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30 years After Gideon Okar Coup: What lessons for Nigeria
By Abbas Yushau Yusuf
On April 22, 1990, Gideon Okar led a coup to oust General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida from power.
In early 60’s, 70’s and 90’s Nigerian military was synonymous with coups and counter Coups. But the one that would have been fatal had it succeeded was the Gideon Okar Coup which carried serious ethnic and religious coloration.
Analysts related the failure of the coup on how it was conceived and the manner of its execution.
General Babangida’s Administration was one of the military regimes that suffered coup attempts but they all turned out to fail.
The first coup that welcomed General Ibrahim Babangida Administration was the botched Mamman Vatsa coup, but some pundits described the coup as phantom.
But other people said the coup was masterminded to ease out Vatsa who was General Ibrahim Babangida’s close friend from the Nigerian Army.
With two attempts to remove General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida from power, the mission was not accomplished till after he voluntarily stepped aside after annulling the June 12 1993 elections.
The coup staged by Gideon Okar was unique in the sense that they made serious blunders which no one would have said to do it in the history of coups and counter coups in Nigeria.
The biggest blunder was excising some parts of Nigeria from the rest of the federation which included Kano Katsina Sokoto and Borno States to other countries.
Gideon Okar’s coup would have set a precedence for other Nigerians who felt that dismembering Nigeria was the only solution to its myriad of problems as an entity and independent nation since 1st October 1960.
Coups and counter coups are not solutions to donkey problems facing Nigeria, the first coup of January 15, 1966, that eliminated northern top notch from the army and the political leadership of the country did not offer the solution the mutineers agitated for.
The military was always against itself in overthrowing its fellow from top position and carry on with the leadership aiming to proffer solutions but to no avail.
Still after Gideon Okars 1990 coup, which is thirty years today Nigerian Tracker observed that the leadership question in Nigeria is not about one’s ethnicity or religion but ability to deliver good governance.
With the attitude of we are the one’s ruling or they ruling the country,no major or minor tribe has changed the fortunes of its fellow ethnic groups even when they hold power.
Nigerian Tracker has viewed Gideon Okar Coup for its thirty years anniversary as a lesson for the country, the political leadership and all Nigerians who see their ethnicity and religion of a fellow leader a way of changing their fortune