Hon. Aminu Shagari, a member of the House of Representatives and son of late former President Shehu Shagari, has recalled how his family survived when the military regime of Muhammadu Buhari overthrew his father’s government and placed him (Shehu Shagari) under house arrest.
Shagari was under house arrest for two years.
The younger Shagari, who spoke to Sunday Punch, said:
I was at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, at the time. He was in detention; so, we couldn’t see him until around two weeks before he was released for the first time. It was really a trying and tortuous period for the entire family. I will not wish anyone to pass through that phase. It was quite tormenting knowing one’s father is alive but one doesn’t have access to him. He was held in captivity and incommunicado and we initially didn’t know if he was dead or not because we did not hear anything about him.
We managed to go to school and tried to concentrate on our studies. Also, some of the lecturers would make some comments in between lectures against my father’s administration that sometimes I would want to walk out of the class because of such derogatory comments. When a government is brought down, everybody will take what the new administration says with little or no reservation.
I remember a time I was returning to school and I got to a military checkpoint. The soldiers stopped me and asked for my particulars which I gave them. When they saw my identity, they said I should park the vehicle, alleging that it was government property. I left the vehicle with them and took public transport home. I reported the matter and after a week or so, the car was found in Kaduna with a military officer. It is one of the harrowing experiences the family endured during the period. We kept our faith in God and He saw us through.
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