‘Fani-Kayode, others planning to overthrow Buhari’ - Group

O'odua Progressives Youth Movement, which handed this warning to the ex-minister, said his recent comments suggest that he is one of those planning to lure the military to overthrow Buhari.

In an article on Thursday, May 18, 2019, entitled ‘The ringing of coup bells and a cause for deep concern,’ Fani-Kayode noted that ever since 1966, the northern ruling class had always effected a coup d’etat whenever they feel sufficiently threatened with the loss of power.

"They would rather have a core northern military dictator in power than a southern leader or President. And they are prepared to kill anyone, no matter how highly placed, who stands in their way or who attempts to oppose or stop them," Fani-Kayode wrote.

Reacting to the comment at a press conference on Friday, May 19, 2019, the national coordinator of the group, Kola Salawu accused Fani-Kayode of being among those politicians, who the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buaratai had earlier referred to.

His statement reads.

“Tragically, our brother and former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, we cannot deny him now that he has made a nuisance of himself, has confirmed knowledge of an impending coup in Nigeria because of the ill-health of President Muhammadu Buhari, in his article titled ‘The ringing of coup bells and a cause for deep concern,’

“In that article, Fani-Kayode amply demonstrated beyond doubt that he knows what he was talking about.

“Only a few days ago, Fani-Kayode’s co-traveller, Dr Junaid Mohammed covertly made a similar threat of coup in an interview published by a national newspaper.

“He insisted that the north would remain in power irrespective of outcomes. This made us reason that he read from the same script as Fani-Kayode.

“Thankfully, military authorities issued the timely warnings for soldiers to stay out of politics and politicians stop inducing soldiers. It is a level of professionalism and dedication of the Nigerian military that we find praiseworthy, we particularly acknowledge the service chiefs who have demonstrated their commitment to our democracy in several ways.

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“In them, the evil people that had wanted to truncate our democracy have met their match as it has been made clear that the military will never again be available to subdue the people’s will.

“To the other politicians who feel enamoured by the dubious charge for a coup being led by Fani-Kayode, our advice is for them to find other ventures to gamble on. The label of betrayal that some stereotypically stick on our ethnic stock is for the likes of Fani-Kayode and not for the Yoruba race.

“We advise our brother to go get actual lawyers to defend his corruption cases in court instead of wishing for a military coup or the disintegration of the country neither would happen for him to escape all the corruption allegations against him in the various courts of law.

“We want the coup mongers to give the rest of us some breathing space to properly appraise and respond to the dire problems facing our nation. These problems were the creation of the period that the same coup mongers ran the affairs of this country.

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“Today, Nigerians are in the pangs of economic hardship because of the poor choices made in that ugly past. Thankfully, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing much to return economic powers to the populace, money go into the pockets of those that work as against the era when government till became private ATMs for those in government, those who today are running from one court to the order to answer corruption charges were beneficiaries of the ATM mentality.

“As we mentioned at the onset, this two-year mark is a time to commend the improvement in security under the government as Boko Haram and other threats have been rolled back. Cases of armed robbery and kidnapping have reduced but still require that more be done. What remains pressing where security is concerned is the issue or killer herdsmen. It is a problem that the nation must find a lasting solution to in view of the impact it has on other aspects of our national life like food security," the statement added.