Coup no longer acceptable – Al-Mustapha

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd) has decried agitations for a military takeover in the country.

In the last few days, there have been calls for coup by some of the protesters involved in the #EndBadGovernance demonstration.

Some of them hit the streets waving Russian flag, while calling for foreign intervention.

The military high command had described the act as treasonable and vowed to crack down on those responsible.

A combined team of Police and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) had also raided some spots and made a series of arrests.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja, on Wednesday, Al-Mustapha, who was Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, late Head of State, said, “I am by definition today, a politician. I am looking at this country today from a democratic sense. We have invested in it and we are investing in it. Our researches are all towards the investment of democratic excellence in Nigeria.

“Military subordination to democracy is a clear direction as the world is today. But when you have democracy, the type that we are operating -presidential system.  In a debate, in our presentation in the past, I said I am against the presidential system in Nigeria and the examples I gave is the fact that two close countries, the closest to us, the United Kingdom and the United States, one is operating parliamentary system and the other is operating presidential system, all has to do with their historical backgrounds, with conveniences of the people and Nigeria is simply a copy card. We copied the parliamentary system, we changed it to the presidential system! All the two are strange to our culture, to our history, to our background, to our understanding as a people. How can you bring the same system and adopt it as yours? It would not work, it would be repulsive.

“Some politicians came to me and said ‘You need not say that in the open, allow us to continue to operate the way we are’, but I cannot form part of cheating. What did I say? I said the United States is a country where immigrants who became citizens, have laws protecting them and the question I asked was, in Nigeria, who is an immigrant and who is an indigene? How can you have more laws and a system of governance that is protective of immigrants? Who is an immigrant in Nigeria? We are all citizens. So, we need to chart our course, we have to have the domestic type of democracy that will suit us and suit our future. That is what I am calling for but the issue of military, no.

”My advice to them is that military professionalism is what they should canvas for. Military subordination to democracy is what they should invest in and put all their energies there for.”