Veteran Nollywood actor cum politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said that there is no benefit whatsoever in supporting a military coup in Nigeria.
This was as he said that there is no doubt that election rigging is a form of civilian coup, stressing that Nigerians are really yearning for a change owing to the fact that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration has failed to demonstrate the needed competence in addressing the challenges facing the citizens and or shown care about the plight of the people.
Okonkwo, who stated these on Sunday, via his 𝕏 account, said that while the Tinubu-led government ss terrible, emphasised that historically, Nigeria has gained nothing from military interventions except tears and blood.
He noted that the Tinubu-led government is riddled with incompetence and corruption, adding that there are a lot of things happening in Nigeria that are very disconcerting and genuinely create disaffection and disenchantment in the citizens towards their leaders.
According to Okonkwo; “When the military carry out a coup, they will say nice things to the people and horrible things about the politicians. But, once they assume power, they turn around and do worse than the same civilians they were pretending to intervene to save.
“The way out is for everyone, including the military, to work together to ensure free and fair elections which will produce legitimate elected leaders who will make the security and welfare of the people its priority,” he said.
He however, said that despite the prevailing situation, the era of military dictatorship or military coup is over in Nigeria.
Okonkwo further said; “The issues are many. From the insecurity challenges which result in the death and destruction of lives and property of the Nigeria citizens while the leaders are busy enjoying their holidays abroad, to the incessant power grid collapses which result in national blackouts that throw the nation in darkness, rendering production and productivity impossible, to the obnoxious borrowing of money from both within and outside Nigeria which is stolen by officials of government and rendering Nigeria a debtor nation without infrastructure to show for the borrowing, to the prohibitive transportation cost and flight tickets which make movement around Nigeria tearful, to the bad roads which make road journeys a death trap, to the lies which the government tells to cover up its incompetence and corruption.
“It is really a sad time for Nigerians. There’s no doubt that Nigerians are yearning for a change. We can’t continue to move in this direction. However, of what benefit will be a change that will take us from the frying pan to fire?
“Of what benefit would we have to exchange a civilian coup with a military coup? Supporting a military coup because of allegations of rigging elections is like approving armed robbery by some people if they concentrate on robbing only fellow armed robbers who robbed the people.
“No! Robbery is robbery, no matter who is robbing and who’s being robbed. On the day the robbers can no longer find their normal target, they will switch to another target.
“This is why when the military conducts a coup, they will say nice things to the people and horrible things about the politicians. They may even kill some of the politicians. But immediately, the politicians are out of the way, they turn their guns against the same civilians they were pretending to intervene to save.
“There’s nothing Nigeria has gained from military interventions except tears and blood. None of the military leaders who promised to hand over power to a democratically elected government kept the promise on the date they promised.
“Why would the military even want to physically overthrow a civilian government when the military helps to rig the election that brings it in?
“Tinubu’s government may be terrible, but everyone knows the terminal date for the regime. Nobody knows the time any military regime will end,” he said.
Okonkwo stressed that the only way out of every evil regime in Nigeria is for everyone, including the military, to work together to ensure free and fair elections which will produce legitimate elected leaders whose objective will be the security and welfare of the people.
