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“The most moral man is not the one who restrains from evil but he who does good.” – Prof. Emevwo Biakolo, 1991, in The Guardian, 1991. VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ p 164.
Most Nigerians who have read quotations from the VBQ might be living under the impression that all the entries were from foreign lands and antiquity. They will be wrong. The book is loaded with sayings from Nigerians. This is one of them; and it is the perfect start to the birthday wish to General (rtd) Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, who is 84 today. After IBB launched his biography early in the year, many people have asked me three questions: were you consulted before the book was written? What is your comment on it? Do you still hold the man in high regard after the revelations in the book?
The answer to the third is a little longer, but, it starts with Yes. I must have read over fifty articles and listened to commentaries on several television and radio stations since the book was launched. While I will readily agree that many of the criticisms were fair and honest, they have not on the whole altered my view of his eight years – 1985 to 1993 — in power; for several reasons.
Permit me to make the concessions to those who assailed him for betraying Abiola; for subverting the outcome of the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history and for stepping aside instead of confronting Abacha. They have some valid points. But, as I see it, underlying everything was survival. Self-preservation remains the first law of nature; and discretion remains the best demonstration of courage. Walking straight into a bullet is not bravery but stupidity. When defenseless, nobody in his right senses would fail to run for cover.
“Knowledge is power.” – Francis Bacon, 1561-1626. VBQ p 115
Military regimes represent the triumph of a small group of soldiers over the established order, be it civilian or military. The mere fact that one had led successful coups in the past does not mean that he can never been out-gunned. When that happens, as was the case in 1993, the unexpected happens. It has been said several times that IBB participated in every successful coup including the one which brought him to the presidency. It all started in Bida Government College when he was the leader of a group of young men who went into the Army on graduation. His class were soon followed by the next class; many of who literally followed Babangida as their leader in school. Among his followers were Abdulsalami Abubakar, Mamman Vasta, Mohammed Magoro, Sanni Bello, Garba Duba, Gada Nasco, and Mohammed Sani Sami – among others. They were frequently posted to different sections of the army, but, by unwritten agreement, funneled information to their leader. IBB at any one point in time after the first few years had a vast knowledge of what was going on in every section of, not only the army, but all the other services which none of the service chiefs could match. He used it to move up rapidly in the service and to bring the others up with him.
How Abacha was able to get into the inner caucus is unclear. But, he was close to the clique. So close, he was trusted with the positions of Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Defence. Unknown to IBB, who was concentrating on the transition to civil rule programme, Abacha had surrounded all the Bida boys with people loyal to himself. I was in the Vanguard Newsroom with the News Editor on August 26, 1993, when IBB announced to the world that he was “stepping aside”. The custom in those days was for the contents of those addresses to be sent to media houses through fax machines. As a columnist, Dapo wanted me around to start working on the analysis of the address. Something strange happened.
The original address sent out had announced that IBB and all the service chiefs, with their names included, were stepping aside with Babangida. Suddenly, the machine stopped briefly. When it started rolling again, Abacha’ s name had been deleted with biro. Surely, there must be a copy of that fax message in an archive somewhere. It was much later that news filtered out that Abacha and his gang, now in control, had ordered IBB to go home, but they were not leaving. The alternative was death, not only for IBB but also the Bida group who were surrounded.
Contrary to what a lot of people wrote or said after he launched his book, Babangida was telling the truth when he said he was compelled to annul the election because Abacha and his gang were not ready to go in 1993 – free and fair election be damned!!!
“Let us all be brave enough to die a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom”.
That was a quotation accidentally dropped when compiling the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS. It tallies with the statement credited to our own Zik of Africa, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, who said, “he who fights and runs away, lives to run or fight another day”.
Those who accused IBB of cowardice for not confronting Abacha’s murderous gang, forget three things. First, it was not his own life alone that was in danger, in the case of a shoot-out. Several lives would have been lost in the struggle for control. Second, it is a fact that during the Civil War, he had risked his life to save his friend, Duba, who was hit and would have died if not carried to safety. IBB took the risk. Third, he was ordered by Chief of Army Staff, Danjuma, to go and blow up Radio Nigeria after Dimka assassinated General Murtala Mohammed. Instead of killing several hundred civilians trapped in Radio House with Dimka, he walked, unarmed into the building and confronted Dimka, drunk and armed, persuaded the rebel to abandon a lost cause. He could have been killed. And, guess what? His superior officers would have blamed him for not obeying orders. IBB didn’t need to sacrifice his life to prove his bravery.
That said; my real reasons for still regarding him as the best Head of State Nigeria ever had include the following: number of enduring institutions created in his eight years in office; and the fact that today, the economic policies he tried to introduce and which were widely opposed by so-called Progressives, have now become the foundations of government policy – with one difference. Instead of world class economists and technocrats like Kalu Idika Kalu and late SP Chuks Okongwu, we have local champions trying to manage the Nigerian economy whose complexity they simply don’t understand. The results are there for all of us to see.
The exchange rate was never more than N12/US$1 during IBB’S regime; and the “Progressives assailed him. Today it is N1600/US$1 and they want Fellow Nigerians to applaud what is called courageous decision. Fuel was a mere 70 kobo per litre in 1993 and most Nigerians, mostly fools, considered that outrageous. Today, people applaud each time Dangote brings fuel price down to N820/litre. That apparently is progress. Was there acute food scarcity in 1993 such as we now experience?
Since facts are sacred and comment is free, I have no objections if IBB bashers want to substitute opinions for fact. I only want to present a few facts. Because state-creation is the cannabis of the political classes, his regime created more new states than any other Head of State. Many individuals, who went from rags to riches, after becoming Governors, would still probably still be in rags if their states were not created by IBB. He certainly created more institutions – NDLEA, NAFDAC, NDIC, FRSC etc — than all the others put together. A fair judge renders verdict based on the totality of evidence available. But, Babangida haters want us to consider only one fact – annulment of June 12, 1993 election. I reject their judgment.
The answer to the first is the shortest. No. I was not consulted. Babangida incidentally consults widely before taking any step; but, he also selects those whose counsel he seeks for reasons known to him. That is in order. Most adults, in positions of power, do the same. The people to ask for advice would depend on the issue to be discussed.
The answer to the second is also very short. As a professional Marketing/Sales professional, starting with my first sales job with a pharmaceutical company in Boston in 1968, I learnt one enduring lesson. If you have a less than perfect product to sell, you don’t start by highlighting its defects. You present the good story first. If I was consulted, I would have advised that the first two or three chapters be devoted to the positive achievements already documented before mentioning and explaining the undesirable aspects and would not dwell long on it.
Even then, it is still a fact that the military, especially IBB created Abiola, the richest Nigerian at the time, by loading him with contracts. Furthermore, if the first primaries, which produced late General Shehu Yar’Adua and Malam Adamu Ciroma, as candidates of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and the National Republican Congress, had not been annulled, Abiola would not have been a candidate on June 12, 1993. What makes one annulment acceptable and the other not – other than personal sentiments? Hypocrisy can never cover up for emotions.
Happy birthday Sir.
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