The hero-worshipping of former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, was in full display, yesterday when President Bola Tinubu leading former presidents and former military leaders and captains of industry led by Alhaji Aliko Dangote took turns to eulogise him at the launch of his autobiography, “A Journey in Service.”
The event also witnessed the launch of his presidential library.
The Transcorp Hotel, Abuja venue of the event was turned into a Mecca of sorts with the man himself finally shedding more light on the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Among the dignitaries at the event were former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was Chairman of the occasion, former heads of state, Generals Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalam Abubakar, and former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Also in attendance were former Vice Presidents Atiku Abubakar, Namadi Sambo and Yemi Osinbajo, the presidential candidate of Labour Party in 2023 poll and former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi and the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The keynote speaker was Nana Akufo-Addo, former President of Ghana and his counterpart, the former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Koroma, also graced the occasion.
Governors, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume, industrialists, technocrats and traditional rulers were equally in attendance.
General Babangida, meanwhile, said he annulled the June 12, 1993, presidential poll because he was afraid the winner, late Chief MKO Abiola, could be killed and the nation thrown into another avoidable civil war.
Revealing that Abiola of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, beat Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention, NRC, and won the election, General Babangida also took responsibility for the annulment of the election considered the freest and fairest presidential poll in Nigeria’s history.
However, IBB claimed that the annulment of the election was orchestrated by forces in his administration led by late General Sani Abacha, his Chief of Army Staff and later Minister of Defence.
He also said that he had taken full responsibility for whatever happened because he was the head of state and commander-in-chief, adding that the military underestimated the consequences of the action.
In his autobiography, “A Journey in Service,” which was unveiled in Abuja, yesterday, Babangida, who admitted that Chief Abiola won the election, recounted how he was blindsided by the announcement that nullified it.
He wrote in the book: “Although I am on record to have stated after the elections that Abiola may not have won the elections, upon deeper reflection and a closer examination of all the available facts, particularly the detailed election results, which are published as an appendix to this volume, there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 elections.
“Upon closer examination of the original collated figures from the 110,000 polling booths nationwide, it was clear that he satisfied the two main constitutional requirements for winning the presidential elections, mainly majority votes and geographical spread, having obtained 8,128,720 votes against Tofa’s 5,848,247 votes and securing the mandatory one-third of the votes cast in 28 states of the federation, including Abuja.
“Unfortunately, the forces gathered against him after the June 12 elections were so formidable that I was convinced that if he became President, he would be quickly eliminated by the same forces who pretended to be his friends.
“While I accept that the unfortunate denial of his mandate amounted to a subversion of the will of the Nigerian people, I was petrified that if Abiola got killed, it could lead to a civil war.
“Having participated in one civil war, with all its horrors, pains and devastation, I wasn’t prepared to see another.
“I am gratified that the Buhari administration finally recognised MKO Abiola as a ‘former head of state.”
Regrettable moment in Nigeria’s history
He described the annulment as a shocking and regrettable moment in Nigeria’s history, saying: “There were no questions that mistakes were made in the handling of the June 12 elections and their aftermath, for which I take full responsibility as President and Commander-in-Chief. One of my biggest mistakes was failing to firmly secure the support and firm commitment of my military colleagues to the Transition programme from the beginning.”
Underestimated military opposition to civil rule
“We completely underestimated the deep opposition to civil rule within the military top hierarchy. We underestimated the damage that the extended stay in the political arena, with all its perks, had done to the military psyche and the psychological shock that would accompany an eventual withdrawal from much temptingly appealing political positions.
“We further underestimated what it would take to return the military to the barracks and its non-political and non-partisan role.”
Most challenging moment
“Looking back now, the June 12 saga was undeniably the most challenging moment of my life and in certain respects, one of the most painful. I don’t remember who first said that ‘sometimes, life can only be understood backwards.’
“However, faced with the circumstances of those moments as President and Commander-in-Chief, painful as it seemed, I did what was in the country’s best interest, for which I take full responsibility.”
He revealed that the annulment of the election also nearly cost him his life.
I was almost killed
According to Babangida, on the morning of June 23, 1993, he had travelled from Abuja to Katsina to condole with the Yar’Adua family following the death of their patriarch, Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua. While there, he received an alarming report that the June 12 election had been annulled.
“Even more bizarre was the extent of the annulment because it terminated all court proceedings regarding the June 12 elections, repealed all the decrees governing the transition, and even suspended NEC (National Electoral Commission)!” he wrote.
Babangida said he was particularly disturbed by the unceremonious manner in which the announcement was made.
“Admiral Aikhomu’s press secretary, Nduka Irabor, had read out a terse, poorly worded statement from a scrap of paper, which bore neither the presidential seal nor the official letterhead of the government, annulling the June 12 presidential elections.
“I was alarmed and horrified,” he stated.
Options after deadlock
Prior to the announcement, Babangida admitted that various options were being considered following the deadlock in announcing the election results, including the possibility of fresh elections.
However, he insisted that outright annulment was only one of several possibilities.
“But to suddenly have an announcement made without my authority was, to put it mildly, alarming. I remember saying: ‘These nefarious inside forces opposed to the elections have outflanked me.”
It was only later, he disclosed, that he realized the annulment was carried out by powerful elements within his administration, led by Abacha, who was his minister of defence.
“There and then, I knew I was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea!” he wrote.
Babangida acknowledged that the election, which was widely regarded as Nigeria’s freest and fairest, took a “painful twist” from that moment, and he ultimately bore the responsibility for what transpired.
“As I will show later, I regrettably take responsibility,” he added.
Spiral crisis, conspiracy theories
The annulment of the June 12 election set off a political crisis that plunged Nigeria into years of instability.
The fallout led to protests, international condemnation, and Abacha’s eventual seizure of power in a palace coup in 1993 after Babangida was forced to step aside.
Narrating the theories that emerged over the annulment, Babangida wrote: “Tensions in the country were compounded by baseless conspiracy theories meant to justify the annulment. One such theory was that Abiola had penciled down a list of top military officers to be dismissed upon assuming office as president.
“Another conspiracy theory was that the government had let the June 12 elections go ahead in the knowledge, based on security reports, that Tofa would win. However, once Abiola won, the government sought a way to frustrate his mandate.
“These were spurious theories circulated by those opposed to an Abiola presidency. Some persons indeed expressed their reservations about an Abiola presidency before the elections.
“There were times when, deep down inside me, I even feared that Abiola might not be an effective president. However, having allowed the process to go ahead in which Abiola appeared to have emerged victorious in an election deemed the freest and fairest in our country’s history, I was committed to ensuring that the results should stand. To do otherwise would amount to a subversion of the will of the Nigerian people.”
Delicate situation
“But I also knew we were dealing with a delicate situation that could lead to national disintegration. The military was factionalised into rival groups between those opposed to the transition to civil rule, particularly an Abiola presidency, and those who thought the military should keep its word and hand over to a democratically elected government.
“The military was awash with rumours of plots by those who wanted to depose me to have Abiola installed and those who wanted to take me out violently to ensure that the annulment stayed.
“There were rumours of a third group, made up of sworn and implacable enemies of Abiola, a hard-line faction, who threatened that Abiola could only be President over their dead bodies! And if it meant taking me out violently to effect their threat, they were willing to do so.
“It was painful for me to discover later that apart from Abacha, some of my closest colleagues were knee-deep in the plot to eliminate me.
“The only reason those disparate forces did not strike against me was that it was feared, and rightly so, that since I still enjoyed the support of a sizable proportion of the armed forces, any attack on the government or my person would lead to a bloodbath.
“The polarisation within the military was so fraught with danger that the best I could do in the circumstance was to project a united front as government in the face of the stiff opposition I faced as President.
“Although the annulment took all by surprise, as Commander-in-Chief, I took responsibility for it. In my speech on June 26, tepid and disingenuous as it may seem, I attempted to justify the annulment in the face of supposed nationwide widespread electoral malpractices during the elections! What mattered at the time to me as President and Commander-in-Chief was the unity of the army and my conviction that if the army was united, it could safeguard the country from disintegration.”
Offers to Abiola
“After several brainstorming sessions with various groups, I contacted M.K.O Abiola to find a way forward. At one of my several meetings with Abiola, arranged this time by some traditional leaders, I offered Abiola an interim position pending when we could resolve the situation.
“Not surprisingly, Abiola turned down my offer. How could anyone blame him? Since he was convinced that he had won the elections that the annulment had denied him, it seemed overtly inappropriate to accept an interim arrangement.
“For him, it was a matter of once bitten, twice shy. At another meeting, this time a more private meeting of both families, I articulated that our lives were in danger of being snuffed out by lurking forces that wished both of us ill.
“Unfortunately, Abiola turned his back on any form of rapprochement with me and embraced the gimmicks of deceitful ‘friends’ who hid their real intentions from him.
“I read somewhere, I believe, in one of Abiola’s newspapers that Abiola thought that the moment these ‘friends’ overthrew me, the elections would be de-annulled and that he would be installed as President by his coup-plotting friends.
“As it turned out, Abiola was advised by these same ‘friends’ to leave the country to avoid death threats from fictitious military elements. Abiola’s departure paved the way for his ‘friends’ to consolidate their conspiratorial positions, eventually leading to another military takeover.
“Without question, one of my biggest headaches at this time was Sani Abacha. I knew that Abacha was ambivalent about a return to civil rule. But I thought, in retrospect now, naively, that he would support our transition to the civil rule programme.
My debt to Abacha
“As I said earlier, Abacha and I had come a long way. We were good friends, and he had indeed been nice to me. As I have said elsewhere, he saved my life once and also risked his life to ensure that I took over in 1985. I could never forget those details.
“But it’s also correct that he was a complex character. He was capable of bottling up a lot inside without giving a hint of where he was. And then, suddenly, the bottle bursts, and we begin to see a different person. I obviously didn’t know everything about him.
“For instance, I was alarmed to discover that he and a handful of others mobilised negative opinions against me within the military, portraying me as the problem. That campaign was geared towards a violent military coup to remove me as President forcefully.”
Speaking at the book launch, Babangida reflected on his tenure, acknowledging the controversies surrounding his administration’s decisions.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s democratic journey, Babangida admitted that his administration’s actions disrupted the transition to civilian rule but emphasized that the country ultimately overcame the setback.
“Our nation’s march to democracy was interrupted, a fact that I deeply regret. But Nigeria survived, and democracy is still alive – a testament to our resilience and commitment to progress,” he said.
Not involved in Dele Giwa’s death
On the death of Dele Giwa, he denied any involvement of the government, saying that he expected that one day the truth would be uncovered.
He said: “The hysteria of the media did not help the investigation of the Giwa murder. As is typical of the Nigerian media, the direction was marked by an adversarial attitude towards the government, which had remained the hallmark of the Nigerian media from its colonial heyday.
“It was an attitude of ‘we versus the government’ that has remained today. It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced.
“When the Obasanjo civilian administration reopened the Giwa case at the Oputa Panel on Human and Civil Rights, I expected that the police and lawyers would come forward with new evidence as to their findings on the Giwa murder over the years.
“Nothing of such happened. The Giwa, like all mysterious murders, has remained unsolved after so many years. I keep hoping it will be uncovered in our lifetime or after us. More often than not, mysterious crimes are solved long after their commission.”
IBB presidential library
The launch of his Presidential Library project witnessed billions of naira being donated by Nigerians. To open the fund raising for the Presidential Library project was Abdulsamad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA group who donated N5 billion, General Theophilus Danjuma donated N3 billion, while Aliko Dangote made a donation of N8 billion.
Others were Chief Arthur Eze, who presented N500 million cheque for the library projects, Senator Sani Musa, N250 million, the President of the Senate, Chief Godswill Akpabio donated N50 million, the Speaker, House of Representative, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, N25 million among others.
Without Babangida I wouldn’t be in politics — Tinubu
Speaking at the event, President Bola Tinubu said that General Babangida contributed to his political journey, stating that without Babangida’s leadership and reforms, people like him would not have ventured into politics.
This was as former President Goodluck Jonathan described IBB as a charismatic leader whose administration brought infrastructural revolution, and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said that General Babangida made the private sector in the country relevant.
According to Tinubu, the former leader is a visionary who championed the inclusion of young, and brilliant minds in governance.
He said: “Whatever might have happened, the hallmark of the truth from our dear leader, father, uncle, General Ibrahim Babangida: Without you, people like me wouldn’t be in politics. Your progressive revolution encouraged young, brilliant people to participate in politics. We were with you in Dodan Barracks, and you inspired some of us.”
The president reminisced about Babangida’s leadership and the impact of his policies, particularly in economic and political development. He praised Babangida’s role in fostering a new generation of bankers and politicians, noting that the launch of his presidential library was a testament to his legacy.
“When you look at the programme, some of the bankers and many of us here today, we saw the happiness of a missionary in Babangida. Thank you for what you are,” Tinubu said.
Reflecting on his early political career, Tinubu recounted a tense encounter with Babangida over the delayed inauguration of elected officials. He recalled how he challenged the former military ruler on the repeated postponement of their swearing-in, despite widespread anticipation.
“One thing I cannot forget: You were in office, and you’ll recall we were elected. You kept on postponing the inauguration. You summoned us to Abuja, and when we became rancorous, you moved us to the International Conference Centre. I was not expecting to make any comment, I was just listening in my own radical manner, thinking, ‘This man will not inaugurate us again.’ But before we returned to the hotel, the hotel was locked—no key,” Tinubu recounted.
He recalled how, despite fears that his bold confrontation would land him in jail, Babangida displayed statesmanship by shaking his hand afterward.
“I confronted you, telling you that you had an opportunity to make history that day. Why not inaugurate us? Why were you calling us back and postponing the inauguration? They thought I would end up in jail. But you came out at the end, shook my hand, and I can never forget that moment. You are courageous,” Tinubu said.
The president concluded by reaffirming Babangida’s impact on his personal and political life, calling him a leader deserving of recognition.
Also speaking, Jonathan described IBB as one of the most charismatic leaders in the country, adding that he did very well in infrastructural development. He advised President Tinubu to set up a department in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, on the presidential library as it is done in the United States.
While Alhaji Aliko Dangote commended General Babangida for making the private sector in the country relevant, Chief Arthur Eze remarked that the former military head of state made him and many other people at the event what they are.
What IBB said isn’t new – Falae
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Chief Olu Falae, yesterday, said what General Babangida said about the June 12 presidential election was not new.
He said: “We formed NADECO to fight for the fact that Abiola won the elections and that he just needs to be president. I went to detention for two years for fighting that cause. We gave the military an ultimatum to give the mandate to Abiola but they started arresting us. They kept me in detention for two years.
“What he (IBB) said is not new, we have always known and believed” (that Abiola won the election).
(vanguard)
