IBB: The president who almost set a precedent but lost a historic moment

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By Chris Paul Otaigbe

Fellow Nigerians, when in December 1983, the former military leadership, headed by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, assumed the reins of government, its ascession was heralded in the history of this country. With the nation at the mercy of political misdirection and on the brink of economic collapse, a new sense of hope was created in the minds of every Nigerian.

Since January 1984, however, we have witnessed a systematic denigration of that hope. It was stated then that mismanagement of political leadership and a general deterioration in the standard of living, which had subjected the common man to intolerable suffering, were the reasons for the intervention…

The initial objectives were betrayed and fundamental changes do not appear on the horizon. Because the present state of uncertainty, suppression and stagnation resulted from the perpetration of a small group, the Nigerian Armed Forces could not as a part of that government be unfairly committed to take responsibility for failure. Our dedication to the cause of ensuring that our nation remains a united entity worthy of respect and capable of functioning as a viable and credible part of the international community dictated the need to arrest the situation.

This was the coup address in August 1985 that launched the man Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida into the Nigerian and international political space.

It was the speech that swept him into power as the Military President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Incidentally, he overthrew the government of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari. He was then Chief of Army Staff under the government he ousted via a Palace coup.

Prior to this event, IBB as, he came to be fondly called, was known only by an average group of elites who spoke of him as a strong soldier who has been a part of virtually every coup in Nigeria. Those who had experienced him, more closely, before he came into government would tell you about the fine officer who was very generous in giving and with a disarming smile.

These two attributes were what the amiable General, (as he was referred to by a section of the media) leveraged on, to sustain himself in power.

His reign as military President was suffused with so much controversies, it set the nation on a course; she is yet to recover from.

It began with the first bomb blast in peace time, in Nigeria, on a civilian target. It was the assassination of the Publisher of the defunct Newswatch Magazine, Dele Giwa in 1986. A crime the Late Human Rights Activist, Gani Fawehinmi could swear was Babangida’s handiwork. A crime, Gani pursued till he died. A mortal sin, the fiery and fearless Rights fighter can never forgive him on earth and even in heaven.

Not long after, the death sentence on Mamman Vatsa, then his Minister on FCT, Abuja, and other military officers indicted in a controversial coup plot, by firing squad.

When he introduced the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) and the IMF conditionalities debate, Nigeria proceeded on a journey in a direction that has seen the fabric of her economy and society plunge into an endless tale of tragedies.

The final nail on the coffin of his hit and miss policies was the controversial elections of 1993, especially the Presidential election held on June 12 in which MKO Abiola, who was adjudged the winner, was denied his mandate.

Of all the sins Ibrahim Babangida had been alleged to have committed, for which Nigerians were ready to forgive him, the June 12 saga was one sin too many and not a few are determined not to forgive. The annulled election became the wound that opened up all old wounds that has made the man who presided, as President, over the freest and fairest elections ever held in the history of Nigeria, to lose a historic moment in the life of the largest black population on earth.

Early life
Ibrahim Babangida was born on 17 August 1941, in Minna, Niger State, to his father Muhammad Babangida and mother Aisha Babangida.

From 1950 to 1956, little Ibrahim attended primary school and was educated at the Government College Bida, Niger state, from 1957 to 1962.

A retired Nigerian Army General, IBB was President of Nigeria from 27 August 1985 to 26 August 1993. He previously served as the chief of army staff from January 1984 to August 1985.

Babangida was a key player in most of the military coups in Nigeria (July 1966, February 1976, December 1983, August 1985, December 1985 and April 1990).

He joined the Nigerian Army on 10 December, 1962, when he attended the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) in Kaduna. He received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant, as a regular combatant officer in the Royal Nigerian Army (a month before it became the Nigerian Army) with the personal army number N/438 from the Indian Military Academy on 26 September 1963.

Babangida and General Mohammed Magoro were among the first batch of Nigerian graduates from the NMTC who attended the Indian Military Academy from April to September 1963. Others in subsequent batches from his NMTC class include Garba Duba and Ibrahim Sauda.

Babangida furthered his armory training from January until April 1966 by enrolling in Course 38 of the Young Officers’ Course (ARMED) in the United Kingdom where he received a four-month course in Saladin and gunnery.

From August 1972 to June 1973, he took the Advanced Armored Officers’ course at Armored school. He attended the Senior officers’ course, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, from January to July 1977 and the Senior International Defense Management Course, Naval Postgraduate school, U.S., in 1980.

He was heavily involved in quelling the Nigerian coup of 1976, when he was to ‘liberate’ the headquarters of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (Radio Nigeria) from one of the coup plotters, Col Buka Suka Dimka (a close friend of his), to prevent him making further announcements over the air waves. Although he did prevent further broadcasts, Col Dimka managed to escape.

Babangida attained the following ranks: Second Lieutenant (1963), Lieutenant (1966), Captain (1968), Major (1970), Lieutenant Colonel (1970), Colonel (1973), Brigadier (1979), Major General (1983), and General (1987).

His political career in the military saw him serving as a member of the highest ruling body in the subsequent military governments in Nigeria, the Supreme Military Council from 1st August 1975 to October 1979.

His foray into overthrowing of governments in Nigeria began when, then as a lieutenant with the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna, he joined many officers of northern Nigerian origin to stage what became known as the Nigerian Counter-Coup of 1966 which resulted in the death of Nigeria’s first military Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi (who had taken power in another coup earlier that year), and his replacement with General Yakubu Gowon. Since then he never looked back.

Babangida was the Chief of Army Staff and a member of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) under the administration of then Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari. Babangida would later overthrow Buhari’s regime on 27th August, 1985 in a military coup that relied on mid-level officers that he had had strategically positioned over the years.

Military president
Now fully in charge, the self declared military president went about ruling the country his own way, with widespread public support at inception. But this waned gradually as the years went by leading to his disgraceful exit eight years later.

With the oil revenue, Babangida created the Federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1985. He created eleven state governments and several local government councils. He had the Toja Bridge in Kebbi constructed. He also created the Jibia Water Treatment Plant and the Challawa Cenga Dam in Kano. In 1992, he constituted the Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission. Babangida also increased the share of oil royalties and rents to state of origin from 1.5 to three percent.

In January 1986, Nigeria joined the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as its 46th member. The OIC was established in 1969. The chief of staff supreme headquarters Commodore Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe, was removed from his post and replaced with another naval general Rear Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, by Babangida, because Ukiwe was opposed to the registration of Nigeria, a secular country, in the OIC.

On 23rd September, 1987, Babangida created two states: Akwa Ibom and Katsina. On 27th August, 1991, he created nine more states: Abia, Enugu, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Osun, Kogi, Taraba and Yobe. Bringing the total number of states in Nigeria to thirty.

With the economy dwindling and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on his neck to take a foreign (bailout) loan, devalue the Naira and restructure the economy along the lines of the dictates of the Breton Woods institutions, Babangida issued a referendum to garner support for austerity measures suggested by the two global financial institutions and subsequently launched his “Structural Adjustment Program” (SAP) in 1986. The policies involved in the SAP were:

• deregulation of the agricultural sector to include abolition of marketing boards and elimination of price controls
• privatization of public enterprises
• devaluation of the Nigerian naira to improve the competitiveness of the export sector
• relaxation of restraints on foreign investment put in place by the Gowon and Obasanjo governments during the 1970s.

Between 1986 and 1988, these policies were executed as intended by the IMF, and the Nigerian economy actually did grow as had been hoped, with the export sector performing especially well. But falling real wages in the public sector and among the urban classes, along with a drastic reduction in expenditure on public services, set off waves of rioting and other manifestations of discontent that made sustained commitment to the SAP difficult to maintain.

Babangida subsequently returned to an inflationary economic policy and partially reversed the deregulatory initiatives he had set in motion during the heyday of the SAP, following mounting political pressure, and economic growth slowed correspondingly, as capital flight resumed apace under the influence of negative real interest rates.

Endless transition programmes

In 1989, Babangida legalized the formation of political parties, and after a census was carried out in November 1991, the [ National Electoral Commission] (NEC) announced on 24th January, 1992 that both legislative elections to a bicameral National Assembly and a presidential election would be held later that year.

A process of voting was adopted, referred to as Option A4. This process advocated that any candidate needed to pass through adoption from the local level to any height of governance.

Babangida had formed two political parties, namely the SDP (Social Democratic Party) and NRC (National Republican Convention) for the elections. He urged all Nigerians to join either of the parties, which the late Chief Bola Ige famously referred to as the “two leprous hands.” The two-party state had been a recommendation of the 17-member Political Bureau.

On 22nd April, 1990, Babangida’s government was almost toppled by a failed coup led by Major Gideon Orkar. He was at the Dodan Barracks, the military headquarters and presidential residence, when they were attacked and occupied by the rebel troops, but managed to escape by a back route.

Orkar and 41 of his conspirators were countered, captured by government troops and convicted of treason. On 27th July, 1990, they were executed by firing squad.

That was one Friday morning, Nigerians, who witnessed that day, would never forget in a hurry. Had the coup succeeded, it would have gotten jubilation in the South of Nigeria but would have brought with it, fear and apprehension in the Northern part.

The coup planners, as it turned out, had planned to excise the Northern part of the country as hinted in the Coup speech by the Leader of the putsch. Fortunately, that singular clause became the archiles heel of an otherwise desired coup that was gaining the sympathy of Nigerians for the moments leading up to the address.

It was what discouraged its participants from the Northern extraction and which finally opened the door for the State troopers to quell the insurrection. At this point, Nigerians were already fed up with Babangida and his tricks for which he earned the name MARADONA after the Argentinian football star Diego Armando Maradona who had dazzled the world in the 1986 FIFA World cup.

On 12th December 1991, President Babangida relocated the seat of the federal government from Lagos to Abuja.

The legislative elections went ahead as planned, with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) winning majorities in both Houses of the National Assembly, but on 7th August 1992, the INEC annulled the first round of presidential primaries, alleging widespread irregularities.

On 4th January, 1993, Babangida announced a National Defense and Security Council (NDSC), of which he was president, while in April 1993, the SDP nominated Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO) as its presidential candidate, with the National Republican Convention (NRC) choosing Bashir Tofa to run for the same position. On 12th June, 1993, a presidential election was finally held, but no results were ever announced, because Babangida annulled the elections. It was however unofficially announced in some states that Abiola had won 19 of the 30 states. That Abiola had unofficially won the general election.

The killing by a letter bomb of Dele Giwa, a magazine editor critical of Babangida’s administration, at his Lagos home in 1986, was allegedly attributed to Babangida and remains a controversial incident to this day.

In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa to investigate human rights abuses during Nigeria’s decades of military rule.

However, Babangida repeatedly defied summons to appear before the panel to answer allegations of human rights abuses and questioned both the legality of the commission and its power to summon him. He was however represented by counsels, Mustapha Bashir Wali and Yahya Mahmoud. His right not to testify was upheld in 2001 by Nigeria’s court of appeal which ruled that the panel did not have the power to summon former rulers of the
country.

The Oputa Panel Report would conclude that: “On General Ibrahim Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Col. A. K. Togun are accountable for the untimely death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be re-opened for further investigation in the public interest.

In an interview with the Financial Times on 15th August, 2006, Babangida announced that he would run for president in Nigeria’s 2007 national elections. He said he was doing so “under the banner of the Nigerian people” and accused the country’s political elite of fueling Nigeria’s current ethnic and religious violence.

On 8th November, 2006, General Babangida picked up a nomination form from the People’s Democratic Party Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. This effectively put to rest any speculation about his ambitions to run for the Presidency. His form was personally issued to him by the PDP chairman, Ahmadu Ali.

This action immediately drew extreme reactions of support or opposition from the western population of the country. In early December, just before the PDP presidential primary, however, it was widely reported in Nigerian newspapers that IBB had withdrawn his candidacy to be the PDP’s nominee to run for president. In a letter excerpted in the media, IBB was quoted as citing the “moral dilemma” of running against Umaru Yar’Adua, the younger brother of the late Shehu Yar’Adua (himself a former nominee to run for the Presidency during IBB’s military regime), as well as against General

Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, given IBB’s close relationship with the latter two. It is widely believed that his chances of winning were slim.

On 15th September, 2010, Babangida officially declared his intention to run for the presidency in the general election at the Eagles Square in Abuja, but later withdrew his nomination due to lack of support from party members. President Goodluck Jonathan was chosen by the PDP party to run for the 2011 general election.

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was married to Maryam (née King) Babangida (deceased) (First Lady of Nigeria 1985–93). They had four children together: Muhammadu, Aminu, Aishatu, and Halimatu. Maryam Babangida died from complications of ovarian cancer on 27th December, 2009.

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Rtd.) has received several awards and medals which include: Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) which was conferred on him in 1983 by President Shehu Shagari; Defense Service Medal (DSM); Forces Services Star (FSS); Freedom of the City of Harare, conferred on him on 19 July 1989 by President Robert Mugabe; General Service Medal (GSM);

Grand Gordon in the Meritorious Order of International Military Sports Council, awarded to him on 23 November 1988;
Knight Grand Cross of the Bath (KGCB), conferred on him in May 1989, by Queen Elizabeth II of Britain; to mention but a few.

Many Nigerians may be skeptical of the credibility of these awards which were rumored to have been bought or lobbied for. It is the belief of many that he bought awards as well as Nigeria’s vocal elite to give his government some level of standing especially as they alleged corruption was legitimized under his administration.

As a matter of fact, the term 419, for which Nigerians abroad have been hated and stigmatized till date, began under his watch.

As welcomed as these awards are on the shelves and walls of Ibrahim Babangida, the one award the Minna-born retired General would have given his all to have is the one Nigerians would have given him freely and willingly, had he not annulled the June 12 elections.

That was one historic moment the great General would have used to win the hearts of Nigerians, the whole world and posterity. As it stands today, his place in the history books, is in the chapters that dwell on the vilification of villains who got the nation to proceed on a journey that rendered efforts and resources in vain anchored on an election that turned out to be a ponzi scheme.

As he celebrated his 78th birthday on August 27, some Nigerians, including President Muhammadu Buhari still found time to celebrate with him and wished him many more years of service to the nation. Not a few considered this as a tongue-in- cheek birthday greetings. All the same, a happy birthday to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, the General who conspired with himself to lose the battle and thus missed a golden opportunity to write his name in gold in Nigeria’s history book.

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