Years of frustration with political and economic problems at home, now topped by the possible return of dictator Ibrahim Babangida to political power, seem to be taking its toll on Nigerians with dual citizenship, many of whom are now considering a renunciation of their Nigerian rights.
Againstbabangida is being informed directly and indirectly that the prevailing thought among Nigerians in the Diaspora is to just forget they were Nigerians as the insult of having Babangida as their president would be too painful to bear.
Feelers indicate Nigerians who are also citizens of Western nations have begun to consider severing remaining legal ties to the homeland by giving up their Nigerian passports and retaining citizenship of their new nations only.
One of them, Foluso Ogunleye, wrote with annoyance: "This man must be stopped by all legitimate means. Let all say never again, otherwise I will renounce my Nigerian citizenship if he ever becomes a Nigerian president again."
Most Nigerians, especially at home, have either been lackadaisical or hopeless about the ambition of Babangida. There is no strong structure, as of now, to resist him, as most initiatives have so far been coming from the Diaspora. It is believed that the Obasanjo administration may even provide him the ladder to step back to power. In spite of the wealth of information with which to send him to prison for murder, theft and arson, Babangida has been living big and spending bigger. He is untouchable, at least for now.
Ogunleye continued: "Just want to express my utter disgust to the news of Babangida picking the PDP nomination form for the presidency today. This is an insult to our collective intelligence. I think we all hold posterity the duty to stop this evil monster. Now is the time for this organization to depoloy its medial arsenal in an unprecedented proportion to educate and alert the Nigerian public about the need to ensure that this rogue and shameless unrepentant junt never makes another imprint on our national leadership landscape. I know you have been doing a wonderful job, but more need to be done."
Another Nigerian, who called from Washington D.C. in the United States said at least two of his friends have decided that if Babangida becomes the Nigerian president in a democratic setting, all hope is lost for Nigeria and the next course of action would be to give up their Nigerian citizenship.
The caller, a former civil servant in Lagos who came to America through the U.S. lottery, said he called to appeal to Againstbabangida.com not be discouraged but to realize that we had a central role to play to help Nigerians abroad retain their ties to the motherland.
According to the caller, he initially did not take our campaign serious, but it had now dawned on him that all people of goodwill need to support our efforts because most Nigerians think there is little they can do to stop Babangida.
As of 2001, 0.15% of Britain's citizens were born in Nigeria ; the North East had the smallest population, counting some 552 people at the Census. This is not to count Nigerians who were born in Britain.
There were about 164,000 foreign born Nigerian citizens in the United States in 2002.
All across the Western hemisphere, a lot of Nigerians have settled not just as immigrants, but citizens - buying property and raising their children according to the culture of their adopted nations. While a lot of Nigerians still talk about going back home some day, most people have resigned to spending the rest of their lives abroad.
They have therefore been buying up properties and investing heavily in the Western nations. Nonetheless, they have retained contacts with Nigeria, often using both their foreign and Nigerian passports to travel to Nigeria. They are believed to remit more than $4 billion every year to families and for various projects.
That relationship is now threatened by the ambition of one man - Ibrahim Babangida - the unrelenting dictator who most Nigerians dislike with passion. Polls have indicated he would win only about 12% of the votes if he contests as president. However, he has vowed to contest. Babangida is capable of totally corrupting the electoral system to his favor. This is the reason why those who know him are uncomfortable about his entry into politics.
