(First published in Abuja Newsweek magazine in March 2003)
General lbrahim Badamasi Babangida is reputed as one of the intelligent leaders Nigeria ever produced. His style of leadership, which in the main consisted of dribbling political actors and pundits and confusing them about his next move, reminded us all about the game of soccer, hence his earning the sobriquet “Maradona”. After years of manipulating the political scene to his utmost advantage, the only goal that he seemed to have kicked away from the goalpost was the election of Chief Moshood Abiola. For, though the then President had in many ways done things that supported the motion that he actually wanted to succeed himself, the circumstances didn’t favour him. So he was forced to “step aside”.
All that was, of course, history.
What confronts the retiring general now is an apparent hard choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. To wit, he may be in a fix over whether to continue to support President Obasanjo or throw in his lot with Gen. Buhari. This dilemma must be gnawing at IBB’s conscience and could well be a decisive factor in the final outcome of the April 19 general election.
If we delve into history again, we would remind ourselves about just how IBB worked behind the scenes to garner support for Obasanjo who had just been released from prison and drafted him into a presidential race. Reports copiously pointed at incidences in which the Minna-based tactician first advised the Abdulsalam regime to let loose the former Head of State, then persuaded OBJ to change his negative perception about Nigeria’s future and join politics, and indeed how he convinced many doubting and suspicious Northerners to vote for him. Other reports said IBB’s own money and other resources were liberally spent in order to see the victory of Obasanjo and many others in the PDP. How much all these were truth one cannot say, but the fact is that IBB’s support had contributed to OBJ’s sweeping victory in 1999.
Four years since then, events have drastically changed and presented important challenges not only to the generality of Nigerians but also to Babangida as a person. To say that Obasanjo has failed to redeem his campaign pledges is to state the obvious. Political statements relating to the alleged marginalisation of the North in favour of the President’s Yoruba land in the Southwest apart, consider the deteriorating economic and social landscape. From communications, health care delivery, agriculture, security of lives and property to fuel, the nation is in a more dire condition than it was under the much maligned Abacha regime. Corruption, which the President so much promised to eradicate or, as he says today, minimise, has grown manifold. So bad is the situation that Nigerians look back on Abacha’s time with nostalgia and regret; only a small minority of the populace that benefits from OBJ’s largesse points at some positive gains of his leadership.
One cannot pinpoint at the specific gains made by IBB from the present leadership. Yes, he might have escaped a possible investigation of his stewardship (which could have even become an impossibility even if the government had given in to the pressure by the loquacious Lagos-Ibadan press to check him out). This is even assuming that IBB did what he did for OBJ for his personal gain only. And it is doubtful that IBB, being someone obsessed with how history would remember him, would descend so low into taking crucial decisions of national importance such as supporting a presidential candidate only for selfish reasons.
Many analysts believe that IBB, who is regarded as some sort of a fox, had supported OBJ’s candidature four years ago because he was concerned about Nigeria’s future. His tactless cancellation of the June 12 election had presented a real threat to the survival of the nation, and that was worsened by both the strong hand regime of Gen. Abacha and the subsequent death of Abiola, a Yoruba man. It was perceived that in 1999 the circumstances did not favour a leadership by another Northerner as the Yoruba are breathing fire and brimstone and the mob among them have started shedding the blood of Northerners resident in their towns. IBB, together with many influential Northerners, rooted for OBJ and even used their resources to ensure that he got into the Aso Villa. And they succeeded.
Now with Obasanjo proving to be both biased and incompetent, what should be the choice of people like IBB? Should they still support the ongoing hideously expensive ‘ta-zarce’ project or work for change? Ordinarily, this question should be answered by IBB himself. His recent romance with Buhari’s candidature, as perceived in their recent meeting in Sokoto, has sent tongues wagging.
Whatever his intentions are, IBB should know that he and all other Nigerians are once again at the crossroads of yet another momentous national event. His action or inaction in the coming polls shall be an instrumental factor in how history views him in the future. But here is an unsolicited advice from a simple citizen: don’t ever repeat the same mistakes you have been making in the past. The mistake of supporting OBJ is something the present generation is agonising over. Indeed, it is the North’s June 12. IBB’s solving of the Yoruba’s ‘June 12’ has created a ‘June 12’ for the North. IBB can help solve the latter by solving his ‘problem with Buhari’ – i.e. the mutual antagonism that Buhari himself has since discarded in the spirit of political expediency. IBB sir, history, like Big Brother, is watching you.
