General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd) and Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, have a few things in common. Both men are fiercely ambitious, self-regarding and seek to dominate every space. They both harbour undisguised desires to play a big role in the post-Yar’Adua era.They are also generous with smiles. In the last few years, because both men have discovered their similarities, their friendship has grown in leaps and bounds. In May 2008, Babangida visited Sagamu, Ogun State. His mission was to commiserate with Daniel over the death of his mother. Daniel also used the visit to get Babangida to settle the rift between him and the state House of Assembly members, which had led to the impeachment of the speaker, Titi Oseni and her deputy, Ayo Odugbesan. In Sagamu, Daniel and Babangida traded lavish praise. The wily old fox said Daniel had the qualities to play “a greater role in the future of Nigeria”, adding that he was visiting Sagamu because of the great respect he had for Daniel, whom he described as “an exemplary achiever”. Daniel “retaliated” by describing the man who annulled Nigeria’s freest and verifiably fairest election as “a great man who has been able to keep his friends in and out of power”.
On that day, even the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, aware of the huge baggage that Babangida carries over his annulment of the 1993 presidential election, pleaded that IBB be forgiven for this indiscretion.
It is intriguing that Babangida chose the occasion of Daniel’s pre-birthday lecture held on Thursday 1 April to drop the hint that he could contest the presidency in 2011, and that he was making consultations with a view to disclosing his ambition. While thanking his guests, Daniel appealed to Nigerians to forgive Babangida for whatever mistakes he might have made. “While we may fault some of his actions and inaction, while holding the reins of power of our country, his passion for the progress and peace of Nigeria can hardly be faulted. Yet, his errors of judgement at one point or the other, I am convinced, are not unforgivable,” he said.
Then on 10 April, inside the Unity Hall of Government House, Asaba, Babangida officially declared his intention to run for presidency. He was the chief guest of honour at the memorial lecture in honour of his wife, Maryam. Among those present at the event were Governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger State, Ekiti State deputy governor, Sikiru Lawal; and Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State. At the palace of the Asagba of Asaba, Professor Chika Edozien, Babangida picked the traditional title of Dike Doziani, his 68th. The Asagba declared: “It is evident, from the events of our past that our country is in need of you. We hope that you will not hesitate to make it possible for us all to benefit in full from your experience, leadership, wisdom and popularity.”
Sources close to Babangida told TheNEWS last week that the former military president, who was forced to step aside on 27 August 1993, has always believed that he will return to Aso Rock someday. His decision in 1998 to back Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1999 presidential election was because he thought Obasanjo would return the favour after Obasanjo must have exhausted his second term in office. As it turned out, Obasanjo refused to return the compliment. Shortly after Babangida picked up the nomination form of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Obasanjo held a meeting with him, where he told him pointedly that he will not back him and that Babangida should join him to pick a younger candidate.
“What many Nigerians did not realise was that after Babangida suffered that setback late in 2006 he never gave up. He never gives up. He bides his time and waits for another day. He has spent the past four years planning how to take another shot at the presidency. He sees this as the right time to move and the question is not whether IBB will contest. It is whether anybody in today’s Nigeria can stop him,” declared one of Babangida’s loyalists who spoke with TheNEWS in Abuja last Wednesday.
This magazine was told that he indeed has acquired sufficient arsenal to wage a political battle. He has reportedly made sorties across political divides and he is convinced that he stands a good chance this time.
Critics believe that the boldness displayed by IBB could have to do with his massive war chest. But he said on British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that he would not buy his way into office 17 years after leaving the seat of power.
Then on the allegation of corruption against him, IBB acknowledged the fact that he is “the most investigated Nigerian living today”. He argued that if he were such a thief, he would have been caught. As he put it: “perhaps after 17 years, it ought to have come out by now (results of probes), unless somebody is not doing his job”.
He also reacted to the most vexed political issue in the last decade- annulment of June 12 1993 election. IBB claimed that he organised the freest and fairest election ever but that “the fact that it was annulled is a difficult story altogether”.
Babangida’s declaration of intent to contest the presidency in 2011 has kicked up public anger. Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly and convener of the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, called on Nigerians to pelt Babangida with stones whenever he declares his interest to contest.
Bakare described Babangida as a clever manipulator and an arrogant megalomaniac who has refused to apologise for the annulment of the 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola. He added that though the former military president has the right to vie for an elective office, he should not because he messed the country up when he was in power and so does not have anything new to offer Nigerians. “Let’s vote for IBB with stones. Make sure the stones have rough edges,” he said.
Similarly, Professor Itse Sagay, a constitutional lawyer, described IBB’s ambition as an insult to Nigerians. He blamed IBB for institutionalising corruption in Nigeria at a time when General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) was about abolishing it.
“He scuttled our democracy and ushered in the Abacha era fraught with gross human rights abuse. It will never happen for IBB to contest election in this country,” Sagay said. Reverend Ola Makinde, Prelate of the Methodist Church, was more critical in his assessment of IBB’s ambition. He believes that Babangida owes Nigerians an explanation, particularly on the death of Dele Giwa.
“We don’t want a religious bigot to rule us. He introduced the nation to the Organisation of Islamic Conference, OIC. He has to explain to us why. We have lost so many souls and properties worth billions of naira. He has to explain the disappearance of the oil windfall,” Makinde said.
Chief Reuben Fasoranti, an Afenifere chieftain, wonders what Babangida wants from Nigeria and urged him to forget about the presidency. “He should allow fresh blood to move into the polity,” he said. Segun Gbadegesin, writing in his column in the 9 April edition of The NATION, noted that Babangida’s presidential ambition is meant to redeem his battered image. This, to him, is an uphill task. “Babangida should know that he cannot redeem himself with another presidential round,” he wrote. Gbadegesin reckoned that it is only in Africa, and Nigeria in particular, that politicians are not satisfied with eight or more years in government. “They want to have more or die in office. If the experience of others is anything to go by, he may even come out worse,” he said.
But Babangida also has sympathisers. Ahmad Muhammad, a columnist, is one of them. Writing in the 10 April edition of ThisDay, Muhammad reasoned that IBB is a seasoned and astute administrator, who has the best interest of Nigeria at heart. “He is fair, competent, honest and achievement-driven, and has done more to advance the cause of democracy than most politicians, despite his military background. In my opinion, Babangida has been more democratic than any other Nigerian leader since 1966,” he said. Muhammad, who was reacting to “Why I won’t Vote for the Generals”, an opinion in the 3 April edition of the same paper, written by Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine, struggled frantically to bail IBB out of the questions posed to the former dictator.
On why IBB is still interested in the presidency even at almost 70, Muhammad claimed Babangida is a young man. “In this 21st century, Babangida is, by modern definition, a middle-aged man because the criteria for classifying people have changed,” he said. On why Babangida is often linked with the murder of Dele Giwa, Muhammad inferred that IBB became the suspect simply because he was then the head of state. He argued further that if such great lawyers like the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi failed to find credible evidence against IBB, the reason must be that they were looking in the wrong direction.
On the annulment of the election, Muhammed defended Babangida thus: “He (Momodu) should remember that Abiola was IBB’s best friend. My take is that IBB was pained, and still probably is, by the annulment. Babangida has himself stated that he would explain the annulment at the appropriate time.”
Muhammad added that in the event that Babangida is reluctant to contest the 2011 presidential election, he would rally Nigerians to coerce him to join the race. He concluded that the country badly needs a natural and truly democratic leader, which IBB represents. “We should urge him to come to the rescue. I suspect that even Dele Momodu will vote for him,” he concluded.
Similarly, Godwin Daboh, president of Benue State Elders’ Forum and a PDP chieftain, thinks the country cannot produce a leader better than Babangida. To him, Babangida is the best thing that has, and will ever happen to Nigeria. As far as a coalition of Nigeria’s civil society groups is concerned, Babangida remains indicted over the reckless spending of the $12.4 billion Gulf War oil windfall. Babangida recently declared through his media aide, Kassim Afegbua, that he was not indicted by the Pius Okigbo report on the missing $12.4b, and that the bulk of the money was spent on infrastructural development of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Last week, Femi Falana, President, West African Bar Association, WABA, told TheNEWS that there are unambiguous conclusions of the Okigbo report, which indicted the gap-toothed general. “First, the report said the approved budget for the federation did not reflect the receipts into the dedicated and other special accounts, that the balances kept in these accounts were not included in the federal account, a practice which violated the fundamental precepts of the federal fiscal relations in Nigeria, and that in a number of cases, there were significant variations between amounts approved for payment and the actual disbursements made, without further explanation from the documents supplied,” Falana argued.
He affirmed that, according to the Okigbo Report, in large number of cases, “There were not indications in the letters written to the head of state seeking approval to make payments or seeking express approval as to which dedicated account was to be charged, either dedicated, sales or mining rights, signature bonus or stabilisation accounts. In such cases it will be impossible on the basis of information available [to determine] whether or not the approvals were in respect of any of these special accounts.”
Indeed, according to the Okigbo Report, “the Central Bank of Nigeria was not able to establish that payments on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and the National Intelligence Agency were based on genuine and well established contracts or transactions.” The report says: “The operation of the accounts was not subject to the normal budgetary processes and therefore lacked transparency,” adding that there were many large projects of doubtful viability and many more of clearly misplaced priority.
According to the report, the Dedicated and Special Accounts had become a parallel budget for the presidency, with the decision as to what expenditure items to be financed out of these dedicated accounts made by president alone. The report listed expenses which could not be described as priority such as $2.92million to make documentary film on Nigeria, $18.30 million to purchase TV/Video for the presidency, $23.98 million for staff welfare in the presidency, $99 million for travels of the first lady abroad and $59.72 million for security.
In the opinion of Falana, no indictment can be greater than these conclusions from the Okigbo Report. He noted that Nigerians deserved explanation as to what happened to the accrued oil revenue of $12.4bn, which went missing during the Babangida administration.
In a petition dated 7 April 2010, and addressed to the new Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, civil society groups threatened to go to court to compel the minister to prosecute Babangida. Contrary to Afegbua’s claim that the missing money was spent on infrastructure in the Federal Capital Territory, Falana said there is no single reference in the report to back the claim that funds were spent to develop the Federal Capital Territory. He affirmed that the funds for Abuja were contained in the Federation Account.
One reason many Nigerians do not want Babangida to return to power is his corrupt nature; and his case will not be helped by the report published by Saharareporters on the Haliburton bribe scandal involving 80 eminent Nigerians. The list was obtained from five notebooks found on 2 September 2004 in the archives of the London office of Kellogg Brown & Root, KBR, by investigating Haliburton attorneys. The bribes were handed out in exchange for contracts at the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas project. The document, which was addressed to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, lists former Nigerian heads of state, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Sani Abacha, Ernest Shonekan, as being on the list. Some of the other prominent Nigerians on the list are Maryam Babangida, Maryam Abacha, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, Alhaji Aminu Saleh, Alhaji MD Yusufu, General Joshua Dogonyaro and Chief Don Etiebet among others.
Why many Nigerians are not disposed to a Babangida presidency this time is because of his laissez-faire attitude to corruption, something acknowledged at home and abroad. The book, The Sink, written by Jeffrey Robinson, an American, says: “Of the $120 billion siphoned out of the Nigeria into offshore accounts by dishonest politicians, $20 billion is allegedly traceable to IBB directly as president form 1985 to 1993”. The World Bank and other sources put his loot at over $35 billion. In Karl Maiers’ This House Has Fallen, former Inspector-General of Police, MD Yusufu noted that “Babangida went all out to corrupt society… This corruption remains and it is very corrosive to society.”
The Gulf War oil windfall is Babangida’s most celebrated loot. The Okigbo panel set up by Abacha discovered that only $206 million was left in the account and that “disbursements were clandestinely undertaken while the country was openly reeling with crushing external debt overhead… These represent, no matter the initial justification for creating the accounts, a gross abuse of public trust.”
When in 2001, former president Olusegun Obasanjo tried to look into the $12.4 billion Gulf War oil windfall, it was said that the documents pertaining to the fraud had disappeared from the CBN records. However, in 2005 when the House of Representatives made moves to impeach Obasanjo, the documents which government sources claimed were missing, suddenly emerged. TheNEWS gathered that the documents were released at the time because Obasanjo’s minders felt Babangida was one of those behind the plot.
Babangida’s corrupt nature is legendary. The Wolfsberg Principles, an initiative of 11 banks and institutions across the world to fight serious international crimes, allegedly traced $3 billion of Nigeria’s stolen money to Babangida’s accounts abroad and $4.3b to Abacha’s.
Although Babangida used mostly fictitious names for his numerous accounts abroad, EFCC could zero in on some of the accounts by following up on the dust raised early in 2003 over the financing of a leading Nigerian telecommunications project in which Babangida is alleged to own 75 per cent shares. Mohammed Babangida fronts for his father on the board of the company. Those claiming to have borrowed from foreign banks in the heat of the EFCC’s revelations at the time have not identified the collateral used. Documents on the loan supposed to have been granted on 9 February 2001, were dated 28 August 2006. The original ‘loan’ letter has not been presented.
Luscious contracts for the construction of Abuja were awarded to front companies of his and his cronies, including Julius Berger and Arab Contractors. Between them, they virtually single-handedly handled the construction of the new Federal Capital. The security danger of foreign companies solely constructing a country’s capital and having access to its structural secrets, including possible Presidential underground escape routes and military arsenal vaults, in the view of military experts, shows poor thinking.
It has often been stressed by his supporters that IBB is a patriot and acceptable to all the geo-political zones of the country. But this is largely exaggerated. Not many have forgotten how he brought Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Conference, OIC, without bringing the matter before the Armed Forces Ruling Council. The fact that he politicised the army, reserving most key appointments for the north, is one reason to believe he is both a religious and ethnic bigot. Though many have argued that he annulled the presidential election because he did not want to surrender power, the revelation of his son, Mohammed, that top northern army officers told him he must not handover to a southerner because “political power was all the north has” easily combusts this notion.
Besides, that he kept postponing his handing over date, despite committing billions of naira into the most expensive transition in history will also quash his “credentials” as a patriot. He simply continued to take Nigerians on a ride to nowhere, spending N40 billion on his endless transition programme.
A good number of Nigerians believe that the foundation for the depreciation of the Nigerian economy was laid during the Babangida years. He adopted the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, after throwing the matter to debate and it was resoundingly defeated by Nigerians, and proceeded to devalue the naira and pauperise the people. When he took power in 1985, it was N2 to a dollar, but by the time he left, it was about N60. That he accepted all the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank without giving a hoot about the implication still rankles. There is, in the estimation of analysts, no single facet of Nigeria’s national life and moral fabric that IBB did not destroy. He is credited with the elimination of the middle class in Nigeria. He also targeted radicals. Those he could not compromise were either killed or hounded into exile. The killing of Dele Giwa, a frontline journalist, remains the classic of the genre.
Though Babangida has continued to deny involvement in the death of Giwa, who was murdered via a parcel bomb in October 1986, the Oputa Panel set up to investigate Giwa’s death indicted the former president.
In a bid to fool Nigerians, the IBB regime set up panels and opened a case. But the case was just kep getting tossed from one investigating team to the other. This, naturally, yielded no result.
In fact, the Oputa Panel indicted IBB and his two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Colonel A.K. Togun. The panel recommended that for the nation to achieve full reconciliation, Giwa’s case should be reopened for further investigations in public interest. The report was part of the activities to mark the third anniversary of the restoration of democratic rule in the country. The report stated that, “On General Ibrahim Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be re-opened for further investigation in the public interest.”
The commission’s findings left IBB jittery. He headed for the courts to prevent the government from implementing the commission’s recommendations.
Can He Win?
Like all soldiers, Babangida has perfected the art of exploiting opportunities. Sources close to him told TheNEWS last week that he was swayed to join the 2011 presidential race after he saw the turnout of people from all the geo-political zones, traditional rulers, military and even those opposed to him for years at his wife’s burial in Minna last December. This convinced him that he has tremendous goodwill.
Babangida, who was once described by Professor Wole Soyinka as an “enemy of humanity and the humanities”, saw what happened at his wife’s funeral as practical demonstration of the fact that there is no Nigerian that has following like him across religion, age and other divides. The outpouring of emotions for him was all he needed.
Analysts spoken to last week noted that the greatest mistake anyone could make is to underrate IBB. “Nigeria is still underdeveloped. People are not influenced by ideology or principle in voting. Most of the time, the man who wins is the one who has tremendous resources; he has a lot of people he could call up to raise big money for his campaign,” said a Lagos-based lawyer last Thursday. He described Babangida as the most destabilising force in today’s Nigeria and that all the recycled kleptomaniacs in government today owe their wealth, influence and power to the “evil genius”.
A preponderance of opinion sampled last week hinted at an emergent new political power base in Nigeria, i.e the Governors Forum. They warned that if IBB can get a majority of the governors on his side, he will most likely win.
“The governors are the most potent political set-up in contemporary Nigeria. I see him being supported by many of these unscrupulous governors. Some of them were even his boys. You can see that the likes of Uduaghan, Oyinlola, Nyako are already with him. So, it all depends on where majority of these governors go,” said Saleh Mohammed, a Sokoto-based public affairs analyst.
He recalled that in 2003, IBB threw a wedding party for his first daughter. The event attracted 28 governors.
Another thing he has going for him is support of the traditional institution. While traditional rulers in the north dread Buhari, his rival, they are comfortable with Babangida. TheNEWS was told that the IBB strategists are confident that the traditional rulers, who are still very relevant at influencing public opinion and mobilising the masses, are going to support him when push comes to shove. A source reminded TheNEWS of how Sule Lamido lost the Jigawa governorship election in 1999 for the “crime” of threatening to deal with the “oppressive” traditional institution. He was the candidate to beat until he made that faux pas.
Analysts say it would take a very strong effort to stop IBB this time, as it is even suspected that Obasanjo, his kill-joy in 2006, is not against him this time. Buhari is thought to be a very formidable opponent in northern Nigeria, but lacks the financial wherewithal to win a national election.
“Anything can happen. But it will be tough stopping IBB and I don’t see him and his long-term friend Aliyu Gusau, the current National Security Adviser, going head-to-head,” said an analyst.
Apart from the suspected pact with Obasanjo, who resisted every temptation to probe the Babangida years, there is the suspicion that he enjoys the support of the United States of America government. In its 4 March 2010 edition, The NATION, in an editorial asked President Barack Obama to stop flirting with Babangida. This followed the visit of Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State, and Robin Sanders, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, to Minna to confer with Babangida. The newspaper informed Obama that Babangida remains “one of the architects of Nigeria’s present misfortune” and wondered what could have brought “a democrat and a dictator together”. It was not long after the visit that IBB declared his interest in the 2011 presidential race. Could the Americans have goaded IBB to run? Can a Babangida presidency be strategic to American interests in Nigeria?
Abdulkarim Daiyabu, President of the Kano-based Movement of Justice in Nigeria, MOJIN, said Nigerians should be ready to fight to ensure IBB does not return to Aso Rock. “We have to mobilise and free ourselves from the likes of IBB who have stolen our country blind and want to keep us in perpetual servitude. This battle can only be won on the streets. I don’t trust all our political parties because they are not different from the PDP. If we don’t give this battle our best shot, a certified rogue like Babangida, who put us in the mess we are in right now, will emerge the winner,” he warned.
There is every reason to believe that Nigerians are ready for the fight to keep the evil gap-toothed General out of power. His declaration of interest in the presidency has thrown up various groups that have employed the Internet to thwart the retired General’s ambition. One of the groups, led by Modupe Debbie Ariyo, a U.K-based non-profit organisation leader, is strategising on how to halt IBB’s return.
On Facebook alone, the group amassed over 2,500 active members in less than three days. The site has over 35 links to website and newspapers crusading against his return. The group claims that IBB’s tenure as a military president witnessed the beginning of the collapse of Nigeria’s economic and social fabric, marked by massive brain drain, breakdown of the educational system, unprecedented level of corruption and the annulment of the 12 June presidential election.
Another group, National Democratic Forum, NDF, led by Jonathan Vatsa, the late General Mamman Vatsa’s brother, is actively involved in the campaign to stop IBB. Already, the group is gearing towards a “Say No To IBB” campaign to begin in Benue State.
Still, websites like against babangida.com are already publishing reports of IBB’s malfeasance in office. Many more groups are expected to join the fray as time goes on.
Babangida surely thinks Nigerians are suffering from collective amnesia, and that all his sins, even if not forgiven are forgotten. The coming days will prove if that is truly the case.
