be made to ensure that the difficult and
degrading conditions under which we are living are eliminated.
Let no one however be deceived that workers who have not
received their salaries in the past eight or so months will receive
such salaries within today or tomorrow or that hospitals which
have been without drugs for months will be provided with
enough immediately. We are determined that with the help of
God we shall do our best to settle genuine payments to which
government is committed, including backlog of workers’ salaries
after scrutiny.
We are confident and we assure you that even in the face of the
global recession, and the seemingly gloomy financial future, given
prudent management of Nigeria’s existing financial resources and
our determination to substantially reduce and eventually nail
down rises in budgetary deficits and weak balance of payments
position. The Federal Military Government will reappraise policies
with a view to paying greater attention to the following areas: The
economy will be given a new impetus and better sense of
direction. Corrupt officials and their agents will be brought to
book.
In view of the drought that affected most parts of the country,
the federal government will, with the available resources, import
food stuffs to supplement the shortfalls suffered in the last
harvest. Our foreign policy will both be dynamic and realistic.
Africa will of course continue to be the centre piece of our
foreign policy. The morale and combat readiness of the armed
forces will be given high priority. Officers and men with high
personal and professional integrity will have nothing to fear.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other holders of judiciary
appointments within the federation can continue in their
appointments and the judiciary shall continue to function under
existing laws subject to such exceptions as may be decreed from
time to time by the Federal Military Government. All holders of
appointments in the civil service, the police and the National
Security Organisation shall continue to exercise their functions in
the normal way subject to changes that may be introduced by the
Federal Military Government.
All those chairmen and members of statutory corporations,
parastatals and other executive departments are hereby relieved
of their appointments with immediate effect.
The Federal Military Government will maintain and strengthen
existing diplomatic relations with other states and with
international organisations and institutions such as the
Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and its organs,
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, ECOWAS and the
Commonwealth etc. The Federal Military Government will honour
and respect all treaties and obligations entered into by the
previous government and we hope that such nations and bodies
will reciprocate this gesture by respecting our country’s territorial
integrity and sovereignty.
Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully intervened to save this
nation from imminent collapse. We therefore expect all
Nigerians, including those who participated directly or indirectly
in bringing the nation to this present predicament, to cooperate
with us. This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future
generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain
here and salvage it together.May God bless us all. Good morning