Former military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), on Saturday said he had no regret fighting in the Nigerian civil war from 1967 to 1970.
Babangida, who made the remarks while speaking on Search FM, the radio station of the Federal University of Technology Minna, said he was convinced he was fighting for the unity of Nigeria.
“The purpose (civil war) was to unite the country, to keep it one, not to break it, so that’s the uniquely sad aspect of a civil war and I pray it never happens again,” he said.
Babangida added that fighting in the civil war was not a very nice experience because he fought with his friends, course mates, classmates and others.
“Fighting in the civil war was not a very nice experience I must say. First of all, you had people you went to school with, people you trained with, people who were your friends, suddenly as a result of the war you find yourselves facing each other on opposite sides. It is not very comfortable but then we had to do it.”
Babangida said he served Nigeria to the best of his ability.
“I served the country the best I could; it may not be to your satisfaction but to the best that I could; I leave that to history to judge and I related fairly well with the people of the country. I had no problem with them and I got to know the country more as I was well travelled. I made friends all over the country and I thought that was one of the greatest achievements.”
On his leadership style, the former military president said:
“You develop a situation where people look up to you to provide certain solutions to their problems or their fear, whatever it is and you stand out as the person who will be able to do that. So, you have to study human beings, you have to read about them and you have to be very compassionate.
“Sometimes you have to be ruthless to get things done but there are a lot of ways you have to develop so that you’ll be able to achieve certain things. Others you plead with, some you coerce and so forth”.
He advised Nigerian youths “to try as much as possible to know and understand the country that you are going to lead in the future. You have an opportunity now as young people; to get to know the country, study the country, the people and if you can to do that or to understand that, basically I think that will go a long way to prepare you for the eventual leadership of the country.”
