Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed why Former Head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, was overthrown in a bloodless coup on July 29, 1975.
The coup ushered in the government that came to be known as the Muritala/Obasanjo regime.
Gowon was overthrown and replaced by Brigadier Murtala Muhammad as head of the new government and Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo as his deputy, when he was attending an OAU summit in Kampala.
Giving a chronological account of his life at the Diocese of Lagos West, Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral in Lagos, Obasanjo also said: “After the war, General Gowon said that military will go by 1976 but later said that it will not be realistic again and that was the major reason why he was unseated.
“That later brought about what was termed as Muritala/Obasanjo regime. But we were careless as regard security in which Muritala was killed like chicken and I would have been killed but God’s grace preserved me and I was later persuaded to take over.
“We stabilized the country, conducted election and handed over. But when there was incessant coup in different parts of the country, I spoke against Military in general and Abacha’s in particular.
“The consequence was that I was arrested, tried and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment which Abacha later reduced to 15 years but God in his mercy, I only spent 3 years, three months and three days.”
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