President Muhammadu Buhari says military coup cannot happen in Nigeria again.

Responding to concerns raised by Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti on the resurgence of military takeovers in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso in August 2020, September 2021 and January 2022, respectively, Mr Buhari asserted that he strongly believed that ‘‘Nigeria has passed through that stage for good.’’

The president stated this at a dinner in honour of the 2022 Committee of Business, Political, Media and Civil Society Leaders at the State House, Abuja, on Monday.

The convener of the group and chairman of THISDAY/ARISE Media Group, Nduka Obaigbena, said with Nigeria facing a ”historic transition like no other,” and with crises across Africa and at home, the committee emerged to defend the national interest.

”The 2022 Committee was put together to defend Nigeria in a time of crisis and in a time of transition, we must defend the national interest,’’ said Mr Obaigbena.

He noted that membership of the group had been carefully selected from the business community, investors, governors, security sector and elder statesmen.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has a history riddled with coups and counter coups.

Last November, Mr Buhari, an ex-military dictator, insisted that coups should not be tolerated in Africa, coming hard on Guinea and Mali.

“One of the important points that the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government make is that coups and coups d’etat generally are completely unacceptable. We cannot continue to have a situation where they are tolerated for the simple reason that in Africa, West Africa in particular, we have gone way beyond military coups as an answer to the question of change in political actors,” said Mr Buhari, who as a military head of state overthrew a democratically elected government in Nigeria in 1983.

The Nigerian leader added, “There is a very strong feeling amongst the heads of states that we must insist, other international bodies: the UN, EU, and other regional groups must support the imposition of sanctions on individuals and groups that choose not to follow the democratic process of change of government, but go by way of coup d‘etat.”

(NAN)