{"id":46590,"date":"2021-08-12T07:21:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T07:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=46590"},"modified":"2021-08-12T07:21:48","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T07:21:48","slug":"i-have-no-regrets-babangida-declares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=46590","title":{"rendered":"I have no regrets: Babangida declares"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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GENERAL Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria\u2019s former military ruler, is a bundle of contradictions. Known as the evil genius, he did much good and much evil. Yet, in his recent interview with Arise TV ahead of his 80th birthday, Babangida said he had no regrets. He also spoke presumptuously about Nigeria\u2019s unity. But as an architect of Nigeria\u2019s current state, Babangida can\u2019t rewrite history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take his deeds in power. Truth is, the verdict of history would be mixed, namely: he did good things, but his evil deeds cast dark shadows over his good. Let\u2019s start with Babangida\u2019s good deeds. First, the economy. General Babangida liberalised Nigeria\u2019s economy. His regime was recognised worldwide for its pro-market measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babangida told Arise TV: \u201cI believe in free market economy\u201d. He is right: Nigeria can\u2019t succeed as a command-and-control economy. So, I applaud him for being a strong voice for economic liberalism in Nigeria. Furthermore, Babangida was a detribalised leader. Unlike President Buhari, who is only comfortable with his ethnic group and always puts their interests above those of other ethnic nationalities, Babangida was at home anywhere in Nigeria. He understood the dynamics and sensitivities of Nigerians and was overwhelmingly better than Buhari at managing Nigeria\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Babangida told Arise TV that Nigeria\u2019s next president should have the following qualities: \u201cA person who travels in this country and has a friend virtually everywhere and who knows at least one person he can communicate with; a person who is very versed in the economy, and then a good politician who should be able to talk to Nigerians\u201d.  Babangida demonstrated these qualities in power; Buhari utterly lacks them. President Buhari can\u2019t communicate and engage with Nigerians; can\u2019t forge relationships across the country; and can\u2019t build a national consensus on any issue. He\u2019s utterly aloof and removed from Nigerians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, Babangida sweet-talked Nigerians. He engaged them on whether to take an IMF loan; he engaged them on a political transition programme to return Nigeria to civil rule. He made dialogue and consultation the governing principle of his regime.  But here\u2019s the rub. Living up to his reputation as Maradona and Evil Genius, Babangida acted purely for self-interested reasons. At every turn, he deceived and manipulated Nigerians. He pulled wool over their eyes, conducted a presidential election and then arbitrarily annulled it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even today, Babangida glibly explains away his annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, presumed won by MKO Abiola. \u201cYou want me to be honest with you?\u201d Babangida told Ngozi Alaegbu, the Arise TV interviewer. \u201cIf it materialised (that is, if Abiola became president), there would have been a coup d\u2019etat which would have been violent\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My reaction was: So what? Abiola eventually died in prison. General Sani Abacha eventual seized power and ran a violent, bloody regime. It\u2019s utterly evil and self-serving to annul a free and fair election because there would be a coup if the winner became president.  Except Babangida had a gun to his head and was forced to annul the election, which he denies, he should have handed over to Abiola and let events take their course. History would have judged him differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, 28 years after the annulment, the truth is still out there. In 1994, Lt-General Oladipo Diya, then Abacha\u2019s deputy, told a different story. In one interview, Diya said: \u201cThe annulment was a disappointment. But General Babangida should be held responsible; he didn\u2019t want to go. I was the eighth or ninth in the hierarchy of the Armed Forces at the time. Babangida won\u2019t say he called the Armed Forces\u2019 officers to discuss the annulment. He only called us after the annulment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babangida either annulled the election to cling on to power, which is utterly na\u00efve, or, as President Olusegun Obasanjo says, out of \u201cbad belle\u201d! Whichever, it was an evil deed. Then, there was the evil deed of corruption. In a World Bank book titled Voting for Reform, Professors Jeffrey Herbst and Adebayo Olukoshi wrote: \u201cUnder the Babangida regime, unbudgeted expenditure, extrabudgetary accounts and secret accounts became significant\u201d. They argued that the regime created a patron-client network and used \u201cside payments, bribes and patronage\u201d to maintain it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babangida is right that corruption is worse today than under his regime, but he can\u2019t deny responsibility for hugely corrupting Nigerian politics. All of which brings me to Babangida\u2019s views on Nigeria\u2019s unity. He told Arise TV: \u201cWhen we were in the military, we talked about certain issues about Nigeria. The unity of Nigeria, as far as we were concerned, was a settled issue; presidentialism was a settled issue\u201d. Asked if \u201csettled\u201d meant non-negotiable, he said yes! He also rejected regionalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s galling. Beyond having the weapons to enforce their will, what gave the military the monopoly of wisdom to decide settled issues for Nigeria? What made them wiser than Nigeria\u2019s founding fathers who negotiated the 1963 Constitution based on parliamentary system, regional autonomy and federal union? Let\u2019s be clear: the First Republic failed because of political intolerance and military adventurism, not because of parliamentarianism or regionalism, which are the preferred systems in most multi-ethnic countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, when did Nigeria\u2019s unity become a settled issue? Babangida said 51 years ago; meaning the Civil War settled it. But if the Civil War settled Nigeria\u2019s unity, why is the military preparing for another war? Recently, the Chief of Army Staff warned secessionists: \u201cWe are more equipped now than before the Civil War\u201d. Truth is, Nigeria\u2019s unity can\u2019t be settled by military force, but through a negotiated political and constitutional settlement, as negotiated by Nigeria\u2019s founding fathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Babangida blamed the tyranny of the political elite for Nigeria\u2019s current mess. But the tyranny of the military elite created Nigeria\u2019s unworkable politico-governance structures. Nigeria must break free from the strictures of the military\u2019s \u201csettled issues\u201d and negotiate an enduring political and constitutional settlement. Nigeria\u2019s unity can\u2019t be settled without restructuring. As for Babangida\u2019s \u201cno regrets\u201d, he should reflect more on his past!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GENERAL Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria\u2019s former military ruler, is a bundle of contradictions. Known as the evil genius, he did much good and much evil. Yet, in his recent interview with Arise TV ahead of his 80th birthday, Babangida said he had no regrets. He also spoke presumptuously about Nigeria\u2019s unity. But as an architect of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nI have no regrets: Babangida declares » WatchDog Plus Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=46590\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odofin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=46590#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncategorized\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"I have no regrets: Babangida declares\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I have no regrets: Babangida declares » WatchDog Plus Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=46590","author":"Odofin","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=46590#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uncategorized","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I have no regrets: Babangida declares"}]}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Odofin","author_link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?author=2"},"rttpg_comment":17,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">Uncategorized<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"GENERAL Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria\u2019s former military ruler, is a bundle of contradictions. Known as the evil genius, he did much good and much evil. Yet, in his recent interview with Arise TV ahead of his 80th birthday, Babangida said he had no regrets. He also spoke presumptuously about Nigeria\u2019s unity. But as an architect of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46590"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}