(By Chidi Obineche)
On Wednesday, August 17,2016, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, IBB turned 75. It was an opportunity for him to reflect on his controversy-ridden life. He touched on some sore spots, including his preference for part-time legislature, and the pervading image of an “evil genius”, or “ Maradona”. He said: “ I am not the evil that quite a lot of people think I am. By virtue of the job I was doing, I was bound to be misconstrued and people would take it like that; but I consider it as an opinion as long as I am not what you think I am.”
Perhaps, since Nigeria’s nationhood, no ruler has evoked more emotions than IBB. His eight-year-rule was replete with antics, character and streams that tended to stigmatize his life as straight from the “THE PRINCE, “the evergreen work of Niccolo Machiavelli, (1469 – 1527). In essence, THE PRINCE mirrored that “Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a Prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.”
And he lived it out to great effect spicing it with “dribbling” skills that earned him the sobriquet, “Maradona”. John Dewey, the English philosopher contended that most mortals are alive to the fact that a split often occurs between their present, their past and future. The past hangs upon them as a burden; invading the present with a sense of consequences wished undone. It oppresses the present, instead of being a catalyst for a leap forward. This is the cross which IBB bears in his twilight.
A careful reading of his birthday press interview shows that Babangida’s Prometheus self was still active; welcoming, accepting, selecting, and at times side stepping. But, no matter what, his courage and the generalized submissions of apotheosis he provided are significant for the present concerns.
A throwback to his regime rekindles a mixed grill of strains; floodgates of experimental ideas, the June 12 annulment, the bloodletting, the economic policy( Structural Adjustment Programme), the “settlement culture” and pervasive corruption, death of the middle class and the destruction of ethical values, among others. On August 27, many of his admirers may have spared a moment to reflect on his ascendance to power and the propitious excitement it engendered at the time.
The same day marks the 23rd anniversary of his departure from power. His regime was bursting at the seams with ideas and novel programmes. Talk of the Mass Transit Programme, Peoples Bank, the concept of the “newbreed”. The new generation banks that flourished effectively checkmated the tyranny and anachronism of the old banks. Today, very few members of the elite could raise their heads to boast that they resisted his blandishment. Corruption walked on all fours, and indeed ingeniously gave rise to the nefarious act of obtaining money through false pretences, otherwise known as 419.
In his era, the 419 fraud machine became one of the biggest industries in the country.
Babangida, who had issues with academics because “they often cite many authors in their various writings,” descended on the academia, which at the time was the last bulwark of resistance.
He banned the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, foisted sole administrators on some universities. He starved the universities of funds to the extent that lecturers resorted to all manner of subterfuges to extort students through sale of handouts; sorting (material outreach to lecturers for good marks) etc. His primary constituency also got his boot. Seniority meant nothing to the officers and men.
A most respected officer who served as his Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Salihu Ibrahim described the institution then as “an army of anything goes”. Babangida cuts the image of the tragic hero.
He touched Nigeria and the people. Reminiscing on his past may sound romantic especially within the prism of his birthday. But the verdict of history will either be kind or harsh depending on who is writing it. As they say, self introspection is best for a man who stirs different emotions in different people.
The former president had during his last days in power consigned all his actions and inactions to the verdict of history. But his thumbscrew will reverberate even beyond his lifetime.