Former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, a retired army general, was 80 years old on Tuesday, August 17.
His enrolment in the class of octogenarians was celebrated by friends and family for the blessings of longevity.
As expected, Minna, Niger State, played host to outstanding figures in Nigeria as Babangida marked his 80th birthday.
Leading the pack of prominent Nigerians, who paid homage to the retired general, was a former military and civilian president of the country, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Others who visited Babangida were former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Seconds; Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and Senators Rochas Okorocha, Ben Obi, Philip Aduda and former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State.
The list also included General Aliyu Gusau, who was National Security Adviser during the administration of the celebrant; a media mogul, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, diplomats and members of the organised private sector.
Virtually all those that came presented gifts to the former military president.
In a special Christian prayer during the prayer session, Secondus asked God to grant Babangida more years so that the country could continue to tap on his wisdom and talent.
He said more than ever before, the country needed the deep wise counsel of Babangida at this time and prayed God to grant him and his household the peace that was needed for his longevity.
Obi, in his remark, said Babangida’s economic policy during his time was needed to salvage the country now.
“Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme of 1986 was a wicked economic policy that set Nigeria on the course of perdition from which it has never recovered
“
He said traders and bankers like him had their best time during the era of Babangida, because under him, Aba and Onitsha flourished and that meant a lot for them.
There had earlier been a pre-birthday event on August 12, 2021, where there were endless speeches which were relayed live on television stations.
In all, Babangida has been presented as a reliable, kind-hearted statesman who never neglects or betrays his friends.
To many Nigerians, Babangida comes across as a comely, friendly, charming person, but so does the beautiful, cunning, crafty fox.
Those who have gathered for the whitewashing of Babangida know that Nigerians gave him the sobriquet Maradona. This was because like the famous Argentine footballer, Diego Maradona, who was a great dribbler and seller of dummies on the field, Babangida was dribbling Nigerians, selling them dummies, was quite crafty, deceitful and unreliable.
A great difference was that while the real Maradona never shifted the goal post during play, Babangida was always shifting the goal post whenever he thought a goal was to be scored against him.
For instance, he promised to hand-over power to an elected civilian administration in 1990. When the date drew near, he shifted it to 1992, then January 1993, later to August 1993, and ended up not handing over power before he was disgraced out of office.
Decades after the June12 presidential election, Babangida, in a recent live television interview, said that some top officials in the military would have staged a violent coup if he did not annul the election.
During the television interview, Babangida had attempted to rewrite history and defend his legacy with unintelligent utterances on issues such as rotational presidency, socio-economic and security challenges; corruption and the controversial annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, won by late MKO Abiola.
He went ahead to paint a picture of who should succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in office in 2023, stating that Nigeria’s next president should be in his 60s and one who should be able to talk to Nigerians.
Babangida is being economical with the truth, and he must desist from distorting the nation’s history.
He must desist from his reason for the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, for the sake of posterity and unsuspecting Nigerians, particularly the younger generation, who he is out to manipulate, with his incorrect historical claim.
Despite his attempt to distort the history of June 12 presidential election, the decision of his regime to annul the election will forever remain his nemesis.
Babangida also criticized President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of corruption and boasted that he fought graft better than the current administration.
He must realize that the best legacy he can bequeath to the country is to tell the nation the naked truth about himself and his fraudulent regime.
Has he forgotten about the report of the panel on the reorganisation and reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria?
The report said Babangida frittered away $12bn of the country’s revenue through special accounts, which he ran as the sole approving authority.
The panel headed by the late renowned economist, Pius Okigbo, painted in graphic details how Babangida operated “a second but undisclosed budget” with the then CBN governor, the late Abdulkadir Ahmed.
The report, which was submitted to the administration of the late Sani Abacha on August 29, 1994, had been a subject of interest to Nigerians, who have been itching for the detailed report of the government’s White Paper on it.
According to the report, the Babangida regime operated dedicated accounts outside of the budgetary provisions, which he ran without accounting to anybody.
It stated that the operations of these accounts were fraught with irregularities.
“The proceeds of the sale of the crude were not shown in the revenue side nor were the expenditures reflected in the expenditure side of the budget,” the report said.
Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme of 1986 was a wicked economic policy that set Nigeria on the course of perdition from which it has never recovered. The first fuel price hike in Nigeria was under SAP in 1988; the SAP riots of 1989 saw many students and unionists murdered in cold blood; the collapse of the education system and the gradual pauperization of the country happened under Babangida.
While Nigerians concede that it is within the right of Babangida to express himself through the media, citizens will not watch the unapologetic former military dictator to continually insult the sensibilities of the people.
Babangida should, and must know, that the memory of Nigerians is not as short as he thinks, as his iniquities have been well preserved.
Those gathering around the country in a vain attempt to beatify Babangida are just deceiving him and deceiving themselves, because the scars of the Babangida years are not only still deep, they have been dug further open.
