In a letter dated January 6th 1984 and written by President Muhammadu Buhari to the then Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher, Buhari took
Buhari who signed the four page letter as the Head of Federal Military Government and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, said that he led a revolution in Nigeria because of the staggering corruption, insecurity and indiscipline in the government.
Buhari who presided over the affairs of the nation between December 1983 and August 1985, identified in the letter, collapsed economy, rising inflation, corruption in government and the failure of the government to provide security for lives and property as the key ingredients that led to the revolution.
He said, “Recent events in Nigeria leading to a peaceful change of government must have evoked different reactions in various places and I thought I should direct this personal communication to your excellency in order to acquaint you with the background to the intervention by the Nigerian armed forces
Buhari claimed in the letter seen by The Street Journal that not only was the situation well understood but that the coup was received with the widest acclaim, accompanying calm and general acquiescence in a bid to restore a sense of decency and accountability in public life.
“When the last military administration voluntarily handed over power to civilians in 1979, it was with very high hopes for the future. The handing over exercise was carefully planned and faithfully executed. The 1979 constitution was promulgated. There was justifiable optimism that Nigeria was headed for an era of progress, unity and stability, under a free and elected democratic government.
“However, so soon after the handing over, in both the administrative and legislative organs of government, a myriad of public functionaries embarked on a systematic circumvention of most of the checks and balances entrenched in the constitution. Pervasive corruption entrenched combined with moral and financial indiscipline to ensure that millions of naira were stolen from the national coffers and stacked away in banks inside and outside the country by many unpatriotic citizens actively aided and abetted by certain unscrupulous foreign associates,” Buhari said in the letter.
He added that military intervention was unavoidable because the people groaned under the yoke of pervasive corruption, skyrocketing prices and general insecurity of lives and property.
He said, “What was left was quickly dissipated on loaded contracts and over-invoicing of imports designed to allow generous kickbacks to government and political party functionaries. Approved and correct procedures were systematically undermined and the normal functioning of the government machinery deliberately perverted for personal gains.
“Individuals were becoming increasingly apprehensive of their personal security and the future seemed to hold little hope for improvement in the status quo. The majority of public functionaries, at all levels, freely engaged themselves in irregularities with impunity since those at the top and supervisory grades were themselves known to be involved in corrupt practices and impropriety.
“Incompetence in the management of national resource led the nation to accumulate huge internal and external debts and to run into serious balance of payments difficulties. Government was fast losing its ability to pay for the goods and services contracted or needed. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs and the sceptre of large-scale retrenchment has already appeared.
“The resultant scarcity of essential commodities was predictably accompanied by spiralling inflation. Frauds and embezzlement of public funds were committed with reckless abandon. Hired assassins and marauders were openly beginning to practise their trade in broad daylight.
“Perpetrators of corrupt practices resorted to arson to cover their trail, resulting in callous destruction of several expensive public buildings and even loss of lives. Incidents of armed robbery multiplied and the state of general lawlessness heralding a chaotic state of affairs, possibly culminating in a bloody uprising and revolution was most imminent” he added.
Buhari closed his letter by noting that he needed Britain’s cooperation to enable him rid the country of the several anomalies.
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