| 1983 Nigerian coup d'état | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Democratically elected Federal Government of Nigeria |  Armed Forces faction | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Shehu Shagari | Muhammadu Buhari | ||||||
The Nigerian military coup of 1983 took place on 31 December that year. It was coordinated by key officers of the Nigerian military and led to the ousting of the democratically elected government of President Shehu Shagari and the installation of Major General Muhammadu Buhari as head of state.
Tensions between the civilian and military aspects of Nigerian government were escalating. One major incident was when General Muhammadu Buhari, the commanding officer of the 3rd Division, cut off fuel and food supplies into neighboring Chad, an action caused by border disputes between Nigeria and Chad that was opposed by President Shehu Shagari. Buhari disregarded orders by Shagari to avoid entering Chadian territory, and his unit pursued Chadian intruders around 50 kilometers into Chad. This incident was one of the major contributing factors to the coup, as it placed the civilian government and military on opposite sides of a highly divisive issue. [1]
Shortly before the coup, the director general of the National Security Organization, Umaru Shinkafi, detected communications that implicated several coup plots. However, the NSO was unable to intervene in these plots because of the tenuous and vague nature of the intelligence gathered. [2]
Colonel Tunde Ogbeha was tasked by the coup plotters to negotiate the peaceful surrender of President Shagari's Brigade of Guards army unit. Ogbeha was unable to reach Colonel Bello Kaliel, the Commander of the Brigade of Guards and engaged in a Lagos-to-Abuja-and-back seeking game which made Kaliel suspicious. Brigadier Ibrahim Bako was given the responsibility of arresting President Shagari after Ogbeha's successful negotiation of a peaceful surrender. Unknown to Bako was the fact that no such surrender had been negotiated. Additionally, details of the plot had not only been leaked to President Shagari but also to Captain Anyogo, and Lt Colonel Eboma of the Brigade of Guards mounted a defense of the presidential villa in anticipation of an attack. As expected, Brigadier Bako arrived at the Presidential villa to arrest President Shagari but President Shagari's guards were not pacified as expected. A firefight ensued leading to the killing of Brigadier Bako. [3]
 | This list needs additional citations for verification .(December 2017) |
General Buhari has denied his involvement in the December 1983 coup; however, the example of the late Major Daniel Bamidele betrays Buhari's complicity in the December 1983 coup. Nigerian military historians Max Siollun and Nowa Omoigui note that when Major Bamidele got wind of the coup to oust Shagari, Bamidele reported the issue up the chain of command to his GOC 3rd Armored Division (Major General Buhari) who was allegedly in on the plot. To prevent Bamidele from leaking the plot, Buhari ordered the arrest and detention of Bamidele for two weeks. Bamidele wasn't released until the successful execution of the coup. Learning from this unfortunate experience, Bamidele didn't report any rumors of the so-called Vatsa coup (between 1985 and 1986) and was executed for it. [4] [5] Bamidele's words to the Special Military Tribunal that tried and convicted him are:
"I heard of the 1983 coup planning, told my GOC General Buhari who detained me for two weeks in Lagos. Instead of a pat on the back, I received a stab. How then do you expect me to report this one? This trial marks the eclipse of my brilliant and unblemished career of 19 years. I fought in the civil war with the ability it pleased God to give me. It is unfortunate that I'm being convicted for something which I have had to stop on two occasions. This is not self adulation but a sincere summary of the qualities inherent in me. It is an irony of fate that the president of the tribunal who in 1964 felt that I was good enough to take training in the UK is now saddled with the duty of showing me the exit from the force and the world." [4]
Additionally, in a 2015 interview, Sambo Dasuki alleges that he and two other military officers (co-conspirators) travelled to Jos to brief Major General Buhari, who was then the GOC of 3rd Armoured Division, on the status of planning for the 1983 coup. [6]
Major General Buhari's Supreme Military Council (SMC) observed a minute of silence for the slain Brigadier Bako during the SMCs first meeting. [7]
Mamman Jiya Vatsa was a Nigerian general and poet who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Abuja, and was a member of the Supreme Military Council.
The National Security Organization (NSO) of Nigeria, or Nigerian Security Organization, was created under Decree number 27 of 1976 by the military regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, after the failed Dimka coup which claimed the life of former Head of State Gen. Murtala Mohammed. The NSO was given a mandate of co-ordinating Internal Security, Foreign Intelligence and counterintelligence activities. It was charged with the detection and prevention of any crime against the security of the state, with the protection of classified materials, and with carrying out any other security missions assigned by the president.
Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suwa Dimka was a Nigerian military officer who played a leading role in the 13 February 1976 abortive military coup against the government of General Murtala Ramat Muhammed. Dimka also participated in the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966 which toppled the government of General Aguiyi Ironsi.
The 1966 Nigerian counter-coup was the second of many military coups in Nigeria. It was masterminded by Lt. Colonel Murtala Muhammed and many northern military officers. The coup began as a mutiny at roughly midnight on 28 July 1966 and was a reaction to the killings of Northern politicians and officers by some soldiers on 15 January 1966. The July mutiny/counter coup resulted in the murder of Nigeria's first military Head of State General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lt Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi in Ibadan by disgruntled northern non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Upon the termination of Ironsi's government, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon was appointed Head of State by the coup conspirators.
Dodan Barracks is a military barracks located in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria. The barrack was the Supreme Military Headquarters during the Nigerian Civil War and from 1966 to 1979 and 1983 to 1985. Dodan Barracks was the official residence of the military heads of state of the Nigerian military juntas of 1966–79 and 1983–99, and also the Supreme Military Headquarters from 1966 until the move to Abuja in 1991.
Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha is a Nigerian politician and retired brigadier general who served as the administrator of Akwa Ibom State and then of Bendel State during the military rule of General Ibrahim Babangida (1985–1993). After the return to democracy in 1999, he was elected senator for the Kogi West constituency of Kogi State from May 1999 to May 2007. A biography on Ogbeha titled "Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha: A Noble Path" was written by Innocent Nzeke Waniko, a journalist, and presented publicly on 1 September 2017. The book chronicles the early life and comprehensively captures the life and career of Ogbeha.
John Nanzip Shagaya was a Nigerian senator and former military officer who was in April 2007 to represent the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State as member of the Nigerian Senate for Plateau South. He ran for reelection in April 2011 on the Labour Party (LP) platform, but was defeated by Victor Lar of the People's Democratic Party(PDP). As a non commissioned officer (NCO) with the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron in Abeokuta, he participated in the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966.
Ibrahim Taiwo was a Military Governor of Kwara State from July 1975 to February 1976 during the military regime of General Murtala Mohammed. He assisted in establishment of the University of Ilorin, which was founded by decree August, 1975.
Garba Duba is a retired Nigerian Army Lieutenant general who was Governor of Bauchi State, Nigeria from July 1978 to October 1979 during the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, and Administrator of Sokoto State from January 1984 to August 1985 during the military regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari.
Paul Ufuoma Omu was Military Governor of South-Eastern State, Nigeria between July 1975 and July 1978 during the military regimes of Generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo.
Lt. Colonel Mohammed Maina was governor of Borno State, Nigeria during the military administrations of Generals Ibrahim Babangida.
Salihu Ibrahim FSS, FHWC was a Nigerian army general who was Chief of Army Staff from August 1990 until September 1993 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Since Nigeria became independent in 1960, there have been five military coup d'états in Nigeria. Between 1966 and 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a military government without interruption, apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Nigerian Republic of 1979 to 1983. However, the most recent coup occurred in 1993, and there have been no significant further attempts under the Fourth Nigerian Republic, which restored multi-party democracy in 1999.
Sambo Dasuki is a retired Nigerian military officer who served as National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan and briefly to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ibrahim Ahmed Bako was a senior officer in the Nigerian Army who played a principal role in two Nigerian military coups: the July 1966 counter-coup and the December 1983 coup. The 1983 coup ousted the democratic government of Shehu Shagari while the July 1966 coup ousted the military government of General Ironsi. Bako was killed during the December 1983 coup d'état.
Major Daniel Idowu Bamidele was a Nigerian army officer who was executed by the government of Major General Ibrahim Babangida for failing to report an alleged conspiracy against the government, what is popularly referred to as the "Vatsa Coup". Bamidele was charged with conspiracy to commit treason.
Haliru Akilu is a Nigerian general who was Director of National Intelligence and Director of Military Intelligence at various times in the 1990s.
Alfred Aduloju was a Nigerian Army major general who served as commanding officer of a number of Nigerian Army divisions and Commandant of the Nigerian Armed Forces Command and Staff College. He was also one of the principal actors in the 29 July 1975 coup that ousted then military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon.
The 1990 Nigerian coup d'état attempt was a military coup attempt which took place in Nigeria on 22 April 1990 when a faction of Armed Forces officers, led by Major Gideon Orkar, attempted to overthrow the government of General Ibrahim Babangida. Rebel troops seized the FRCN radio station and various military posts around Lagos, including the military headquarters and presidential residence, the Dodan Barracks. Babangida was present when the barracks were attacked but managed to escape by a back route. In the coup address, Orkar called for the excision of five northern states of Nigeria, he accused Babangida of planning to install himself as Nigeria's life president, accused the Federal Military Government of marginalization of the people of Niger Delta and the entire Southern part of the country.
The Chadian–Nigerian War was a brief war that was fought over the control of islands on Lake Chad. The war started when a force led by Chadian Army chief-of-staff Idriss Déby invaded parts of Nigeria's Borno State, and ended with a Nigerian force led by Muhammadu Buhari expelling the Chadians and briefly invading Chadian territory.
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