Whenever the name ‘General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB’, is mentioned in public discussion in Nigeria, some Nigerians would start running their mouths like a faulty faucet.
They would tell you that General Babangida was the worst Nigerian leader that ever ruled Nigeria, while President Buhari is the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria. Why condenm Babangida and praise Buhari?
Their reasons being that General Babangida annulled the June 12, 1993, elections purportedly won by Chief MKO Abiola of blessed memory.
Of a truth, General Babangida annulled those elections, which were adjudged to be the freest, the fairest and the most credible in the history of Nigerian politics.
Another reason they regard General Babangida as the worst leader that Nigeria has ever had was the allegation that he killed Dele Giwa for exposing his drug business with one Gloria Okon.
Inasmuch as I am not holding brief for General Babangida, I am very disappointed to note that most Nigerians, including the educated, are very partial in the way they pass judgments on certain issues.
They are always quick to remember the stories of June 12, 1993 and that of Gloria Okon, but slow or hardly remember the stories of similar atrocities that happened during the military administration of General Buhari?
Why condemn Babangida and praise Buhari? If you talk, you die; if you don’t talk, you’ll die. So, let us talk!
Those who are poor in history or who pretend to have forgotten their history accuse General Babangida for annulling the June 12, 1993 elections, which according to them is a rape on our democracy.
How would they describe what General Buhari did on December 31, 1983, when he sacked the government of Alhaji Aliyu Shehu Shagari’s government in a military coup and aborted a fledgling democracy? Could that be called democracy fornication or democracy adultery? Over to them!
For me, there isn’t any difference between the annulment of June 12, 1993 elections and the overthrow of Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s democratically elected government by General Buhari and his fellow coup plotters on December 31, 1983.
Why?
Because the two Generals murdered democracy. If you want General Babangida dead because he annulled elections that were said to be free and fair, didn’t Alhaji Shehu Shagari win a free and fair election, which General Buhari aborted?
What are we talking about?
I am even shocked to note that the same President Buhari who destroyed democracy in 1983 and truncated the Metro line project of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, the one we call ‘LKJ,’and later went to Lagos, as a civilian president, to commission mere bus-stops, is the same person that they are showering praises on. Why condemn Babangida and praise Buhari?
Let’s continue in retrospect!
During General Olusegun Obasanjo’s reign as Nigeria’s military Head of State, he appointed Mohammadu Buhari, then a Lieutenant Colonel, in March 1976, as the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources, an equivalent of today’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was later created in 1977, the young Lt. Col. Buhari was elevated to the position of its Chairman, a position he held until 1978.
When Lt. Col. Buhari, now Nigeria’s President, was serving as the Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources, 2.8 billion dollars allegedly went missing from the accounts of the NNPC in Midlands Bank in the United Kingdom.
The Crude Oil Sales Tribunal of Inquiry headed by Justice Ayo Irikefe investigated that allegation, but nothing came out of it. I hope you’ll not ask me why?
In 1984, when Buhari had overthrown Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s government and had become a General and Nigeria’s Head of State, something funny but serious happened.
The Emir of Gwandu, whose son was General Buhari’s aide-de-camp, came in with 53 suitcases with unknown contents from Saudi Arabia. Funny enough, those suspicious suitcases were cleared through the Customs on 10 June 1984 without inspection.
How about the human rights abuses during General Buhari’s administration? Did you not remember how his administration used Decree Number 2 to arrest afro-beat singer Fela Anikulapu-Kuti on September 4, 1984, while he was about to embark on an American tour, and later jailed him on ‘spurious’ charges of exporting foreign currency?
Did you not also remember how his administration used the Protection Against False Accusations Decree Number 4, considered by scholars and other civilized observers as the most repressive press law ever enacted in Nigeria, to punish Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor of The Guardian newspapers?
You may also not have forgotten how he later went to the next level with Decree 20 that dealt with cases on illegal ship bunkering and drug trafficking. It was this Decree that he used retroactively to execute Bernard Ogedengebe, and later Sidikatu Tairi, Sola Oguntayo, Oladele Omosebi, Lasunkanmi Awolola, Jimi Adebayo and Gladys Iyamah, who were convicted on drug-related charges.
If it is true that General Babangida killed Dele Giwa for whatever purpose or reason, should I remind PMB’s praise-singers of the number of Nigerians killed by the Fulani herdsmen and the Boko boys, and still counting, under PMB’s administration?
Why are most Nigerians ‘blind’ to the ‘sins’ of General Buhari, but quick to remember and see those of General Babangida? Why condemn Babangida and praise Buhari? I would like to know.
Shouldn’t the ‘sins’ of the two retired Generals be seen in the same light? They should, if you asked me. Anything short of that is partiality. Why condemn Babangida and praise Buhari?
So, since many Nigerians forgave General Buhari after he had destroyed democracy like General Babangida and voted for him to become the current president of Nigeria, I have also forgiven General Babangida for his June 12, 1993 mistake.
NO APOLOGY TO ANYBODY, WHATSOEVER! IS THERE ANYBODY AMONG US WHO IS NOT INFALLIBLE?
Above all, most of the people who condemned General Babangida for annulling June 12, 1993, elections, including Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are among the people causing problems in Nigeria today.
Why condemn Babangida and praise Buhari?
