President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his anti-
corruption war in the military led to his removal by
former Military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1985.
He made this known in an interview published in the
current edition of The Interview magazine.
Buhari stated that senior military leaders expelled him
in August ’85 to save themselves from his wrath.
After himself coming to power in 1983 via a coup,
Buhari was deposed two years later by a coup led by
Ibrahim Babangida, a retired general and former
military president, Aliyu Gusau, former director of
military intelligence (DMI), and other members of the
ruling supreme military council (SMC) , and he was
detained in Benin until 1988.
Recalling the incidents that happened 31 years ago,
he challenged Babangida and Gusau to tell the truth
on why they carried out the coup against him.
The President said: “I learnt that Aliyu Gusau, who was
in charge of intelligence, took import licence from
the ministry of commerce, which was in charge of
supplies and gave it to Alhaji Mai Deribe.
“It was worth N100, 000, a lot of money at that time. I
confronted them and took the case to the Army
council in a memo…I wanted Gusau punished.”
Buhari reportedly challenged Babangida and Gusau to
come clean on why they removed him, asking The
Interview to choose whose story to believe.
Buhari’s current anti-corruption crusade has claimed
its biggest casualties in the military, with Sambo
Dasuki, former national security adviser having been
in detention since 2015 over the $2.1bn arms scandal.
