A former Aide-de-Camp to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mustapha Jokolo has disclosed how embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) facilitated and financed the 1983 coup that toppled the government of Shehu Shagari and brought Buhari to power.
Jokolo, who was deposed as Emir of Gwandu, disclosed this in an interview while reacting to details of a book written by his successor, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar, himself a retired.
“Honestly speaking, that is why sometimes my heart bleeds because of what is happening to Sambo Dasuki now; I worry a lot,” Jokolo said while answering a question on the source of finance for the 1983 coup.
He added, “It is an irony. If I had not brought him (Dasuki) in this thing (1983 coup plot), it could not have happened, with Buhari as Head of State. It was Sambo Dasuki who facilitated it not me. I only suggested it.
“He was the one who convinced these people. I swear to God, Almighty. He was the one. He did a lot, honestly speaking.
“So I connected them with Sambo Dasuki and wallahi , even when we were planning the coup that saw Buhari as Head of State, Sambo Dasuki was the one who was getting money for us from Aliyu Gusau and Chief of Army Staff votes to help the coup plot, because not a single kobo did we get from Buhari.
“Not only that, he used his father’s money to sponsor some Mallams to go to Saudi Arabia to help pray for the success of the coup.”
Dasuki is currently being held by the government for allegedly misappropriating $2.1 billion meant for the procurement of arms to prosecute the way on Boko Haram.