Nigeria may witness a return to fascism and a relapse to ethnic favoritism if one of the Ministerial candidates emerges as the next Minister of Defense, Apapa Oodua Koya, (AOKOYA) warned in a statement issued on Wednesday.
According to the Pan Yoruba group in the statement signed by Col Abimbola Sowunmi (rtd) the selection of General Bashir Magashi as a Ministerial nominee is “a very bad omen for Nigeria.” The group defined him as a ‘notorious ethnic champion who wishes to see Nigeria shaped in the image of his own Fulani hegemony.
AOKOYA said the group is in possession of confidential information indicating that Magashir will eventually emerge as the country’s Minister of Defense.
“We caution the Senate to look at the background of General Magashi. His records show fascism and narrow ethnic favoritism. He was in the caucus of former dictator, General Sani Abacha. He produced a document codenamed “Way Forward” which recommended that Abacha should succeed himself through diarchy, a government of military dictatorship with civilian rookies. The Senate should ask General Magashi about his role in the numerous political assassinations that took place under Abacha especially the assassination of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola These are the questions we expect the Senate to ask him”, AOKOYA stated.
The group said Magashi was in charge of Brigade of Guards in September 1993 and was deeply involved in the annulment of June 12 election and the installation of Gen Sani Abacha. “He is from Kano. He was Abacha’s most trusted ally. He was also involved in the activities of the killer squad ran by Abacha.”
AOKOYA said Magashi had “deep hatred” for ethnic nationalities in the South and the Middle Belt and that his choice and possible emergence as the country’s Defense Minister is akin to handing over the country to a “conscious Taliban.”
The group said though Magazhi is a lawyer who graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, he is best known for his record as a “brutal military dictator”
AOKOYA said if Bagashir eventually emerges as Nigerian Defense Minister, it will mark a strengthen a paradigm shift from protection of the Nigerian people to the protection of Fulani hegemony using Nigerian state structures