Army denies plan to overthrow Buhari

Army Chief

The Army has said its current setting is a product of democratic settings.

It denied planning to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

It also described the recent report by a militant group, the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, that some Army officers approached its members to join forces to overthrow the Buhari administration, as another campaign of calumny and distraction by a faceless criminal gang of economic saboteurs.

Army spokesman Sani Usman said: “This is baseless and most unfortunate allegation that existed in the warped minds of the originators of such weighty allegation. The Army wishes to state that this is not true and hereby distances itself from this weighty allegation.”

Usman added: “We also see this speculation as a dangerous distraction to our effort at fighting insurgency and other criminal elements in the country. The Army would like to send a strong and an unequivocal warning to those speculating a coup against the government to desist forthwith. We would like state in clear terms that we are a product of democracy and a focused professional institution and would have nothing to do with such abomination and heinous crime.”

The Army said it remained the greatest beneficiary of democracy and would not contemplate any anti-democratic misadventure, especailly under current Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai.   “Rather, we see this type of dangerous speculation as a declaration of war to destabilise the present government by these unscrupulous elements.”

The spokesman said the Army would investigate those behind the rumour to know their motive.

“We would like to reiterate our unalloyed loyalty to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”