₦airaland Forum

Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo on Monday said he
was “persuaded” to take
over the reins of power
after the 1976 coup which
claimed the life of the then
head of state, Murtala
Muhammed.
Mr. Muhammed was killed on
February 13,1976 in a coup
spearheaded by Bukarsuka
Dimka, a colonel in the
Nigerian Army.
Mr. Obasanjo, who was the
second-in-command at the
time, escaped being killed by
the coup plotters.
Mr. Obasanjo recollected the
events when he hosted the
cast and crew of the yet to
be released film, titled
“1976” at his Presidential
Library in Abeokuta.
The former president said
Nigerians had thought that
the coup would bring the
country to an end.
He said there were
misconceptions about the
coup, which upturned the
political situation at the that
time.
Mr. Obasanjo said the
misconception stemmed from
the fact that most of those
involved in the coup were
Christians and killing the
head of state, who was a
Muslim, was seen as a bad
signal for a nation.
“The killing of a Muslim on a
Friday by a gang thought to
be Christians, particularly,
when we remembered the
first coup, which upturned
the political situation, gave a
bad signal,” Mr. Obasanjo
recalled.
“Where will it amount to;
where will it lead us to and
where will it lead us out?
These were what Nigerians
had in mind.”
Speaking further on his
experience with the slain Mr.
Muhammed, Mr. Obasanjo
said, “We worked like
jackass for the peace of the
country and I was
persuaded to take over the
headship of the country”.
On the film, which was partly
shown during the interaction,
Mr. Obasanjo described the
film, as “a mixture of sweet
and sorrow”.
“It will make us to remind
ourselves not to go back to
the dark days, which put us
in ‘go-no-go’ situation.
“We can have more of this,
as there are more national
issues that can be
portrayed. We are capable of
the best and that is what this
film has shown.”
The film’s Executive
Producer, Tonye Princewill,
remarked that the cast and
crew of “1976” was on tour
of the country to seek
support and endorsement for
the film, billed to premier in
November.
“The youth of today need to
have a sense of the past,
hence the resolve to have
the film 1976, which is simply
called ’76,” he explained.
Mr. Princewill said the visit to
Mr. Obasanjo was important,
“considering his position at
that time in the country, we
deem it fit to come and show
him the film and curry his
endorsement, which as you
can see we had gotten”.

12Monkeys:
This man is truly a liar.

He hid in his friend's house after hearing Dimka's infamouse 6am-6pm curfew speech .


It was Danjuma after single handedly quashing the coup ordered Obasanjo to assume the role of Head of State to which Obasanjo rejected and bluntly said he was ready to resign from both his post as 2nd in command and also as a military officer.

Danjuma had to remind Obasanjo, that he (Danjuma) can not take over since the coup was carried out by middle belt Christian officers to which he belonged to the same group and if he took over, the north will be suspicious of his role just as they did with Ironsi.


Danjuma told Obasanjo that he had no choice but to accept his new position as head of state and told Obasanjo not to worry that he (yaradua) will personally will protect him.

Danjuma also reminded Obasanjo that military heriachy must be maintained or else there will be another coup if a junior northern officer was allowed to occupy the seat of head of state given that the army at that time was composed mainly of christin middle belt offices who will become highly disgruntled .

And that is how Obasanjo reluctantly became Head of State with Shehu Yaradua promoted from Colonel to Maj. General and placed as second in command to placate the north.

All this was courtesy of Danjuma .

Obasanjo you are a born liar.

Milonis:
No greater lie told of a man, by a man and for a man than this 'blue' lie. The man is confused

12Monkeys:
This man is truly a liar.

He hid in his friend's house after hearing Dimka's infamouse 6am-6pm curfew speech .


It was Danjuma after single handedly quashing the coup ordered Obasanjo to assume the role of Head of State to which Obasanjo rejected and bluntly said he was ready to resign from both his post as 2nd in command and also as a military officer.

Danjuma had to remind Obasanjo, that he (Danjuma) can not take over since the coup was carried out by middle belt Christian officers to which he belonged to the same group and if he took over, the north will be suspicious of his role just as they did with Ironsi.


Danjuma told Obasanjo that he had no choice but to accept his new position as head of state and told Obasanjo not to worry that he (yaradua) will personally will protect him.

Danjuma also reminded Obasanjo that military heriachy must be maintained or else there will be another coup if a junior northern officer was allowed to occupy the seat of head of state given that the army at that time was composed mainly of christin middle belt offices who will become highly disgruntled .

And that is how Obasanjo reluctantly became Head of State with Shehu Yaradua promoted from Colonel to Maj. General and placed as second in command to placate the north.

All this was courtesy of Danjuma .

Obasanjo you are a born liar.

12Monkeys:
This man is truly a liar.

He hid in his friend's house after hearing Dimka's infamouse 6am-6pm curfew speech .


It was Danjuma after single handedly quashing the coup ordered Obasanjo to assume the role of Head of State to which Obasanjo rejected and bluntly said he was ready to resign from both his post as 2nd in command and also as a military officer.

Danjuma had to remind Obasanjo, that he (Danjuma) can not take over since the coup was carried out by middle belt Christian officers to which he belonged to the same group and if he took over, the north will be suspicious of his role just as they did with Ironsi.


Danjuma told Obasanjo that he had no choice but to accept his new position as head of state and told Obasanjo not to worry that he (yaradua) will personally will protect him.

Danjuma also reminded Obasanjo that military heriachy must be maintained or else there will be another coup if a junior northern officer was allowed to occupy the seat of head of state given that the army at that time was composed mainly of christin middle belt offices who will become highly disgruntled .

And that is how Obasanjo reluctantly became Head of State with Shehu Yaradua promoted from Colonel to Maj. General and placed as second in command to placate the north.

All this was courtesy of Danjuma .

Obasanjo you are a born liar.

12Monkeys:
This man is truly a liar.

He hid in his friend's house after hearing Dimka's infamouse 6am-6pm curfew speech .


It was Danjuma after single handedly quashing the coup ordered Obasanjo to assume the role of Head of State to which Obasanjo rejected and bluntly said he was ready to resign from both his post as 2nd in command and also as a military officer.

Danjuma had to remind Obasanjo, that he (Danjuma) can not take over since the coup was carried out by middle belt Christian officers to which he belonged to the same group and if he took over, the north will be suspicious of his role just as they did with Ironsi.


Danjuma told Obasanjo that he had no choice but to accept his new position as head of state and told Obasanjo not to worry that he (Danjuma ) will personally protect him.

Danjuma also reminded Obasanjo that military heriachy must be maintained or else there will be another coup if a junior northern officer was allowed to occupy the seat of head of state given that the army at that time was composed mainly of christin middle belt offices who will become highly disgruntled .

And that is how Obasanjo reluctantly became Head of State with Shehu Yaradua promoted from Colonel to Maj. General and placed as second in command to placate the north.

All this was courtesy of Danjuma .

Obasanjo you are a born liar.

12Monkeys:
This man is truly a liar.

He hid in his friend's house after hearing Dimka's infamouse 6am-6pm curfew speech .


It was Danjuma after single handedly quashing the coup ordered Obasanjo to assume the role of Head of State to which Obasanjo rejected and bluntly said he was ready to resign from both his post as 2nd in command and also as a military officer.

Danjuma had to remind Obasanjo, that he (Danjuma) can not take over since the coup was carried out by middle belt Christian officers to which he belonged to the same group and if he took over, the north will be suspicious of his role just as they did with Ironsi.


Danjuma told Obasanjo that he had no choice but to accept his new position as head of state and told Obasanjo not to worry that he (Danjuma ) will personally protect him.

Danjuma also reminded Obasanjo that military heriachy must be maintained or else there will be another coup if a junior northern officer was allowed to occupy the seat of head of state given that the army at that time was composed mainly of christin middle belt offices who will become highly disgruntled .

And that is how Obasanjo reluctantly became Head of State with Shehu Yaradua promoted from Colonel to Maj. General and placed as second in command to placate the north.

All this was courtesy of Danjuma .

Obasanjo you are a born liar.

12Monkeys:
This man is truly a liar.

He hid in his friend's house after hearing Dimka's infamouse 6am-6pm curfew speech .


It was Danjuma after single handedly quashing the coup ordered Obasanjo to assume the role of Head of State to which Obasanjo rejected and bluntly said he was ready to resign from both his post as 2nd in command and also as a military officer.

Danjuma had to remind Obasanjo, that he (Danjuma) can not take over since the coup was carried out by middle belt Christian officers to which he belonged to the same group and if he took over, the north will be suspicious of his role just as they did with Ironsi.


Danjuma told Obasanjo that he had no choice but to accept his new position as head of state and told Obasanjo not to worry that he (Danjuma ) will personally protect him.

Danjuma also reminded Obasanjo that military heriachy must be maintained or else there will be another coup if a junior northern officer was allowed to occupy the seat of head of state given that the army at that time was composed mainly of christin middle belt offices who will become highly disgruntled .

And that is how Obasanjo reluctantly became Head of State with Shehu Yaradua promoted from Colonel to Maj. General and placed as second in command to placate the north.

All this was courtesy of Danjuma .

Obasanjo you are a born liar.

Ratello:
May you live long NY brother, you couldn't have paint it better than you did. Obasanjo is a grade one liar and revisionist of the deepest dye. A bold face liar with no shame no wonder Danjuma always poke fun at him as a coward.

PaulIdu:
Good thing there are still people like you that know the true story if not maybe so Buhari for take change the story and history as usual

12Monkeys:
The class of 1966 is my speciality.

These vagabonds who arrogated power and a fake hero tag to themselves are all shameless liars and thieves.

Max Suiollon described the Nigerian Army between the years 1966 to 1999 as the " biggest armed political party in Africa".

We owe it to ourselves and the future generation to expose these treasonable mutineers who destroyed this country by virtue of their cluelessness and greed.

Today that legacy continues in the form of the illiterate sectional bigoted tyrant, Buhari who now believes his own mythical lies of being a saint .

When that cursed generation of crooks dies out, half of nigeria's problems will be solved.

PaulIdu:
Obasanjo is one man that has used cowardice as a strength from the Kaduna Nzeogwu led coup where his cowardice made the putchists leave him unharmed even as he chose to remain neutral to his days are Corp commander of 3rd marine commando where he only agreed to assume command after Scorpion Adekunl had technically won the war . Everything he has earned has been handed to him on the altar of his legendary cowardice

tomakint:
@12Monkeys you are indeed a genius on the political history of this Country, the Kaduna Mafia stratum remains the problem of this Country till date. They created the puppet, Obasanjo which now became the beast terrorizing the future of this Country with his manipulative words. He has been a liar from the beginning especially when he gave his account of the Civil War in his empty book, "My Command" thank God for Brig-General Alabi Isama's rebuttal, The Tragedy of Victory.

The same Obasanjo according to Alabi Osama that was pulled out under the bed at Chief S.B Bakare's house at Ikoyi where he was hiding shortly after Murtala was killed. Demonic human being full of lies.

BishopJuice:
How T.Y. Danjuma single handedly made that coward Obasanjo Head of State

As Dimka was roaming the streets of Lagos after he was able to escape capture at the NBC premises were he and his fellow drunks had just finished their announcement of over throwing the Murtala regime, T.Y. Danjuma was calmly coordinating an operation to quell the mutiny at the Guards' Brigades HQ at Bonny Camp, Victoria Island.

Meanwhile, Obasanjo had sought refuge at his civilian friend's house Chief S.B. Bakare from were he monitored events via radio.

After successfully quelling the mutiny with the help of Babangida, T.Y. Danjuma then summoned Obasanjo to report at Bonny camp for an emergency meeting.

Obasanjo was hesitant to report because news filtering in had pin pointed the coup plotters as mainly middle-belt Christians - a group which Danjuma fell under.

After much persuasion that the situation was under calm and the need to avoid a power vacuum, Obasanjo finally agreed to meet Danjuma.

The Supreme Military Council then sat to deliberate on who to succeed Murtala. Naturally, obasanjo as chairman of the supreme military council and defacto second in command and most senior officer automatically qualified to the now vacant office of Head of State but his outright refusal to take over the reigns was the reason the meeting was being conveyed.

It so happens that obasanjo had told Danjuma via phone when he was hiding in his friend's house that he was ready to retire from the army. Danjuma will hear none of it and asked Obasanjo to let the Supreme military council decide on that.

Obasanjo made it clear at the onset of the meeting of SMC that he intended to resign from the army and said Danjuma should assume th position of Head of State. Danjuma then addressed the SMC reminding them of the mistake Ironsi did back to 1966 were he accepted to be Head o State after quelling a rebellion led by mainly mid ranking Ibo officers and how the north took this as evidence that he was behind the Jan 15 Coup.

Danjuma then told obasanjo that apart from this there was need to send a strong message to the entire army that the SMC under Murtala was fully in charge and that there was no going back on their decision that he (Obasanjo) as the most senior officer must show that they are in charge.

Obasanjo did make a last stand of refusing the position of head of state claiming that there was no guarantee of the entire army pledging loyalty to him. Danjuma dismissed his worries by simply telling obasanjo that "we will protect you".

The next thing was to look for a deputy for Obasanjo from the Hausa Fulani constituency within the army in order to placate the loss of Murtala. But this was not so easy as the only 2 most high ranking officers from that region where Lt. Colonels Yaradua and Buhari.

Danjuma will later settle for Yaradua because of his role in executing the 1975 coup that ousted Gowon and brought in Murtala and also because Buhari was seen as a die hard northerner who participated with relish the counter coup of 1966. There was no guarantee that Buhari , who felt cheated in promotions ( Yaradua joined the army in 1966 will Buhari did same 5yrs prior but because of his dullness, Yar'Adua his junior was already his equal in rank by February, 1976) would not later stage a coup an take over from the coward obasanjo.

Yaradua was then promoted from lt. colonel to Major. General and was appointed Chairman of the Supreme Military Council and deputy to Obasanjo.

So next time you hear that coward Obasanjo spew trash on his military career know that if not for T.Y. Danjuma and Babangida he would have either been in exile or resigned from the biggest armed political party - the Nigerian Army.

Approximately, 25 yrs later, IBB will make the trip down to Otta farm to convince Obasanjo to stand and contest the 1999 civilian elections to the office of the president of the federal republic.

12Monkeys:
Magic Bishop doesn't fck around!

omonla555:
You people are just saying the half fed story about the coup. Obasanjo mobilised men from S.B Bakare house (Ijesha Lodge) from Ikoyi.

Obasanjo was traced down to Ikoyi road where Major General Dumuje was shot thinking he was Obasanjo.

I was with my father that morning a military officer who told me everything about the coup which I will not relay here for security reasons.

It was IBB that mobilised to FRCN Ikoyi to quash the coup and not Danjuma as stated. If you hate OBJ, it is a different story.

If you say OBJ declined to accept the number one position, I will agree. What was the role of General Alani Akinrinadein the whole thing?

Please don't feed us with hate story here.

12Monkeys:
Arrant nonsense.

IBB only arrested the coup plotters at NTA . It was Danjuma who from Bonnny Camp made series of phone calls to army commanders across the nation hinting them on the coup and demanding their loyalty to him

The military garrison commander in Bendel state was convicted and executed because he arrested the Military Governor of Bendel.

When Danjuma called the Governor's residence the phone was received by the military garrison commander to which Danjuma asked him about the whereabouts of the Military Governor. The Garrison commander said he had detained the governor. Danjuma then asked him on whose orders did he arrest the governor. The Garrison commander said he heard the coup broadcast on radio . Danjuma then asked him if he took orders from radio broadcasts.

By just calling army formations and military governors across the nation and asking them to pledge their unity, Danjuma was able to effectively end the mutiny.

On the issue that Obasanjo rallied troops from his civilian friend's house and ended the coup is a big fat lie.


Obasanjo refused to come out of hiding until Danjuma guaranteed his safety !