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A
Birthday Gift For Babangida
By
Reuben
Abati
culled from GUARDIAN, August 20,
2006
If the
organizers of the 65th birthday celebrations of General Ibrahim Babangida,
Nigeria's former President, 1985-1993, wanted to use the event which lasted
for four days in the week that has just ended, to test the waters about the
prospects of a Babangida candidacy in the forthcoming 2007 Presidential
elections, they got more answers than they bargained for. But as they embark
on a post-mortem, which should be useful for their purpose, I hope they
would be sincere enough to confront the General with the truth about his
place in emerging political calculations. If they won't tell him the truth,
we will. I begin by noting that the organisers did a wonderful job of
turning the 65th birthday ceremonies (you may ask: what is special about
65?) into a big carnival, which no one could ignore.
Many newspapers made a lot of
money from advertisements that were placed by admirers of the General
and members of a group called Initiative for Equal Co-Existence and
another group: IBB for President Organisation. In the Daily Trust of
Thursday, August 17, page 36, a total of 169 members of the National
Assembly published an advert titled "Happy Birthday to an icon". In the
same newspaper, one Dattijo Aliyu, described as Honourable Commissioner
for Health, Niger State, wrote a hagiographic piece that was dripping
with syrup and purple patches. "The people are proud of you, and so we
are!", Aliyu enthuses. "They trust you and so we do", he adds. Haba! In
its adverts in the Daily Trust, ThisDay, Punch, Tribune, and Daily
Independent, the Initiative for Equal Co-existence sought to defend IBB
and his ambition, and in one particularly curious piece in The Punch,
the group compared IBB's 2007 ambition to Saul's conversion on the road
to Damascus, and also to Cardinal Ratzinger who had a Nazi past, but is
now Pope Benedict XVI. Catholics surely won't like this.
But it is fairly
illustrative of the kind of sentiments that the pro-IBB group fed
the public with. At a lecture in his honour in Abuja and at his home
in Minna, General Babangida was serenaded by persons who called on
him to come and save Nigeria, run for President and continue the
good work that he started, before "stepping aside". The Abuja
lecture was delivered by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, former Minister
of External Affairs, who used the opportunity to raise fundamental
issues about Nigeria's democracy and the challenges of
consolidation, including the independence and funding of INEC, the
reconstitution of the Council of state, the urgent need for a
re-negotiation of the derivation formula, the value of consensus...
These issues, I am afraid were overshadowed by the politics that
surrounded IBB's outing service as it were, the substance of which
was contained in Babangida's birthday speech and his chest-beating
show of pluck in other declarations thereafter.
The text of his
speech and reports of his statements in the newspapers from
Tuesday to Friday indicated General Babangida's eventual
confirmation of his interest in the 2007 Presidential ticket.
Before now, he had only spoken in parables while his supporters
and strategists told everyone that indeed the General was merely
bidding his time. But why does Babangida want to be President?
The answer can be found in his veiled and open accusation of the
Obasanjo government of incompetence. He could not resist the
temptation of comparing the present government with the one that
he led, noting cynically, that all the problems that his
administration had managed to resolve have all now returned as
major problems for Nigeria.
He wants to
return in 2007 so he could make Nigeria whole again. Here is
Babangida presenting himself as a miracle worker, as a
saint, as someone who has the answers to Nigeria's problems.
In Minna, he was reportedly happy to see the large crowd of
supporters who had turned out to honour him. For all I care,
that crowd could have been rented. He told his audience:
"... because the needs of our peoples remain basic and
mostly existential, our new democracies are challenged to
pursue strategies of economic development that sometime
violate some of the fundamental principles of democracy in a
bid to deliver dividends quickly and to the greatest
majority. If there is any nation that embodies these
contradictory demands and mutually reinforcing imperatives
in very stark form, that nation is Nigeria. I believe the
Nigerian experience with democracy in the last seven years
especially has thrown up the major issue and problems of
democratic transformation in present day Africa....I also
see the pain of dashed hopes, the agony of thwarted dreams
and the regrets of expectations not met. Therefore, over and
above the various prescriptive models for future leadership
that are now being variously canvassed in the popular media,
I would rather simply define the challenge of our immediate
next national leadership as this: to make whole again. To
that I am committed".
It is nonetheless curious that
the same IBB who had used the occasion of his 65th
birthday to rubbish the Obasanjo government in the
foregoing words, could now show up on the pages of
ThisDay newspaper by yesterday morning to tell Nigerians
that "I am not at war with Obasanjo.". He says: "I can't
go to war with the President. That is a media creation".
It is cheap to blame the media for IBB's problems.
Babangida says he is not at war with Obasanjo and that
his family accepts the arrest and investigation of his
son, philosophically. If he is not at war with Obasanjo,
can someone please tell him that Obasanjo is at war with
him? And that Nigerians are happy about that.
He says
he learnt as a child not to undermine people who
have been kind to him at one time or the other, and
that if he has anything to say to the President, he
has direct access to him to do so. Well, will
someone tell IBB that his speech at his 65th
birthday clearly undermined President Obasanjo, and
if he doubts this, he should ask Obasanjo himself.
Or is it likely that IBB's speech was written for
him and he just collected it, and read it publicly
before realising the extent of the malice contained
therein? How does IBB explain the confrontational
statements that have also been made on his behalf by
his close associates?
Hassan Jalo, the Kaduna State Chairman of the
National Democratic Party (NDP) is quoted as
having said for example, that the government of
the day is sponsoring people to discredit
Babangida (ThisDay, August 17, p.7). The
General's Chief of Staff, Colonel Habibu Shuaibu
also reportedly said that his boss is being
persecuted by state agents but that they will
not succeed. ThisDay editors asked IBB a
question about late General Mamman Vatsa whose
widow visited Aso Villa, to protest that her
husband was murdered by the Babangida government
in 1986 on the false ground that he was involved
in a coup plot against the government of the
day. She and her children want justice; they
want the man who killed their breadwinner to be
brought to book.
General Babangida is waving this away as a
non-issue. According to him, Vatsa was his
friend. "Everything I did, I protected him.
I still saw him as a friend". Everything you
did? Including signing his execution
warrant? The Vatsa family, Hajia Safiya and
her children hold a different opinion. Their
frustration, anger and disappointment have
been captured poignantly for record purposes
in a documentary titled "A Widow's Pain, A
General's Burden" produced by a North
Central Democratic Vanguard. It was aired
repeatedly and discussed on Africa
Independent Television during the week. It
is a devastating assessment of General
Babangida by those who are supposed to know
him. The voices of Hajia Safiya and the
words of the late MKO Abiola, and Vatsa,
friends of IBB through the years, present a
picture of this Presidential aspirant that
is radically different from that painted by
his sponsored propagandists.
The opposition to Babangida during the
period of his birthday celebrations was
therefore just as pronounced, if not
more than the support that he
purportedly received. Forty eight hours
to the event, his son was arrested by
the EFCC, questioned and released. There
were threats that his bank accounts
could be frozen. The Vatsa family also
rose against him. The businesses of
Otunba Mike Adenuga, a man who deserves
honours not vilification for
entrepreneurship, were raided by the
EFCC ostensibly in search of documents
that may be linked to the Babangida
family. The heat being put on General
Babangida and his family has become a
major item in the political arena.
One Mahmud Abdullahi writing from
Minna in the Vanguard of August 17,
p. 20 has however, asked: "Who is
Afraid of IBB?" If he wants an
answer, let him go and read another
advert in The Guardian of August 17,
p. 72 placed by a group called
Citizens for Nigeria/AgainstBabangida.com
and titled, most instructively, "Babangida?
Never Again". This particular advert
is meant to mobilise ordinary
Nigerians against Babangida's search
for Nigeria's Presidency in 2007. It
says the people are afraid of
Babangida, they are not proud of
him; they don't trust him. The
Nation newspaper has also accused
IBB of being "cynical, cavalier and
self-serving" in a scathing
editorial assessment of his birthday
speech which the newspaper says bore
"a cargo of mischief" (August 17, p.
17)
I have gone to this length to
attempt a review of the
aforementioned details in order
to provide General Babangida
with a balanced picture of
public reactions to his recent
dance in the political arena.
His strategists may not tell him
the truth. They may be busy
deceiving him that the attacks
on him are politically
motivated. They are bound to
urge him on and reassure him
that his return to the
Presidency is certain. Let him
not be deceived by the likes of
one Ahmed Usman who declared on
the pages of Champion newspaper
yesterday that "They want to
shake him. It is mere politics,
watch out, you will see what
will happen. The moment IBB
enters in full force, all these
other Presidential pretenders
will eclipse because we know
that IBB is still the issue".
I am sorry, General, what
you are up against is not
mere politics but the burden
of history. You are being
haunted by ghosts from the
past. By daring to show
interest in running Nigeria
for a second time, you have
woken up all the ghosts from
the past and they are
determined to make you
account for your past deeds.
Knowing that you are
unpopular with the public,
the Obasanjo government and
its agents will not stop
hounding you. Seeing that
government is trying to
probe you through the back
door, all the victims of
your past government would
show up, using the platform
of civil society to
"persecute" you. The biggest
opposition to you will yet
come from civil society:
human rights groups, the
media, and professional
associations. We will put a
searchlight on your legacy.
We will ask questions about
Dele Giwa, about SAP, about
MKO Abiola and June 12,
about your contempt for due
process, and about Abacha,
the phenomenon that you left
behind. And we shall ask: if
you love democracy so much,
why didn't you allow it in
1993? I am not sure that you
will always like what the
people will come up with;
the placards that they will
carry or the pain in their
hearts. Don't mind the
praise-singers who are
telling you that you are the
messiah that Nigeria needs.
Shakespeare's aphorism is
most apt in your case: "the
evil that men do live after
them..."
The only difference is
that you are alive to
tell us about the good
that you did. And
although we may listen
and read your statements
and interviews, out of
respect for your rights
as a citizen and human
being, you cannot blame
us for agreeing with you
that this country needs
quality leadership and
that we the people have
a right to make a choice
that will lead to true
transformation. But not
the kind of choice that
will return you and
those hungry masquerades
who have been dancing
around you to power. I
am sure you will respect
our right as a people to
do this. And this is not
about being a "genius"
or a Maradona. So, if I
were you really, I won't
bother. I won't tempt
fate....
What is clear is
that Nigerians are
no longer going to
accept just anybody
who shows up in the
political ring as a
leader. We have seen
too many thieves,
liars and murderers
in high places. Now
our duty is to
subject all
political aspirants
to close scrutiny
and interrogation.
It is also obvious
that the struggle
for power ahead of
the 2007 elections
is causing a serious
intra-class war
among the power
elite. The so-called
big men of Nigerian
politics are turning
against each other.
Nigerians must
encourage this clash
in order to destroy
the conspiracy that
has held Nigeria
down thus far and to
gain an idea of the
truth about our
lives.
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