History
Major Orkar’s Speech In Failed Coup Against Babangida On April 22, 1990
- Babangida’s ADC, UK Bello, a colonel, was killed in the plot that was foiled later in the day.
- Other coup leaders were Tony Nyiam, a lt col, and Saliba Mukoro, a major, while Great Ogboru, the APC candidate in the last governorship election in Delta state, was the financier.
- Nyiam and Mukoro fled the country after the coup failed.
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On Sunday, April 22, 1990, the voice Gideon Orkar, a major in the Nigerian army, welcomed Nigerians to the 7am news bulletin of Radio Nigeria. His mission: announcing the overthrow of Ibrahim Babangida as the military president.
Reproduced below are parts of the coup broadcast made by Orkar.
“Fellow Nigerian Citizens, on behalf of the patriotic and well-meaning peoples of the Middle Belt and the southern parts of this country, I , Major Gideon Orkar, wish to happily inform you of the successful ousting of the dictatorial, corrupt, drug baronish, evil man, deceitful, homosexually-centered, prodigalistic, un-patriotic administration of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
We have equally commenced their trials for unabated corruption, mismanagement of national economy, the murders of Dele Giwa, Major-General Mamman Vasta, with other officers as there was no attempted coup but mere intentions that were yet to materialise and other human rights violations.
For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state the three primary reasons why we have decided to oust the satanic Babangida administration.
The reasons are as follows:
(1) To stop Babangida’s desire to cunningly install himself as Nigeria’s life president at all costs and by so doing, slowpoke the progress of this country for life. In order to be able to achieve this undesirable goals of his, he has evidently started destroying those groups and sections he perceived as being able to question his desires.
Examples of groups already neutralized, pitched against one another or completely destroyed are:
(a) The Sokoto caliphate by installing an unwanted Sultan to cause division within the hitherto strong Sokoto caliphate.
(b) The destruction of the peoples of Plateau State, especially the Lantang people, as a balancing force in the body politics of this country.
(c) The buying of the press by generous monetary favors and the usage of State Security Service, SSS, as a tool of terror.
(d) The intent to cow the students by the promulgation of the draconian Decree Number 47.
(e) The cowing of the university teaching and non-teaching staff by an intended massive purge, using the 150 million dollar loan as the necessitating factor.
2.) Another major reason for the change is the need to stop intrigues, domination and internal colonization of the Nigerian state by the so-called chosen few. This, in our view, has been and is still responsible for 90 percent of the problems of Nigerians.
3) The third reason for the change is the need to lay a strong egalitarian foundation for the real democratic take off of the Nigerian state or states as they circumstances may dictate.
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