Babangida and his Inglorious Journey in Disservice to our Nation By Sunday Afolayan

By Sunday Afolayan

The nation woke up on Thursday 20th February, 2025 to witness the bizarre gathering of the creme de la creme of our society, hovering around the former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, during the public presentation and launch of his inglorious autobiography, “A Journey in Service,”  which has attracted wide condemnation as a self-serving and mendacious  attempt to rebrand his tumultuous legacy as a heroic journey in the service of Nigeria. However, a critical examination of his ignominious tenure as military president reveals a bloodstained legacy of tyranny, corruption, and wholesome deceit.

Babangida’s regime, which lasted from 1985 to 1993, was marked by series of catastrophic events that devastated the country. From the gruesome and unresolved murder of Dele Giwa, Editor-in-Chief of defunct Newswatch to the Nigeria’s Lockheed C-130H-LM Hercules, which mysteriously crashed on September 26, 1992, killing 159 newly trained soldiers and 8 foreign nationals, to the execution of Mamman Vatsa – his best friend and others, his wicked annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, which was widely regarded as free and fair, remain a festering wound in the plexus of Nigeria’s political history. This egregious act of electoral malfeasance was a brazen display of Babangida’s contempt for democratic norms and the Nigerian peoples. It is shameful that Babangida, in his pennyworth narrative of a book, could attempt to wish away those heinous issues by claiming they were carried out by faceless “criminals” or dead personages, who do no longer enjoy the grace to defend themselves.

It is hard, for instance, to accept his clean bill in the assassination of such a refined journalist in such a brutal manner under his watch while his government, despite being accused in various quarters, could not fish out the culprit. No amount of formaldehyde can watch clean the hands of a man who carries about the decomposed corpse of an angry victim, particularly of state oppression. Like Abel’s, Dele Giwa’s blood is still crying, now louder, for vengeance and, sooner or later, here or hereafter, his Maker will avenge his cause and the consequence will be thunderous. Whether we accept it or not, what is hidden before the mortal man can never be hidden to Immorality.

It is hard to imagine that that Abacha could pose a threat to Babangida in the annulment of June 12 election, when, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, he could either remove him from office or retire him. Only a natinal radio announcement could get rid of the man if he was actually a monster. Or why was he the Commander-in-Chief? There are obvious contradictions in IBB’s claim that his love for the nation and the Abacha threat were his reason for the annulment of Nigeria’s fairest and freest election, which was the hallmark of his heavily funded political transition, having gulped about N40b. If he truly loved Nigeria, no amount of threat from an individual or group would make him chicken out from actualising the nation’s dream of announcing the election result that the entire world was already waiting for. His failure to successfully midwife one of the world’s longest transition programmes will perpetually brand him a failure in fatality, no matter the number of books he may write to whitewash his dented image. His case is like that of the mother of a stillborn. IBB deserves no celebration.

Babangida’s economic policies, which he prides in through his book, particularly the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), imposed harsh austerity measures on the Nigerian people, exacerbating poverty and inequality. His regime’s high corruption index and cronyism also led to the enrichment of a privileged few, while the majority of Nigerians suffered untold economic trauma. So why won’t the privileged few pay homage to him now as a payback for the corrupt enrichment they enjoyed during his misrule?

Despite these egregious failures, Babangida’s book is an attempt to present an undeserving legacy and brand himself as a selfless servant of the nation. In content, however, his narrative is contradicted by the historical record and the lived experiences of Nigerians who suffered under his tyranny. The celebration of Babangida’s book by his despotic co-sojourners is a testament to the enduring power of Nigeria’s predatory elite. These individuals, who have profited from the country’s misfortune under Babangida’s profligacy, are eager to rehabilitate his image and legitimise his legacy of corruption and authoritarianism.

I have read a substantial part of the inglorious book and I see it as a bloodstained document of a shameless tyrant being celebrated by despotic co-sojourners in the disservice of our nation. Rather than being celebrated, his regime should be remembered as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of holding leaders accountable for their actions. If Babangida has been in jail since he stepped aside from office, it is not too much of justice for Nigeria!