Nigerian govt warns coup advocates over economic crisis

The Nigerian government has directed the military intelligence agency to go after those calling for a coup as the country faces a grim economic crisis.

Junior defence minister Bello Matawalle said those making the calls will not be treated lightly, his office said in a statement Thursday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

“The call for violent change of government by the military is absurd, preposterous and naive as the military has come to reality with democratic government in Nigeria and are focused on their constitutional duty of defending the Constitution,” the statement said.

“The propagators calling for the truncation of the constitutional government should desist from it and face the democratic reality on ground.”

Military not part of it

Last month, the military dismissed reports that its brigade of guards, which protects the president, had been put on high alert following unusual troop movements appearing to indicate a coup plot was underway.

The defence headquarters said the report was “malicious and unfounded” and threatened legal action.

Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, made worse by reforms by the new administration of President Bola Tinubu. The government’s removal of petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the naira pushed annual inflation to 29.9 percent in January, the highest in nearly 30 years.

With food inflation at over 35 percent, many families struggle to feed daily in a country where more than 60 percent of the population live in poverty, according to National Bureau of Statistics.

Widespread hunger saw people in Abuja breaking into a warehouse last week to loot food. Another group attacked a food truck.

“Just because criminal elements attacked a warehouse and a haulage vehicle carrying food items to other parts of the country is not enough reason for unpatriotic individuals to resort to call for military intervention which has no place in modern realities,” said the statement by Henshaw Ogubike, director information, press and public relations of the defence ministry.

“The military is highly professionalised with a good Civil-Military relationship, and they are exhibiting the highest standard of professionalism with the defence of our constitution as top priority,” he added.