Let me simply say that I missed my flight to this space last week. The subject matter may appear belated given that it would have been more apt last week when the man we are discussing turned 80. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, former military President of Nigeria, became an octogenarian on August 17, having been born on that date in 1941. How time flies. It is amazing that people born 27 year ago were not here when General Babangida held sway as military President and head of state. It is a clear manifestation that power and position are ephemeral and transient. It is instructive that the all-powerful IBB is now called former President and head of state. All that stands for him now would be what he did when he was in that office. Babangida was phenomenal when he was head of state and commander-in-chief of Nigeria’s armed forces. He came to power through a bloodless palace coup in 1985 when Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was eased out of power by his colleagues who chose him to lead the county when they removed President Shehu Shagari on the eve of 1983. Barely two years down the line, Buhari was ousted by his colleagues. Ever since, he had desired to return to power, and Nigerians have given him the opportunity to do so. But this is not about Buhari. It is about Babangida, fondly called IBB.
He has been on the eye of the public since February 1976 when he foiled the coup that aimed to remove Murtala Muhammed from power. He did not save that former head of state from being killed in a gruesome manner but he prevented the coup-makers from coming to power when he caused the arrest of the arrowhead of that coup. Ironically, he came to power via a coup. In a recent interview, he stated that the incursion of the military into governance was part of the evolutionary process in the political development of Africa, given that the trend began in Egypt far back in 1952 or so. The trend spread to other African countries and Nigeria caught the bug. It would seem that the continent has moved away from that trend, which hardly conforms to the tenets of democracy.
Babangida is cerebral, there is no doubt about that. He also did his best to gather his ilk in the academia and elsewhere to help come up with bright ideas to propel the country. There are several agencies still standing in the polity, and credited to his quest to make the country better. In one of the interviews he gave in the wake of his 80th birthday, he made it clear that, for him, the indivisibility of the nation was a settled matter. No one should dare discuss it because it would mean pulling back the hands of Nigeria’s clock. But such positions may not stand in the midst of injustice. That is a matter for another day. His assertion tallies with his postulation, in the interview, that the good Nigerian leader would be someone who has friends and links everywhere in the country.
He put it thus: “The good Nigerian leader would be one who travels across the country and has a friend virtually everywhere he travels to, and he knows at least one person that he can communicate with. That is a person who is very versed in economics and is also a good politician…that links with the people and tries to talk with the people, not talking on top of the people.”
Those who know the General say he has friends virtually everywhere in the country. This kind of leader that IBB recommends may be hindered by our leadership selection process, whereby the party decides, at some point, who would fly its flag. That is not the discourse for today. My colleague told me how Babangida sought him out on account of a story he wrote, and made him his friend. He did well when he was military President in many ramifications. The Third Mainland Bridge, known to be one of the longest in Africa, was one of the hallmarks of his regime. He had the courage to move the nation’s capital to Abuja even when the place seemed not ready. Although some of his critics say it was a defence mechanism to ward off fellow soldiers who wanted to remove him from power via a coup. Whatever was his reason, it was courageous to move to Abuja under whatever circumstance. He got there and began to develop it. Other administrations followed from where he stopped. It was IBB who opened up the electronic media space when he gave Chief Raymond Dokpesi the license to start a radio station in Lagos, and later a television station. He thus laid the foundation for several other private radio and television stations. The former military President has many things going for him.
But his enduring mistake has been the annulment of the June 12, 1993, election. It has been adjudged to be the best election in the nation, where two Muslims flew a party’s flag and still won. MKO Abiola won that election with Babagana Kingibe as his running mate. Both were Muslims and they still won, an incident that has become most unlikey to repeat itself on account of that annulment. Babangida has insisted that the decision he took was in the best interest of the nation, but his compatriots do not think so. The current regime has sided with the people by posthumously recognizing Abiola as the winner of that election. I do not know the legal implication of that recognition but it is a clear indication that it did not align with the man who annulled that election. But IBB says that, in the fullness of time, history will vindicate him. The fact on the ground is that history has not done so yet. IBB did well, but for June 12.