I knew Babangida was planning to overthrow me — Buhari

Former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari has stated that he was aware that Ibrahim Babangida was planning to overthrow him in 1985.

Buhari, a retired major general and presidential aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), told TheCable: “It is true that I learnt he was planning a coup against me. And I sat and discussed it with him in my office.

“He brought the news that he went to Kano and people complained that I pulled a pistol during a council meeting. I said Ibro ? I called him Ibro because I was just senior to him by a few months ? I said whoever wants to sit on this chair let him come and sit here. And he decided to do it.”

Reminded that the punishment for coup making was death and he could have put Babangida on trial, Buhari told TheCable: “Yes. Remember how many people he killed subsequently for trying to overthrow him? But when I came in, there was no bloodshed. I think a couple of policemen were killed and [Brigadier Ibrahim] Bako also died in an ambush.

“But deliberately, nobody was killed. I was in the front, the real front in the Nigerian civil war. I had seen enough of death and I know what God means by human life. Any human being, God values their life. And anybody who hopes to meet God, he should be careful about killing.

“When there is law and due process of law took place, the question is clear. Like the cocaine convicts that were executed, the decision was taken in supreme military council.” ...Punch