On August 17, when General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), former military President of Nigeria, will be marking his 80th birthday, many a Nigerian will have one or two things to say about him. He came, saw and made his mark as a mortal. Despite the fact that he had his shortcomings or made some mistakes, nobody will deny the fact that he was a gallant soldier, a man who dared and, indeed, one of the greatest Nigerian leaders in history.
Many people are wont to point out the sins of Gen. Babangida. They would readily mention the annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election, even though many are always proud to call it the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria. Others would accuse Babangida of heading a government they brand as a metaphor for corruption. Yet others would accuse him of applying so many tactics in government to confuse Nigerians. For these, some Nigerians call him Maradona, after the Argentine soccer wizard, Diego Maradona, whose dribbling skill on the pitch is legendry. Others call him Evil Genius.
However, many years after Babangida left office, with Nigerians seeing other leaders thereafter, the reality is dawning on all. Was Babangida really a sinner or a saint? Take the unity of Nigeria, for instance. Was Nigeria as fractionalised under Babangida as now? Was the chant of marginalisation and nepotism this high under him? Look at the corruption they accused the Babangida government of and compare what happened under the late Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan, as well as what is happening currently under the President Muhammadu Babangida government. Under which government is corruption worse? You be the judge!
No matter what they say about Babangida, one clear thing is that nobody would ever forget his tour of duty as military President, for some good reasons. He was tough, unpretentious, humane and reformist. He left indelible impressions, which will ever be remembered. He could pass for the father of Nigeria’s reformation movement, our own driver for perestroika and glasnost. He came to power, looked at the things on ground and decided to make inputs for a better society. He tried his best, but a tree cannot make a forest.
Babangida’s candour is exceptional. His knack for taking responsibility is legendry. These are qualities leaders should have, among others. It is not common for a leader to, for instance, say that he likes the tag, “Evil Genius,” given to him by those who misunderstood him. Babangida did. It is not common for a leader to admit to the world that a problem defies solution. Babangida did when he said that Nigeria’s economy defied solution. It is not common for a leader, in this part of the world, to tell his countrymen and women that he took responsibility for the actions of his government, like the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, even when it may not have been his fault totally. Babangida did. It is not common for a leader in Nigeria to reveal that he had Radiculopathy and even saying he was going for surgery. Babangida did. He told Nigerians the state of his health.
Nigerians talk about ‘June 12’ and describe it as the freest and fairest election in the country. Nigerians talk about the Option A4 method used to conduct elections in the country in the past. They praise these achievements and innovations but are ill at ease to give credit to Babangida. They dwell on the dark side of his government and overlook the good.
Like him or hate him, Babangida did some unique things while in government, far greater than any leader the country has ever seen. Nigeria now enjoys private participation in many sectors, but people are pretending not to know that Babangida made it happen. It was Babangida who made the liberalisation of the broadcast industry possible, which saw to private participation. It can only be imagined what would have become of the sector had this not been done. It was Babangida who actualised and gave much fillip to the liberalisation of the education sector, which gave the private sector the opportunity to fully participate in education. We know the contributions private schools, at all levels, have made in the education sector. Babangida established the People’s Bank of Nigeria to help traders and artisans, who might not have got loans from commercial banks owing to the stringent requirements, to access financial support. This laid the foundation for microfinance banking that we have presently.
Babangida set up many government agencies, many of which are enduring till today. It was to his credit that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) was birthed. Realising that the police were overstretched and, perhaps, distracted from the core duty of fighting crime, he took from them the responsibility of road safety and created the FRSC. The performance of the agency has shown that he was wise in doing this. It was Babangida who established the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to fight trade in illicit drugs and narcotics. He established the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs and cosmetics. It was to his credit that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) was founded to arrest the rise in unemployment through empowerment and training for skill acquisition. The list is endless.
Babangida as a leader never had a complex. Where other leaders would want mediocrities to work with them, so that they would be the only shining stars, Babangida sought and worked with the brightest Nigerians. He never felt intimidated or afraid of the towering profiles of his employees. He brought outstanding and accomplished civilians into his government, including Jibril Aminu, Babs Fafunwa, Tam David-West, Rilwanu Lukman, Chu Okongwu, Olu Falae, Bolaji Akinyemi, Hamza Abdullahi, Bola Ajibade, Clement Akpamgbo, Tony Momoh, Kalu Idika Kalu, Abubakar Alhaji, Olikoye Ramsome-Kuti, Tunji Olagunju, Alabo Graham Douglas, Shettima Mustapha and Humphrey Nwosu, among others.
Those from the military who worked with him were also the finest. Talk of Ebitu Ukiwe, Ike Nwachukwu, Anthony Ukpo, Gado Nasko, Anthony Okpere, Anthony Ikhazoboh, Mamman Vatsa and Patrick Koshoni, among others. His assemblage of professionals, technocrats and intellectuals was a study in appointment. With inputs from these human assets, his government formulated great policies.
Babangida was not afraid of taking decisions as a leader. He is still not afraid to do so as a statesman. He once said that history would forgive those who take wrong decisions but would never forgive those who never take any decision. He did take tough decisions. He stuck to principles even when it affected his personal relationships. The case of Vatsa, his childhood friend, whose execution for a coup plot he sanctioned, is a case in point. No doubt a painful decision, he did not buckle to make a point that nobody was above the law. He was courageous and brave as a soldier. He fought during the civil war to keep Nigeria one. He survived two military coups, including the one where his attackers hit at his home and killed his aide-de-camp. He foiled a coup by Col. Bukar Suka Dimka, risking his life to go and meet the leader of the coup face to face, before leading a counter-attack that neutralised the rebellion and insurgency.
Although tough, Babangida proved to also have the humility to listen to Nigerians. Once, he created Akwa Ibom and Katsina states in 1987 and declared that they would be the last. However, when a fresh agitation started, even when it looked like defiance by the agitators, he said, since Nigerians wanted the matter revisited, there was need to create more states. And he did. The states that would be celebrating their 30th anniversary on August 27, 2021, are beneficiaries of this benevolence. They include Abia, Adamawa, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Jigawa, Kogi, Osun, Taraba and Yobe.
Just as nobody is perfect, Babangida is not perfect. He is a mortal and could not have done everything to perfection. However, he did his best. He left an enduring legacy in Nigeria and his imprimatur would never be erased from the country’s history. He was a simple soldier who rose to be a leader and now a statesman. He is charismatic, likeable, cosmopolitan and nationalistic. He has friends across the country and he is easily the only Nigerian leader who is most acceptable nationwide. Wherever and whenever you see him, he remains IBB – Indomitable Brave Boss.