Buhari To Jonathan: You're Playing With Fire, President Replies

Ex-Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), on Tuesday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of waging a war against Nigeria by using the “common wealth to subvert the system.” Buhari gave the warning in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Kaduna.

The statement titled, “Pull back Nigeria from the brink,” is his reaction to the removal of Murtala Nyako as the Adamawa State governor and threat of impeachment against Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa.

He warned that the development which was aimed at turning the country "into a one-party state" did not augur well for democracy.

Describing himself as “ a close participant and witness to Nigeria’s political history since independence in 1960,” Buhari said, "Our country has gone through several rough patches, but never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare war on his own country as we are seeing now. 

"Never before have I seen a Nigerian President deploy federal institutions in the service of partisanship as we are witnessing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian President utilise the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, all in the name of politics. 

“Our nation had suffered serious consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes."

The Presidency is denying Jonathan’s involvement in the development. But Buhari, who is one of the leaders of the APC, said in the statement that whether or not Jonathan is aware of the development, what mattered most is that it was happening under his administration and he and his party are the beneficiaries.

He lamented that the recourse to impeachment as a punitive measure against “out-of-favour” governors was an indication that Nigeria was gradually drifting into anarchy.

Gen Buhari disclosed in the statement that he had in his private capacity discussed the current situation with the President but regretted that nothing had been done to check it.

Buhari explained that he did so because, as a former Nigerian leader, history would never be kind to him if he sat back and watch things continue to go wrong.

"In my capacity as a former Head of State, rather than a politician, I have spoken to President Jonathan in private over these issues, but indications are that the strategy has not yielded positive fruits.

I cannot, just because I am an opposition politician, fail to do what is expected of me as a former Head of State to help rescue our nation in times of great trouble and palpable uncertainty. History will not be kind to me if I sit back while things turn bad, just so that no one will accuse me of partisanship.

“Yes, I am a politician. Yes, I am in the opposition. Yes, there is the tendency for my statement to be misconstrued as that of a politician rather than a statesman. But I owe it as a matter of duty and honour, and in the interest of our nation, to speak out on the dangerous trajectory that our nation is heading."

Adding, "The dangerous clouds are beginning to gather and the vultures are circling, and these have manifested in Nasarawa State where the ordinary people have defied guns and tanks to protest the plan to impeach Gov. Al-Makura in a repeat of the bitter medicine forced down the throat of Nyako.

"The people’s protest in Nasarawa State is a sign of what to come if the federal authorities continue to target opposition governors for impeachment. In the long run, the impeachment weapon will be blunted. Positions will become more hardened on both sides and Nigeria and Nigerians will become the victims of arrested governance and possible anarchy.”

Buhari warned Jonathan that a man in power must know he can't always do things because he could do them.