On Thursday, February 20th, the cream of the Nigerian political and economic class gathered in Abuja for the launch of Ibrahim Babangida’s book, “A Journey in Service.” Out of curiosity, I decided to take a peek at what the grandmaster had written. If I had expected him, in his twilight years to show remorse for his misdeeds against Nigeria, or to apologise for those misdeeds, or perhaps ask for forgiveness, I was mistaken. He remained the same old fox, full of tricks and mischief, manipulations and subterfuge, polemics and pun. Even as he advances in age, Ibrahim Babangida has refused to change his dubious ways.
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Many have reacted to Babangida’s so called autobiography. Many more will still react. As a response to his obstinacy and lies, I have decided to produce a brief excerpt from my book, “Political Soldiering : Africa’s Men on Horseback”, published 24 years ago. This will serve as my personal response to Babangida’s false narratives. His attempt to rewrite history in his own image is just a proof of who he is. 
Happy reading:

On August 27, 1985, Major General Ibrahim Babangida, Buhari’s Chief of Army staff, cashed in on the apparent public disenchantment and swept away Buhari’s government in a bloodless coup. He assumed the title of president, considered unusual in military regimes, renamed the Supreme Military Council and settled down to business with a promise to “sanitise the polity, build a strong economy and organise a durable transition of power to the civilians”. 

For the Nigerian people, the smile and warmth with which Babangida announced his arrival was a welcome relief from the scowls, meanness, intimidation and permanent frowns that had been the trademark of leadership in the previous 20 months. 

His maiden cabinet was a roll call of the best brains in Nigeria. Men of integrity, erudition and respect drawn from the universities, big business, the media, the private sector and so on were brought into government. He assured the country that his regime would be the last military government in Nigeria’s political history and announced a gradual but elaborate transition programme designed to last several years. 

He set up many agencies, bureaus, and organisations to teach Nigerians the basics of politics, discipline, patriotism and love of country. He organised the “Great Debate” aimed at giving Nigerians the freedom to decide for themselves whether they wanted an IMF loan or not. 

Our purpose here is to examine some of the issues thrown up by Babangida’s regime, it’s lasting effect on Nigeria’s political and economic destiny, and as much as possible try to understand why it was possible for one man to take a country of over 100 million people for a ride and for so long. It is also important to understand the character of this man, his inner propulsions, his emotional and psychological make-up and the private innate passion that drove him into doing some of the things he did. 

Behaviouralism, which has to do with “the study of observable human behaviour” acknowledges that “men are capable of having emotions, ideas and plans which are private to the individual”. The observation of such overt behavior when manifested becomes not only the source of information concerning men’s experiences and actions but also provides generally more reliable data for conclusions about an individual’s own character, capabilities and permutations.

How Babangida’s private emotions, ideas and plans were foisted on the nation, how the nation’s resources were subjected to a plethora of abuse and misuse, and how the nation remained exceptionally receptive to para-psychological manipulations for a period of eight years vastly go beyond conventions and traditional wisdom.
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It may be possible to have a glimpse through this optical illusion only when one is able to understand Babangida’s superficial formulas in remaking society’s outward form and organisation as well as it’s rational social structure and harmony through a system of rewards, punishment, manipulations, and a spectacular outplay of sentiment borne out of trauma and transformation.

Since Babangida ascended the throne in August 1985, he was to many observers an enigma, a man of considerable complexities, who for eight years bestrode Nigeria’s political terrain like a colosus. His manner of governance, his whims and his survival instincts were unique. Babangida derived his political philosophy from the classical theories of Machiavelli and John Locke.

For him, politics is not just “the art of the possible”, it is the art of ruling a people through deception, empty promises, lies and intimidation. While politics remain the process by which people compete for the control of the instruments of favor, it must involve “the use of fraud”. Babangida firmly believes that politics must be associated with permanent violence, corruption, hypocricy, broken promises and procrastination. 

For the smiling General and the perfidious faithlessness he represents, the best politician is a juggler, or better still a sorcerer, full of tricks, inconsistencies, nihilism and misathropy. Babangida saw himself as the Charles De Gaulle of our time. He believes himself to be a strong man, a man of action with a strong dose of egoism, pride, toughness, and cunning.

This belief best explains the reason why he took Nigeria on a jolly ride for so many years. He told Nigerians that as political nonentities, they must learn the rudiments of democracy at his feet. It was a long lecture, scheduled to last eight years, or more, or even till eternity.

However, it was a very sad lecture because at the end of it all, Nigeria learnt nothing but Nigeria lost everything. The energies, the resources and the time channeled therein went down the drain. “What went wrong?” many dared to ask. The students said their teacher was a bad one. A fake. The teacher said his students were at fault. He described them as natural idiots who lacked the capacity to learn despite his great skills and stamina. 

Right from the onset, Babangida made it obvious that he had a bag of tricks slung over his shoulder. A hidden agenda. When confronted with this, he denied it. Babangida appropriated vast powers for the presidency, but instead of using these powers for the good of the nation, he decided to use it for personal aggrandisement. 
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His immediate predecessors, Buhari and Idiagbon, sought to strengthen the fibers of the nation with tyranny and heavy government and Nigerians were not amused. But whatever their short comings, the two men were wise, selfless, ethical, incorruptible and propelled by a singleness of purpose – love of country. This much Nigerians were able to see in the 20 months they spent in office. Ibrahim Babangida’s replacement of these two men has been disastrous. It is no doubt the greatest tragedy ever to befall Nigeria at peace time. It was as bloody, corrosive, tragic and dehumanising as the 30 month civil war. It certainly wasn’t an exaggeration when Douglas Amadough stated that “Babangida dug an open grave not only for Nigeria as a nation, but for generations to come”.

His warmth, smiles and lovable personality was a shell hiding the most devious and atrocious mind. Babangida came to power brandishing a long list of goodies including human rights and freedom. For Nigerians, it was a breather from the sternness and unsmiling demeanor of his predecessors. Unfortunately, his gift was a Greek gift, a fake jewel with which he sought legitimacy and acceptance. Once this was achieved, he went ahead to unleash a blitzard of atrocities aimed at taking Nigeria back to the Stone Age. 

Babangida portrayed himself as having genuine emotional sympathy for the common man and mankind in general. But his empathy were fraudulent and his emotions were abstract and atomistic. It had no solid base. In reality, it was mere posturing. He felt nothing about the common man except that they provided him the reason to indulge his comforts, unmindful of the misery, degradation and human suffering under which they exist. Said Amadough, “in every society, a leader aims progress; but in the case of IBB, he increased his years of reign by corpses.”
To be continued tomorrow.
(Culled from the author’ book, “Political Soldiering: Africa’s Men on Horseback.” Published by John Jacob’s Classic Publishers Ltd. Enugu. 2001. Pp 84 – 94)
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