WHY WE OVERTHRĒW GOWON – OBASANJO

WHY WE OVERTHRĒW GOWON – OBASANJO

WHY WE OVERTHRĒW GOWON – OBASANJO

Former PRĒSIDENT, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed why Former Head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, was overthrøwn in a bloodless coup on July 29, 1975, ushering in the government that came to be known as the Muritala/Obasanjo rēgime.

General Gowon was overthrown and replaced by Brigadier Murtala Muhammad as head of the new government, and Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo as his deputy when he was attending an OAU summit in Kampala

Chief Obasanjo who gave a chronological account of his life at the Diocese of Lagos West, Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral in Lagos, also said that despite the ev!l thought of the later head of state, Geñeral Sani Abacha against him, he did not, for a day, wish anything bad for the general

“After the war, General Gowon said that milit@ry will go by 1976 but later said that it will not be realistic again and that was the major reason why he was unseated

“That later brought about what was termed as Muritala/Obasanjo regime. But we were careless as regard sêçurity in which Muritala was kil!led like chicken and I would have been kill!ēd but God’s grace preserved me and I was later persuaded to take over.

“We stabilized the country, conducted election and handed over. But when there was incessant Cøūp in different parts of the country, I spoke against Milit@ry in general and Abacha’s in particular

“The consequence was that I was @rrested, tried and sentenced to 30 years impris0nment which Abacha later reduced to 15 years but God in his mercy, I only spent 3 years, three months and three days

He pointed out that the person who sent him to pr!$on was not alive by the time he came out.

“But when I was in pr!$on in Jos, Abacha’s son dîëd and I wrote a condolence letter to him and also when he died, I also wrote a letter of condolence to his wife of which the prison authority found unbelievable but delivered all my letters

Source -Vanguard Newspaper