In the 100 pages of 200 to 300, IBB, as we fondly called him covers matters of relevance and continuing consequences to a nation that he had the opportunity to govern for 8 years as undisputed leader. He called himself president even though we did not elect him.
It did not take long for us to part ways with him as he began to let his basic instincts as a dribbler get the better of his persona.
We quickly nicknamed him the Maradona.
In his typical nature, he would have decided whatever it was he wanted to do, but for reasons known to only him, he would first send an entire country on a fool’s errand, like the IMF debate for example. The general consensus to IMF was a “No.” Somehow, he made it into a “Yes.” The question then needs to be asked: whose interest was he serving? The Naira has never recovered since he unleashed the gates of hell against it.
Or again, like the Sharia debate. When he saw how contentious it was, he said for the Constitution drafting committee to stop debating Sharia, only to turn around and insert it in the end.
Why?
I guess, the answer lies in basic human nature. Many of us cannot help ourselves. More often than not, when some people are thrust into a position of leadership, they develop a “Superman” complex. They however, forget that the Superman’s first instinct is to do good, to save, to rescue, and to make whole—-a kind of god.
In these 100 pages, in no particular order, IBB displays a moment of candor and deep gratitude and thankfulness laced with effusive eulogisation of Maryam Babangida as she takes center stage.
Hear him describing Maryam—-“She was very comfortable with a spectrum of people, and relaxed in her skin. She also had an extensive reserve of native intelligence.” This takes my breath away, as very few men are fortunate enough to have a woman of such sterling character. Many would agree that she did quite a bit to give hope to Nigerian women like no one before her, and one would argue, no one has come close since her time as First Lady.
We loved her.
He continues—-“I am grateful for the life Maryam and I shared, and for the fruit of our union. Coping without her has not been easy, but it has been made much less demanding by the memories of our life together and the length of her shadow.”
And then, Camelot comes alive—“Our marriage was one for the ages because we were two people walking as one.”
The lines about Maryam come straight from the heart. If she were in the America of the 60s, she could easily have been a poster girl for what it means to be “black and proud.” Adieu, beautiful soul.
By contrast, his relationship with Vatsa which in his earlier description appeared to be tending towards the David/Jonathan type as brothers for life took a fatal turn. Could we say that Machiavellian instincts for the preservation of the throne of the Prince may have kicked in here?
The News magazine interviewed Domkat Bali in 2006. See what he had to say about that:
The News: When you worked with Babangida as Defence Minister, do you remember one action you took and you think you should have acted differently? For example there was the coup trial that involved General Vatsa. Would you have acted differently?
Domkat Bali: I don’t know whether I would. My regret is that up till now, I am not sure whether Vatsa ought to have been killed because whatever evidence they amassed against him was weak. My only regret is that I cannot say, don’t do it’. I am not so sure whether we were right to have killed him.
In talking about the Orkar coup, IBB highlights the sensitivities surrounding the plotters’ foolhardy attempt to excise parts of the country to form a separate nation.
However, down the road, when he had the chance to address that foolhardiness, he chose to neglect the road less traveled. He allowed Sharia to be inserted into the Constitution which he was handing to a nation he had governed without opposition. What was he thinking? Can he look back at that decision proudly today and beat his chest that, that indeed was a great decision? Sharia is a “gift” that Babangida gave to us. A gift that keeps on giving, leaving in its wake, hundreds of thousands dead, villages razed to the ground, while local governments are overtaken by Boko Haram. People are displaced in their own country. It is a ticking time bomb which we do not need. Will a leader arise to reverse this slippery slope? A demand is now being made for a Sharia Law School. Next would be a Sharia Supreme Court. And then, it will only be a matter of time before the Justices of the Supreme Court will lock horns with the justices of the Sharia Supreme Court.
One word.
Anarchy.
On the OIC, he says casually that he sent a delegation there only as an Observer mission.
Why?
Does Nigeria need all the distractions that come from the daily debates about one religion wanting to dominate all others? The question could then be asked: why has no other leader since IBB been able to take us out of the OIC or stop the establishment of Sharia? The answer is simple—-and it is the sensitivity of religion. We should never have gone down that road in the first place. Never.
As life goes, there are no do-overs. That’s the way it was designed by God. IBB’s legacy rises and falls on his political transition and June 12. He calls it a saga—well, maybe for him, but certainly, not for us. We watched as one man tried to play god by legislating two political parties, one, a little to the right, the other, a little to the left. We were aghast as he tried to abridge the fundamental rights of individuals by banning and restricting, and attempting to dictate who could or could not contest. In doing so, he effectively sidelined some of the brightest political minds who could have helped him to navigate the land mines ahead. Imagine for a minute an Abacha telling Shehu Musa Yar’Adua that he could not become president if he had been allowed to run and had won clearly like Abiola did.
There are some games that only big boys can play.
Tofa was unknown.
Abiola had money, but lacked the level of gravitas needed to be called a big boy. When a big boy walks into a room, even Kings stand up to show respect.
We lived through that era. It was not a saga. It felt far more like a debacle of hesitant indecision wrapped in self-preservation.
In an anecdote from Professor Omo Omoruyi’s book, one was left dumbfounded to hear IBB say “I cannot kill myself for the sake of what the country wants.” Let’s contrast that for a moment with a speech delivered by JFK at his inaugural address in 1961.
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but instead—ask what you can do for your country.”
Or this:
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.”
Any adult Nigerian who lived through those dark days of June 12 and its aftermath would tell you that we were abandoned by the man who was supposed to shepherd us. We were left to be trampled upon and devoured by wolves led by a goggled man who literally took us down to the pits of hell.
June 12 was our Pearl Harbor, our 9/11, our Holocaust. It cannot be trivialized.
Furthermore, we are traumatized by what else he had to say about June 12. He writes about a shadowy organization called Association for Better Nigeria which he “later” came to find out, was responsible for the annulment of June 12. Is he now telling us that the Defense Intelligence Agency, (DIA), which was so efficient at identifying coup plotters suddenly had its face prostrate in the sand when it came to figuring out the characters behind the ABN? A man who could, by fiat, ban a titan like Awo from politics, a man who literally commanded the largest following in Nigeria—-conveniently could not find and ban ABN?
He goes on to say that Nduka Irabor who was Press Secretary to Aikhomu handed out an unsigned piece of paper announcing the ground-breaking, earth-shattering decision to annul June 12. Now, here’s the kicker. If Nduka Irabor, a civilian official in a military government run by a “self styled evil genius” issued such a monumental statement from a piece of paper, and as IBB claims, he heard of it while he was in Kaduna to pay a condolence visit to the Yar’ Adua family, the question then needs to be asked: what business did he have going to pay a condolence visit whilst the nation burned? Looking back now, would he do the same thing?
He claims that he and Admiral Aikhomu were stunned by what Nduka Irabor did. Haba!! How did the man manage to retain his job after giving out such unauthorized information? Why did he not get shot like Vatsa? That was a coup!!! I guess my question answers itself. If this were a movie script, this is where a director would have a split screen, one where some men would be standing casually with AK 47s, and another where a helpless Nduka would be handing out the annulment piece of paper. The picture tells the story.
Was the unsigned piece of paper cover for plausible deniability? Is that what IBB is doing today? It is hard to buy that story. I tried to reach Mr. Nduka Irabor for his reaction. I left several voice notes. I did not get a call back. I then proceeded to send a text as follows:
Good morning, sir. My name is Michael Ovienmhada, Editor/Publisher of Egogonewshub.com. I am writing a review of IBB’s book. He mentions you as the person who released an unsigned statement annulling the June 12 election to the press. The question is: who authorized you to release that document? Please, you may call me.
I do not expect Nduka to call me back. This is one thing he must take to his grave.
Again, let me add. Looking from the outside, we have a tendency to think that government is usually very organized and hierarchical.
Not really, and not so anywhere.
In government, it’s not unusual for a mid-level officer in the office of a very powerful figure to wield more real influence than a higher-ranking official with a seemingly larger portfolio.
Here’s the kind of scenario I’m trying to illustrate. Nduka Irabor may well have been working under Admiral Aikhomu, but by this stage in IBB’s lame-duck presidency, real power had shifted elsewhere—into the hands of a “big Kahuna” who had effectively taken control. IBB was no longer calling the shots.
As we all know, a general is only as powerful as the troops who still follow his command. And by then, the tide had turned. IBB’s boys had become men—and they were weary of the endless dribbling. Now that they had the ball, they had no intention of giving it back.
My heart aches as I write the last portion of this article, as today, Nigeria, our beloved country is at a crossroads. Religion is a problem, and IBB accentuated it in his decision making. Hear him in his own words as he describes the events leading up to, and the final document he gave a nation which gave him 8 years as a Constitution. “Perhaps the more controversial amendments that we made, and for which I believe we were unfairly criticized was our position on Sharia. “We decided to retain Sharia law with a provision that it be applicable only in civil matters where all parties involved are Muslims. We also made a provision allowing individual states to create Sharia courts if desired.”
Well sir, here we are. He must let us know if he’s still proud of that decision given where we are now with religious extremism coming from just one side of the country.
This article must come to an end on this note. No runners are judged at the beginning of a race. Every race is judged at the end when the tape is breasted. IBB breasted his own tape on August 26th, 1993. He did his part, all-be-it, a very large part. He did great things: MAMSER, Better Life, NERFUND, OMPADEC, NDIC, NDE, NEXIM, NLNG, FRSC. He did Decree 38 which opened up the broadcast ecosystem to private participation. He did the Third Mainland Bridge, People’s Bank, Banking deregulation, States creation—-all of them, monumental, bold, innovative, visionary and inspiring.
Be that as it may—-the IBB legacy remains June 12, and this is how he will forever be judged by history. God has given him long life so that he can see what Nigeria has become because of some actions he took in his time. He had this one chance to say, “I am sorry.” He did not.
O’meekey O. Ovienmhada.
I just finished reading the article about General Ibrahim Babangida’s (IBB) book and I must say, I’m thoroughly impressed. The intellectual honesty, depth of insight, and analysis presented in the book are truly remarkable. As a reader, it’s refreshing to see a public figure offer such candid reflections on their experiences and the complexities of Nigeria’s history. Kudos to IBB for sharing his perspectives and to the author of the article MR MICHEAL OVIENMHADA for highlighting the book’s key takeaways. I look forward to reading the book myself and gaining a deeper understanding of Nigeria’s past and present.”