Former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, the only military head of state in Nigeria who bore that title, is a master in the game of power. He dribbles in the field of power and politics as would the fiery footballer from Argentina, Diego Maradona, in the field of football.
Babangida actually bore that sobriquet at a point when the press could not come to terms with the direction his transition programme was headed. He held on to power in a coup-ridden environment for eight years. Only General Yakubu Gowon stayed long in power as a military man, largely because soldiers could not have left a raging civil war to engage in coup planning. The Nigerian civil war (1967 to 1970) helped to prolong Gowon’s stay in power. Five years after the civil war, he fell to the vicious circle of military coups befuddling the system. In July 1975, the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed and Gen. Olusegun Obasannjo, yes, the same Obasanjo, unseated Gowon for trying to play Maradona with his handover date. Gowon said the 1976 date he had announced was no longer realistic, thus giving his power-hungry colleagues the rope to hang him. This is no chronicle of coups in the land, although those who have tasted power when they wore uniforms have proven a remarkable reluctance to stay away from it. The point of the foregoing is that Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has been the longest-serving military head of state in peace time. He was in the saddle for eight years, a feat of sorts.
He had stepped aside from power in 1993, but has managed to remain relevant by the large following he garnered while in office. Now, he has joined the league of ex-military leaders who have held the nation by the jugular, deciding who holds the levers of power, a process that began with moving Obasanjo from prison to presidency in 1999. Obasanjo fired his missile of a missive to President Muhammadu Buhari recently wherein he told Buhari to step aside and not consider those nudging him to return to the ballot box next year. That letter was seen in some quarters as the verdict of the retired military big gurus. When Babangida’s media adviser, Kassim Afegbua, released a statement, wherein IBB seemed to express the same sentiments with Obasanjo, it sent ominous signals to the house of power. We understand that some water had passed under the bridge before that statement saw the light of day. That is in the realm of speculations, which is why we cannot fully rely on them. But I need to state that the statement has been retracted, which implies that IBB has not asked President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) to step aside.
However, it was gathered, but not reliably, that Afegbua was torn between IBB and his son, Mohammed. While IBB wanted the statement released, his son did not. He did not want his father to have any head-on collision with PMB, perhaps, remembering that his father had overthrown PMB in 1985. Such a statement could be construed as a continuation of an ouster that happened over 30 years ago. It would be like going back to the trenches. Mohammed insisted that the statement must not go out. But IBB must have thought that, like Obasanjo, he ought to be on the side of the Generals. Afegbua, a fine gentle man, whom I have not met, obliged his boss and not the son. Then IBB’s son quickly caused his father to retract the statement and say it was a gross misrepresentation of his views.
As I had stated, the foregoing is not standing on solid rock, having been sourced from people that may not stand the test of truth. But the veracity is not my point of contention. Why did Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, declare Afegbua wanted? The IGP seems to be over-reaching himself in declaring Afegbua wanted. Is it not enough that IBB has denied and virtually retracted the comments? Did IBB complain to the police that Afegbua had defamed him and brought him to disrepute in the eyes of the public? Did Afegbua issue an unauthorised statement? If he did, is it in the place of the police to punish him or in the domain of his boss to sanction him as he deems fit? I do not think it is fair to let Afegbua run like a fugitive for doing his duty, even if in error. Thousands of statements have been issued and retracted in the past and there is no record that the IGP went for the sources of those statements. Perhaps Afegbua is on the slaughter slab on account of the weighty nature of the statement he allegedly issued. Whatever heavy weight such a comment carried has been mitigated by the retraction by the same source that it emanated from. Afegbua should not turn to cannon fodder for the political battle among Generals. I am minded to believe that Afegbua may not have erred on the side of obedience to constituted authority. He stood as media adviser to former Governor Adams Oshiomhole and was commissioner when that administration wound up. He could not have been a stranger to obedience of authority. It would be strange that he issued that statement without the approval of his boss.
It must not come to light, even by inference, that this regime wants to stifle opinion, given that PMB has the infamous reputation of repudiating the press as exemplified in the decree, during his first coming, that sent Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson to jail for doing their job as journalists. The IGP should check his zeal, in order not to create greater image problems for a boss he wants to protect. I do not think it is fair or even legal, as some lawyers have opined, to declare someone wanted for making a comment and retracting it. One of the strongest highpoints of democracy is freedom of expression. This regime has not suppressed opinions, to the best of my knowledge. The IGP must not instil fear in people, because that would be detracting from the gains of democracy.