Babangida's Tardy Afterthought
BABANGIDA'S TARDY AFTERTHOUGHT
BABANGIDA'S TARDY AFTERTHOUGHT
First, I want to console all of us over the death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. It was a very sad incident especially when one realizes that he was a leader who really meant well for the nation.
Though he had his own inadequacies just like every other mortal, yet he stood out for many reasons and some of the attributes of the late President, which cannot be easily forgotten, were his sincerity and transparency. I wish that every Nigerian leader would be as sincere and transparent. Again he was never ambitious and greedy; a servant-leader he called himself and which he proved by his actions. He was a man who had control over his temperament; he was not arrogant and never a bully. Despite the barrage of tirades that aimed at him constantly, late President Yar'Adua never insulted anybody.
He knew what it took to be leader, he listened to the voice of reason, never went on any vendetta; instead, he accommodated everybody. Some did accuse him of being slow but because they are so mischievous, they forgot he was steady. He equally had a vision i.e. the Seven-Point Agenda that encapsulated the whole gamut of Nigeria's woes.
Truly, many of his dreams like the 6,000 megawatts of electricity planned to be achieved by the end of December 2009, were not attained but it was not because he lacked the will to do so rather, it was due to a failed system that was handed over to him by the demigod of Nigeria and which he could not fix within the limited time he had.
Nonetheless, the fact that the late Yar'Adua had the dream of a great Nigeria cannot be disputed. But for his precarious health condition which ultimately terminated his life, the late President would have surpassed all previous records set by his predecessors in terms of achievements.
That is why I will never stop lamenting his death. It is quite painful that he has died but I take solace in the clich, good things don't last.' Late President Yar'Adua by every standard was a good leader.
I remember what happened during the global food crisis when rice was as scarce as gold. This late President did his best to save the nation from the threat of starvation. He brought peace to the Niger Delta, restored hope to Lagosians' by restoring their accumulated statutory allocation which was seized by the uncouth demigod and who some now refer to as the Nigerian Principality and Power.
Some establishments of the federal government that were literally given away to friends and cronies of the demigod in the ruse of privatization were cleverly recovered from the wholesale beneficiaries.
Regardless of what anyone might say, Nigeria, as a nation has lost one of its rare offspring. Adieu my kind-hearted leader, someday, we shall meet to part no more, Insha Allah.
Now Dr Goodluck Jonathan is President and Dame Patience is the first lady. I am appreciative but I will not fail to remind the wise and patient Jonathan that this is still Yar'Adua's presidency and he should try his best to continue with the laudable programmes of the late president and honour him by not erasing his vestiges.
Moreover, if President Goodluck Jonathan is desirous of success, he must distance himself from the unpopular ex-President Obasanjo; for one thing, nothing good will come out of the hobnobbing.' He once sang the praises of late President Yar'Adua; but remember his ominous comment after seeing the terminally ill Yar'Adua in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Although it appeared to be a frank presentation of the true picture but the manner by which it was done, smacks of outright betrayal and it was from then that Madam Turai locked the gate but some never understood.
Dear President Jonathan, I wish you well and I know you will succeed but be careful of the high praises, Pharisaic salutations, unsolicited midnight advice etc. Also, be careful of those in long and flowing cassocks and robes because they equally dined with late Sani Abacha when he kept Nigerians in bondage and servitude because of his seizure of power after the inglorious annulment of the first free and fair elections Nigeria could conduct by ex-military President Ibrahim Babangida.
Those were the days when Nigerians were easily deceived by power-hungry military despots, who came and worsened an already bad situation. In those days, when you hear the refrain, fellow Nigerians,' and martial music on the radio, then it was a coup.
The man Babangida emerged from one of such in 1985 and exacerbated the woes and predicament of this nation. His misdeeds were enormous. For instance, before Babangida, naira had value but when he came, he connived with the racist economists of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and devalued the naira to the point of no recovery through a faulty Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which never worked anywhere in the world. The imposition led to an irreversible impoverishment of Nigerians to date.
During that period also, the gloomy economic outlook of the country had a momentary brightening that came in the form of increased oil supply and price as a consequence of the raging Gulf War but such monies were grossly misused so to speak.
To calm the nerves of Nigerians over the prolonged dictatorial military rule, Babangida introduced a phoney Transition to Civil Rule Programme, which after many false starts culminated in the celebrated but annulled elections of 1993.
Of late, the former military ruler has declared his intention to run in the 2011 presidential election if nominated by his party of Principalities, Demigods and Powers (PDP), sorry, that was a mistake, I rather mean Peoples Democratic Party. I honestly don't have any problem with that for the fact that he is a bona fide citizen of this country and has the right to vie for any elective post in the land. Even when he made the careless statement on Nigerian youths and many that were aggrieved were taking issues with him, I did not jump on the bandwagon because I have nothing personal against him. However, what irked me was his recent comment on June 12.
I think it is unimaginable that, 17 years after he annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election, former military President Ibrahim Babangida (retired) would come out to say that if he had not cancelled the results of the election won by the late Basorun Moshood Abiola (man of the people), he, Babangida would have been killed. I think it is a barefaced lie because during that time, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with a crack battalion of loyalist soldiers and nobody would have tried any nonsense if had chosen to allow the electoral umpire, Professor Humphrey Nwosu of the Option A4 fame finish announcing the election results and declare the winner.
Do you know that without the annulment, Babangida would have written his name in gold and history would have judged him kindly. Without the annulment, Babangida would not have been a subject of controversy today. Is it not better that he had done the right thing and got killed? Then we would have been celebrating him today as a hero of democracy. Where is the patriotism in him?
This confession took seventeen years to come and unfortunately some of the other key actors have died so one may never ascertain the veracity of Babangida's claim but no matter what happened then, was it not foolhardy on the part of a supposed leader to annul an election, which raised the hopes of millions of Nigerians and the rest of the world after wasting much time and resources because of the wishes of a tiny military cabal?
Is this not enough to keep Babangida perpetually in jail if this should be a serious nation?
We have had enough of your insult dear General. The deed has been done and so be it.' No amount of afterthought or soul-searching can change the fact of history. Abiola will not rise from the dead to rule Nigeria and there will be no more June 12, 1993.
Babangida's Tardy Afterthought
By: BENEDICT AHANONU
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