Metamorphosis of a general

Last week’s surprise call by former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida for a restructured Nigeria has no doubt raised the stake in the now strident calls for a redefinition of the country in order to reduce ethnic agitations borne out of frustrations from an unbalanced polity.

Coming at a period when ethnic agitations peaked with proliferations of separatist groups especially in the Southeast and South-South geo-political zones of Nigeria, beating the drums of secession, Babangida’s call is seen by many as a way to pull the country back from the precipice even though many others wondered at what point did the general find himself on the road to Damascus.

Incidentally however, his call came four days after the 24th anniversary of the official annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which came via an unsigned statement on June 23, 1993, and halting, in the most unpatriotic manner, his winding and costly transition-to-civil rule programme to apparently promote selfish interests without minding the gains or effects on the polity.

In his Eid-el-Fitri message to Nigerians, the general who is not known to issuing statements on the state of the nation said the time was ripe to restructure Nigeria by strengthening the federating units and allowing for the establishment of state police for increased security.

Specifically, Babangida called for a change of tactics in the management of Nigeria through necessary reforms that would provide answers not only to the national questions to douse ethnic tensions but also create a sense of belonging for all the component parts that made up the federation.

He said, “If we have repeatedly done certain things and not getting the desired results, we need to change tactics and approach, and renew our commitment. It is our collective responsibilities to engender a reform that would be realistic and in sync with modern best practices.

“For example, restructuring has become a national appeal as we speak, whose time has come. I will strongly advocate for devolution of powers to the extent that more responsibilities be given to the states while the Federal Government is vested with the responsibility to oversee our foreign policy, defense, and economy.

“Even the idea of having Federal Roads in towns and cities has become outdated and urgently needs revisiting. That means we need to tinker with our constitution to accommodate new thoughts that will strengthen our nationality.

“Restructuring and devolution of powers will certainly not provide all the answers to our developmental challenges; it will help to reposition our mindset as we generate new ideas and initiatives that would make our union worthwhile.“The talk to have the country restructured means that Nigerians are agreed on our unity in diversity; but that we should strengthen our structures to make the union more functional based on our comparative advantages.”

WHILE Babangida’s position is being celebrated by those clamouring for true federalism as coming from a very strong voice, many others see it as a way of seeking relevance or offering restitution for damages willfully done by him and his ilk during the formative stages of the country as a political entity.

Indeed, if anybody is to be blamed for the sorry state that Nigeria has found itself in terms of socio-economic and political realities, that person is Babangida because the general had all it takes, as a maximum ruler, to put the country on the right tract.

Babangida who received his commission in the Royal Nigerian Army on September 26, 1963, a month before the fighting force was changed to Nigeria Army following the proclamation of the Republic on October 1 of the same year, was part of the revenge coup staged by northern soldiers in July 1966 that led to the death of scores of officers and dragged the country to a 30-month civil war. He was 25 years old.

After helping in foiling the Bukar Sukar Dimka coup in which the Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed was killed in February 1976, Babangida, then a Colonel, was made a member of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) the highest decision-making body for the military and government of Nigeria at the age of 34. He was part of the decision to jettison the parliamentary system that was in practice in the First Republic for the American system with a strong executive president.

After the military toppled Nigeria’s first experiment with the presidential system in the coup that removed President Shehu Shagari and installed Muhammadu Buhari on new year’s eve in 1984, Babangida came back to the SMC as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), a position he held till he, alongside others, shoved Buhari aside and emerged as the first and only military President on August 27, 1985. It was ten days after his 44th birthday.

For eight years, Babangida bestrode Nigeria’s political space like a colossus. He had tremendous powers and could rightly be regarded as the foremost maximum ruler in the nation’s history.

Unhindered by any institutional or constitutional bottlenecks or any form of checks and balances, Babangida had a firm grip of both his military constituency and the political class using the stick and carrot approach. At a time, he sacked the entire Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) and like a Machiavellian that he confessed to be, instilled fear in his peers and subordinates when he had his best friend, Mamman Vatsa, also a general in the Army, executed for attempting to seize power.

UNLIKE Buhari before him, who was becoming unpopular with his strong-arm tactics of instilling discipline in Nigerians and Sanni Abacha after him, who faced intense opposition from local and international fronts, Babangida came into office with a lot of goodwill from Nigerians who saw the gap-toothed general as a ruler with a human heart who was prepared to take the country to greater heights.

This he actually exhibited by flinging open the prison gates for detained politicians under Buhari and in his engagement of top technocrats, proven experts and renowned academics, who came out with sound policies to develop the country.

Under Babangida, many extra-ministerial agencies like the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) and others were established to handle specific areas of needs.

The country was also restructured with the creation of additional 11 states and 136 local councils while, envisaging more agitation in the Niger Delta region, he established the Oil Mineral-Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) and increased oil royalties to states from 1.5 to 3 percent, a development that was built upon to create the 13 percent Oil Mineral Derivation Fund.

Most importantly, Babangida set up a 46-member panel to review the 1979 Constitution, established a Political Bureau that recommended a two-party structure and a homegrown voting system to check rigging and discourage money politics.

His regime’s transition-to-civil rule programme is the most elaborate and the most costly in the history of the nation as the Federal Government not only wrote the constitutions and manifestoes of the two political parties but also built offices for them in state capitals and local council headquarters across the country.

Babangida also attempted to bring sanity into the political space by banning old politicians, who have actually lost control of party platforms, and encouraging young ones who were made to join politics at the ward levels to inject fresh blood into the political system. The country was also made to experiment with diarchy when, for two years between 1991 and 1993, civil rule was instituted in all the states and the National Assembly inaugurated with only the presidency under military control.

These elaborate preparations culminated in the conduct of the acclaimed freest and fairest election in Nigeria’s history when on June 12, 1993, Nigerians defied religious, tribal and sectional interests, to elect Chief M.K.O Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as the president of the country.

INEXPLICABLY however, Babangida annulled the election that should have been used to cement the unity of Nigeria and the fragile thread of harmony of the components parts that made up the nation was stretched almost to a breaking point. Since that period the cracks in the country’s wall of unity have continued to expand leading to the present ethnic and regional agitations.

All attempts to reverse the damage by zoning the presidency to the Southwest and the eventual filling of the slot by the South-South, have not yielded positive results. Rather the gulf, mainly because of the imbalance in the polity and lack of genuine interest at redress, has continued to widen.

With Babangida’s call, many Nigerians have been wondering whether the general who, more than any other leader before and after him, had the greatest opportunity to decree restructuring into existence by reversing the earlier decision of adopting the expensive American presidential system and devolving powers into the component units, may be seeking genuine restitution for bringing the country to this state.

Many have also wondered whether the general was only looking for political relevance by making “politically correct” statement for him to have a role in the unfolding politics to determine the direction of the country in the 2019 general elections or that, he, in consonance with past leaders who are responsible for the state of Nigeria, was saying this as a strategy to douse tension for the status quo to remain.

Being a strong voice among leaders from the northern part of the country who are generally seen as averse to anything that could change the current Nigerian structure, the general could be playing the card to serve sectional interest through the creation of a false sense of support for other pro-restructure regions to let down their guards. This is seen in much the same way as the position of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, former Vice-President who, many alleged, is singing the sweet songs of restructuring to garner southern votes in the 2019 elections.

But this is not the first time that Babangida would be flying the restructuring kite. In his last two attempts at contesting the Nigerian presidency in 2007 and 2011, the general pledged in his manifestoes, to bring the country back on the path of true federalism.

For a man who may have been hampered by the military command structure which did not give room for decentralization of authority and political inexperience in being at the corridor of power at a relatively younger age, septuagenarian Babangida may have, with the benefits of hindsight in examining the current national situations, genuinely seen the need to chart a new course. And as he said in the statement, “At 76, I have seen it all. I have seen war. I have fought war. And I have survived war, even though I still suffer the pains and injuries of war, it is part of the selfless sacrifice to keep the union afloat.”

EXPECTEDLY, prominent politicians and other statesmen have been reacting to Babangida’s call with many like senior lawyer Afe Babalola, and ethnic groupings like Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo applauding him and others like Kaduna governor, Ahmed el-Rufai and his former Edo counterpart, Adams Oshiomhole, accusing the general of insincerity.

While calling for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference to fashion out the restructuring procedure, Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said Babangida deserved the 2017 Nigeria Peace Award for his position on the issue.

In a statement he said, “IBB’s position reminds me of what Sophocles, a Greek philosopher, said in his book entitled “The Theban Plays.” Do not let your first thought be your only thought. To think that your will is the only way betrays a shallow mind and an empty heart. It is for this reason that the meadows, which move to and fro on a flood river remains unbroken while those that flow against the flood are broken asunder.

“I salute his courage and brilliance and his ability to position his mind, having regard to the situation on ground. This is a lesson for Nigerians, who remain still and unbending on the issue of restructuring of Nigeria. I challenge them to rise up and embrace what the great Greek philosopher had espoused as far back as 441 B.C.”

According to el-Rufai, Atiku, Babangida and others calling for restructuring are not sincere in their call “because they are mere opportunists looking for political gains from an undefined concept.”

Oshiomhole said, “I heard Babangida talking about restructuring. Although he could have been converted, this is a man under whose tenure, the cabinet was dissolved and for almost a month, he was alone, ruling the country.

“I thought that he should have apologized to the whole country, but there is nothing like that from him. But it is now fashionable for him to talk about restructuring. It was under him that the economy was restructured. He devalued the currency and downsized workers.”

But viewed from whatever perspective, Babangida’s call has no doubt, added more impetus to the call for redefining Nigeria to reduce the imbalance in the polity. It has refurbished to some extent, his damaged credentials.