By Abdu Rafiu
Many events have occurred in quick succession and I discovered I have some catching up to do. While I will still have the opportunity to pay deserved tributes to the most iconic leaders of these times, the brave heroes in the trenches in quest for a new order in our land in the persons of Chief Edwin Clark and Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the most pressing subject of the day is Ibrahim Babangida and his autobiography. I will come back on Adebanjo and Edwin Clark some other days.
Pent-up grievances, suppressed anger have all been released following the public unveiling of Babangida’s autobiography. It is a wave of recriminations here; it is tornado seeking crushing mindless vengefulness there. It was predictable and he was aware that sooner or later he would have to face hot metals that were undisguisedly being beaten into shape in the furnace, fashioned into arrows to be trained against him at an opportune time. Many were prepared to say on oath that he would be called out to account for his transgressions. Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, editor of The Tribune, who is exceedingly, perhaps matchlessly widely read, who reads any and everything in print, was to remind us of the anxiety of Babangida after the June 12 election was annulled.
As the implication of the annulment dawned on him he apprehensively asked Professor Omo Omoruyi, his friend and confidant: “I see disaster for myself and my family. Where do I go from here?” He went further: “I told you that I am a prisoner. What do I do?” Something serious had taken place while he was away in Katsina. His colleagues had cancelled the results of an election said to be the freest and most credible election in the annals of Nigeria.
So, once a while in the last 31 years arsenals were fired aimed at him in his Hilltop mansion that is his home in Minna. The whistle for what may be called the Day of Judgment came last week Thursday. It was the launching of his book, A Journey in Service about which he himself says tellingly demonstrating the anguish of a tormented soul in a closet: “…this is not a book about finding blame, inventing excuses or whitewashing known facts.” The brandishing of unflattering testimonial for IBB has begun; it is unrelenting. The torrents of criticism are unceasing.
The wounds he inflicted in many souls, the pains his Administration brought on many homes, dashed hopes and his blood-stained hands not many would eagerly shake are the things in his testimonials his compatriots would want pinned to his chest or for which they would press he should only be remembered. A media personality, Morayo Brown, was quoted by an online newspaper, The News Guru, as saying: “The last 48 hours have been quite interesting. Babangida has a lot of questions to answer and I cannot wait to read the book…Men of valour fought with their voices, pen and influence, yet Babangida reigned like a fearless hurricane , bulldozing all that’s in its path. Many were murdered, my father was thrown into jail several times by the military led by this man for speaking against him and finally had to go on self-exile.
“As a child, growing up with MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat and their children and seeing how both our families were ripped apart alongside many others in the wake of Babangida’s annulment is a trauma I can never get passed. I spent weekends in her home; I was very close to all her children. I was in her house when Mumuni, Hadi and Mariam were whisked away to the US following Kudirat’s death. The home that was filled with laughter and joy became a house of sorrow and pain. That picture never left my head. My father’s stroke was immediately after he heard the news of Kudirat’s death. He never recovered.”
Because the hurt suffered and the dashed hopes of what a great many believed June 12 had in store for the nation, what good he may have done for the country is overshadowed or erased in some cases. Is it conceivable by any stretch of imagination, therefore, that Babangida could go down as a great leader? When did he begin to derail, to go beyond his brief, his assignment about which he was not fully conscious and got entwined in what many regard as grievous sinning, and how? I am just thinking aloud. I am hoping I will find answers to the nagging questions when I have read the book in full and digested its content. I have for now merely run my eyes cursorily through what has been posted in the internet.
It was a gathering of prime movers in our society at the book event that took place in Abuja which he built as the nation’s new federal capital. The gathering did all they could to lift his seemingly heavy spirit. His mien in the picture of him carried on television was that of a troubled and penitent soul. A charismatic fellow, Babangida came to the saddle on 27 August, 1985, flashing his sunshine smiles, a charming face and tooth gapped waving hands and raising hopes for the nation. Uneasiness had settled on the nation when he came. On that day he alighted, standing by a tank the weapon of war for which he was renowned as commander ready to shoot away Nigeria’s hydra-headed problems. He cut a sorry figure on Thursday, but had no choice other than to come out to speak to very troubling issues of his administration, bordering mostly on the ephemeralities of the struggle for power and influence.
The Guardian
