There is no need to chronicle the defective and aberrant military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (Rtd) IBB here because every living Nigerian is factually and practically acquainted with it. For several weeks now, I have been pondering on why IBB had decided against all sense of reason and rationality to take the gauntlet by announcing his presidential ambition for the 2011 general elections at Abuja recently.
IBB’s Presidential ambition from my deductions is still like a riddle wrapped in an enigma. Why should IBB of all people have the effrontery and audacity to nurse such a tall ambition, while forgetful of his antecedents.
Does IBB have any true and sincere advisers and friends? And if he does, they would obviously must have fore warned him of the dangers, pitfalls and obstacles stewns on his path to realizing his selfish and onerous ambition.
Many Nigerians have in the past months expressed their bewilderment over the ambition of the Evil Genius, wondering what he must have left behind at Aso Rock.
In democratic terms as applicable in the Nigerian constitution, IBB has already served or exhausted his two tenures of eight years, having installed himself as a military president between 1985-1993.
That IBB’s eight years military regime and rulership of Nigeria was characterized by dictatorship and flagrant abuse of power is to say the very least.
According to Nigerians, IBB was not only a villain, he was also a despot and a tyrant who had turned the bright future and destiny of the Nigerian nation into a nightmarish existence for majority of its citizenry.
Essentially, what shapes history is man’s moral attitude, changes in his inner state of being, leading invariably to a change in his destiny.
Decline also is ingrained in life and in human existence. All nations in the world also experience decline at a particular period in their existence.
Nigeria during IBB’s rulership had witnessed an overwhelming spiritual, and moral decline, immoral, the offensive and the destructive. Nigeria also experience a sharp decline in its social and economic spheres.
The Nation’s inclination during the IBB years was essentially towards all that is evil and wicked. This inclination stemed from his leadership style that had portrayed that perversion of faith and a blunting of the ethical and moral consciousness of society.
It is a known fact that financial crimes such as 419, inflation of contract sum, rent seeking and the like, took their rise during this period. Other vices such as bribery, nepotism, corruption, looting of public treasury, violence, cultism, god fatherism etc began to flourish on a scale unprecendented, resulting in the wicked disruption of the inner state of the individuals, rendering forth the very soul of society which had itself become pervaded by corruption.
In this evil situation, many Nigerians became affected with the virus of greed, kleptomania, bribery and corruption. They also became blinded morally and spiritually, even as they became even more materialistic, in their disposition.
Most Nigerians today believe that IBB is the main proponent of materialism in the consciousness of the average Nigerian.
Ironically today, Nigerians are the most materialistic people on planet earth. They have thus ignored history and the ultimate destiny of mankind.
Conversely during the IBB years the nations social and economic growth became seriously hampered, leading inevitably to the polarisation of the society.
For instance, the Structural Adjustment Programme SAP of the IBB years led to a serious injury of the psyche and well being of the people, leaving them in an eternal bondage.
His SAP had created within Nigerians and Nigeria an unrepentant social, economic and political forces that led to the enslavement of the very society which he had claimed he had come to set free.
IBB had created a distinct social, and political and economic divisions in the Nation’s body politics, whereby a powerful few had the reins of government, having a monopoly over all things, including the wealth and the financial and economic resources of the nation, while the masses became entrapped in the state of being the oppressed, even as the state of anomie prevailed throughout the country.
Meanwhile, IBB carried out his phantasmagoria transition to civil rule programme, spanning many years, his rich and powerful co-travellers, aides and cohorts wallowed in wealth and luxury, displaying all kind of arrogance, licentiousness, debauchery lifestyle, while the masses continued their travail in the long and dark tunnel of poverty and subjugation.
IBB’s control of the nations wealth made him to become even more oppressive and demonic, he constituted a tyrannical minority that were committed to unleashing terror on the people through the use of the instrument of state terrorism.
Being a military regime, the masses, the workers who generated the resources and produced the wealth of the nation became pauperized.
IBB had subjected Nigerians to the tragic realities of oppression, suppression, bondage, slavery, injustice and horrible conditions. who can forget the June 12 crises, the so many insidious occurrences. What about the oputa Panel report that has forever failed to see the light of day because of the court injunction instituted by IBB.
Admittedly, IBB had created a condition for slavery as the Nigerian masses became slaves in their own nation, voiceless, hapless and empty, while the military overlords continued to control the wealth and resources of Nigeria at the peril of the majority of the citizenry who could barely meet their basic needs.
Apparently IBB never placed the welfare of the citizen as one of his priorities in his idealism nor programmes. His DFFRI, MAMSER and others were mere conduit pipes he used in siphoning the nation’s wealth into his private pockets.
Today many Nigerians know IBB to be a wealthy man and super rich, having illegally enriched himself at the expense of the poor masses of this nation.
But can IBB say that he is truly happy and contended with life inspite of the millions of dollars at his disposal today?
Sincerely IBB is a national debacle, that he would come out openly, boldly and remorselessly to tell Nigerians that he would be vying for the presidency in 2011.
It means that IBB has failed woefully in reading the hand writing on the wall, forgetful of his antecedents.
However, the moral and spiritual implication of these facts is that IBB had the greatest opportunities to transform this country and take it to a higher height. But he squandered all the goodwill and love Nigerians had for him to emerge as a true Nigerian hero. Today IBB is nothing but a curse, an anti- hero to majority of Nigerians.
IBB should have known that as a leader, rather than as a ruler he should have waged war against bribery and corruption, he should have fought crime and oppression, he should have given education, social and economic development the utmost priority.
IBB should have established equality, equity and justice as the basis of his regime. He should have fought against poverty by enriching the people and making them happy, and do whatever the Lord of the world had ordered to be done.
Today IBB would have emerged as the Hero, free and happy, united with Nigerians in the spirit of brotherly love, peace and patriotism to take Nigeria to the next level.
“A king gains victory over his enemies according to his justice over his subjects and is defeated in his wars according to his injustice. Seeing to the welfare of subjects is more effective than a large number of soldiers”.
Finally, IBB should have learnt to take the responsibility bestowed on him by destiny to provide a people oriented political, moral, intellectual and spiritual leadership for the-people of this nation when he had all the opportunities in the world to do so. Today, history is the better judge and for IBB 2011 is just a phantom.
