In this season of scathing public letter writing to President Muhammadu Buhari, the statement issued by former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and transmitted to the president and the public on Sunday, February 4, via his spokesman, Kassim Afegbua, takes the cake for the theatrics, confusion and controversies attending it.
The public had yet to finish digesting the contents of the controversial statement from Babangida when a rebuttal, albeit reportedly not personally signed by him, surfaced in the media. Reports that later emerged from the former president’s Hill Top mansion in Minna, Niger State, indicated that the second statement which disowned the ex-president’s first statement was written by a family member following the numerous reactions to the first statement from different parts of the country, which made it somehow expedient for Babangida to deny his first statement. It then appeared that the denial is a brainchild of some of his family members who wrote the second statement on his behalf.
The resultant double-speak from Babangida’s quarters is quite unbecoming of his high stature. What the country appears to have on its hands is a situation in which the ex-president clearly communicated his views in writing to Buhari and the Nigerian public, but some of his family members and aides did not think it was in his best interest to do so, and hence, decided to deny that he issued the statement.
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, further worsened this embarrassing double entendre from the Babangida camp by declaring Babangida’s spokesman, Afegbua, wanted, for releasing the statement, even when Babangida, himself, had not denied authorising it!
Oh, what a country! What manner of leaders! What manner of police! A look at the contents of Babangida’s statement is necessary here. The former president, largely toeing the line of ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo, in his recent scalding letter to Buhari, reaffirmed Obasanjo’s view that all was not well with Nigeria’s ship of state, that the ship was going dangerously adrift and that President Muhammadu Buhari was unlikely to be able to bring it back to coast. In a nutshell, it can be rightly said that Babangida concluded that Buhari was unfit for the critical work of rescuing Nigeria but should just remain as captain until May 2019 when his term would run out and pack his bags back to his home state. Unlike Obasanjo, he did not advise Buhari not seek a second term in office but he clearly made it clear that Buhari lacked what was required to move the nation forward, post 2019, and should be replaced with a younger and more vibrant leadership
However, unlike Obasnjo who proposed an extra-constitutional contraption, Coalition for Nigeria, for the task of moving the country forward on account of the perceived “failure” of the two leading political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – , Babangida chose to align himself with the view that the nation needed younger people at the helm of affairs to move the country forward. In short, he feels the two political parties and the 60 or so other ones still have what it takes to move the nation forward if they can get younger but competent candidates to fly their flags in the 2019 presidential election.
Babangida raised so many other issues relating to the need for inclusive and competent leadership. Although he chose not to come down strongly against Buhari like Obasanjo did, he, mostly through insinuations, wrote off his leadership as clearly unsuitable for the task at hand and more or less rallied for a young and competitive leadership that would be better suited for leading the nation into the future we all desire. He also discussed critical issues such as community policing and the high cost of electoral campaigns. The statement was vintage public communication, the kind that could be expected from the office of a former president. But sadly, it was followed only a few hours later by a watery recant, which was later said to have been written and signed by some persons on Babangida’s behalf.
While this entire scenario is embarrassing, to say the least, it is good that Kassim Afegbua has insisted on the authenticity of the first statement while the IGP, who declared him wanted for “making false statements, injurious falsehood, defamation of character and for acts capable of inciting public disturbance throughout the country”, only succeeded in embarrassing his office. This is more so as Babangida later told a newspaper that he actually authorised the statement in question. Is this, then, a case of chasing a messenger because the issuer and author of a particular message cannot be apprehended? The government, I believe, is misguided in its search for Kassim Afegbua or any other scapegoat for Babangida’s statement. This is because the ex-president has owned up to the statement, which is much in line with the thinking of many other Nigerians on this issue. Again, the ex-president has a right to his opinion on this matter, while the presidency and the IGP will be better guided toeing the same line that they did on Obasanjo’s statement on the same issue. They should profoundly thank Babangida for his forthrightness and his abiding interest in the development of the nation which informed the statement and use the opportunity to tell the nation of some of the things they have done and will continue to do to put the nation on the right track to address the seeming “misconceptions.”
There is no doubt, as Babangida said in his statement, that Nigeria needs a new breed of leaders. We need a set of younger, more forward looking leaders that are not enmeshed in nepotism, tribalism and the endless quest for filthy lucre that are the hallmarks of our current generation of leaders, both at the executive and legislative arms of government, even if President Buhari himself is squeaky clean of corruption.
Sadly, however, the controversy over Babangida’s two statements has made it unclear where he really stands on the very important matter of the future of Nigeria and Buhari’s place in it, post-2019. Nigerians expect him to come out with a third statement that will be clear, unequivocal, declarative and not confusing. He should be able to wriggle himself from the stranglehold of those of his household and clearly state his position on national issues without being teleguided by family members or aides. This is what he and our other elder statesmen owe the country at this time. There should be no room for prevarication or pussyfooting, especially from an elder statesman widely recognised not only as “Maradona”, but also as “The Evil Genius.”
The tiger of Minna must not lose its tigritude at this critical time in our national life.