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.