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IBB:
The Man is Still Standing Max
Gbanite “The
return of Evil,” “The sins of IBB,” “IBB: Road to Perdition,”
and “Can we trust this man, IBB?” are titles and subtitles used
recently to describe former military President Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida, GCFR, mni. These obviously ill-intended essays and similar
missiles stream into the media on a somewhat regular basis since it
became apparent that the enigmatic and amiable leader will undoubtedly
play an active role in the upcoming elections of 2007. God willing,
regardless of how far the poison pens push, we will soon find out
whether the retired general would participate as a candidate for the
chairmanship of his local government area, for the governorship of his
home state, or for the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Sadly,
the peddlers of poison, who otherwise parade themselves as “political
pundits,” would not wait for the man to exercise his constitutionally
guaranteed right. Instead of participating in building a base for the
future, these literary agent provocateurs shove their bland brand of
political epistles down the throats of ordinary citizens and, in the
process, poison the minds of the next generation. It has therefore
become imperative to respond to some of the undignified lies being
peddled as the truth. Of
all the packaged fabrications, I shall dwell for now on the so-termed
“Sins of IBB.” [The publication and the writer are unimportant at
this juncture]. In the article, the publisher and writer chronicled what
in their calculations may portend high hurdles or insurmountable issues
that might drown President Babangida’s campaign for 2007; that is, if
he decides to contest for the presidency. Many
writers -- the good, the bad, and the mean mercenaries -- have given at
one time or another their own interpretations and forecasts on what may
likely happen in 2007. In almost all their permutations, they never stop
to factor into the equation that they might not live to see the supposed
2007; none stops to reason that no one is guaranteed anything in life.
Therefore, it has become necessary for all of us to put behind us all
these issues of yesteryears and to forge ahead as a nation, diverse but
united by a common destiny. I am not a journalist; however, I understand
the essence of communication, especially when certain journalists and
publishers are induced financially to malign and lampoon the characters
of others. To move forward, we should suture and nurture our distressed
democracy, not prop-up and promote the petty politics of disingenuous
disinformation. This
will probably be the last time I will discuss these issues in writing;
instead, my future writings will be centered on what the future holds
for IMF
LOAN It
is on record that IMF/World Bank loans have already been taken by the
government headed by “Baba” (then General Olusegun Obasanjo) in 1976
and by Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1980. So, when General Babangida (now
retired) assumed office, his economic team advised him to accept the
loan and use it to finance the various proposed programs enunciated by
the advisers serving under him. If accepting the loan as advised by
these learned men was bad and misguided, why then is the government of
today still accepting such loans? Apparently, this particular “sin”
is so wonderfully sweet to the extent that even State governors and the
Federal Government are competing to get additional loans from
international lenders. The same writers and chroniclers of these
“sins” -- if given the position of authority -- would advocate for
more loans to finance the rebuilding of STRUCTURAL
ADJUSTMENT PROGRAM (SAP) The
late sage, the Rt. Honourable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Owele
Onicha) once said: “Change is constant.” He was right. The
Nigerian economy before the implementation of SAP was very artificial
and more dependent on the Civil Service and importation of commodities.
There was no clear policy articulating export and production orientation
of the people. Besides, the guideline advocated by the lenders to assist
the economy was “SAP.” In other words, the economy must be
deregulated; there must be an increase in the export potentiality,
liberalization of the banking sector, the telecommunication sector, the
political sector (political economy), the local government sector, the
monetary sector (micro/macro), etc. In short, SAP sought a complete
overhauling of the entire nation. It’s
important to understand that retired General Babangida was a military
man, not an economist. The economic team that he put in place, most of
them educated in the best universities around the world, conceived these
marvelous ideas (“sins”?). They themselves knew the shot-term,
midterm, and long-term implications of these “sin-full” policies;
yet, they sold the ideas to President Babangida. I
am not an economist either but, as a graduate of Business
Administration, the courses I took in economics enable me to assert
boldly: Had the initiative of Structural Adjustment Program not been
implemented then, the nation would not have experienced many of the
emerging economic success stories: (a)
the
emergence of the new generation Banks like Standard Trust Bank Plc.,
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc., Zenith International Bank Plc., and many
others (due to banking deregulation); (b)
the
telecommunications deregulations allowed the emergence of Mtel, MTN,
Vmobile, Globacom, and others; the deregulation of the aviation
industries created the new wave private airlines like Chanchangi,
Bellview, EAS, ADC, Sosoliso, etc.; (c)
the
reformation of the judiciary was enunciated -- though it still requires
more work; the much-appreciated National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
was introduced as part of the “sins” of judicial reforms; (d)
the
deregulation of the currency created the opportunity of foreign
investments; [It’s important to note that General Buhari/Idiagbon era
enunciated the first currency deregulation when naira was devalued to N3
to the dollar.] (e)
different
government agencies like Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC),
Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Nigerian Export Bank (NEXIM),National
Directorate of Employment (NDE), Directorate of Food and Rural
Infrastructure (DFFRI), Mass Mobilization Agency (MAMSER), Oil Mineral
Producing Area Development Council
(OMPADEC), and many other nationally nurturing agencies were created to
assist the national rebirth and guide the nation to sustainability and
International competitiveness. If
the implementation of Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) was indeed a
“sin,” then it must be a nurturing one because the economic
reformation is still being undertaking by the current PDP-led democratic
government. President Obasanjo’s team of advisers has rechristened
“SAP”: It’s now called “National Economic Empowerment
Development Strategy (NEEDS).” We can only pray and hope that the same
unrepentant agents that sabotaged “SAP” do not do the same to NEEDS.
Who knows what name journalists would call Obasanjo in future if his
programs fail. It
is Babangida’s “sins” that created the much desired Road Safety
and Vehicle Inspection Officers. What a nightmare it must have been for
the nation! Yet, these traffic officers are still operational. A
“sin” like Peoples Bank is now merged into Agricultural Development
Bank (ADB), due to misadvisement of Obasanjo; and ADB is yet to lead
farmers to heaven. Another “sin” like the creation of micro-credit
lending to the masses, a loan program that promoted self-reliance and
self-sustenance and creativity in setting-up of small scale enterprises,
has been renamed by the current administration to “Small and Medium
Enterprise Industries (SMEI),” and the set-aside funds by the
government lodged in different banks are untapped and are collecting
financial fungi, while enriching the capital base of the banks that
cannot even enunciate proper formulas to dispense the funds to those in
need. As a matter of fact, Babangida’s “sins” are so sweet that
they keep resurfacing under different administrations eleven years after
he left office; the only difference is that the names are adjusted to
fit the propaganda of the particular administration. Another
great “sin” that is annoyingly so sweet is the creation of the
Directorate of Food and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), a “sin” that
gave birth to the creation of the current constitutionally recognized
774 Local Government Areas. This “sin” was designed to empower the
rural indigenes to take control of their development and allow the
construction of network of roads. The “sin” provided for the
electrification of the rural areas and encouragement of food production
in rural areas for the stability of food security in the nation. The
“sin” of DIFFRI was emasculated with another “sin”: MAMSER. The angel that held sway
then at MAMSER, to make sure that Nigerians swallowed these “sins,”
is Professor Jerry Gana. He was so good at his job that he even
reinvented himself under this administration, to the extent that he was
first made a Minister of Information, where he renamed MAMSER
“National Orientation Agency (NOA)” and, again, he did such a
fantastic job that his actions -- though “sin-full” -- was rewarded
again with a new appointment as a Senior Special Adviser to the
President on political matters. Today,
the ruling PDP must possess a larger “sin” compared to the political
“sins” of President Shagari era and all the other administrations
combined. One creative writer even alleged that the “sins” of
President Babangida were so pungent to the extent that even women
lobbied his wife Mrs. (Dr.) Mariam Babangida to introduce a special
“sin” for women called “Better Life for Women.” This particular
“sin” became the bedrock to the creation of Ministry of Women
Affairs. This “Eve’s only sin” was responsible for the
emancipation of women in rural areas; it empowered women to become
self-reliant and more productive to the society, and its potency has led
to women feeding their husbands in What
a wonderful “sin”! MISCELLANEOUS
SINS These
are fallout sins from the majors. (a) Brain Drain: This
sin -- according to the divinely
ordained judges, clueless commentators, and traducers of Babangida --
resulted from the harsh economic overtures created by the “original
sin”: SAP. Professional Nigerians ran away from It
is, therefore, an important lesson to the next generation Nigerians to
know that these so called “middle-class runaways” had no faith in
their fatherland and must be regarded as adventurers in search of
personal economic empowerment. It is even inconceivable to ponder what
America of today would have been had all its professionals ran away from
the country in 1930s during the great depression, or what would have
become of the economies of the various nations that accepted the
Nigerian professional middle-class had the middle-class citizens of
those nations deserted their fatherland when the going was tough. The
answer might even be a larger-than-life sin. The
consolation side to the migration of these middle-class Nigerians is the
economic return to The
Naira is allowed to float or oscillate and to find its own comfortable
level. Hence, it has been fluctuating between N105 and N150 since the
inception of this administration in 1999. Another aspect of this
“sin” is that it has enabled some “Nigerians in Diaspora” (a new
name for economic refugees) to be able to build affordable houses in
their villages, train their kith and kins in the universities, acquire
chieftaincy titles, Otumbaships, and turbaning from their various
community leaders. If this devaluation “sin” is so terrible, one
should at least expect the economic team of President Obasanjo to revise
the trend and to peg the Naira. Economists will tell you that the
stability of Naira is dependent on the micro and macro indices of the
economy and not just by economic militancy of immediate-effect syndrome. (b) The “Dele Giwa”
Sin:
This is a very serious sin, and may the killers of this man be judged in
God’s way. Amen. Having said that, it is important to understand that
the then Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Reverend (Dr.) Chris
Omeben, who investigated the case without any interruption by the
government of President Babangida, asserted in his book “In thy
hands O God” that after a thorough investigation of the case
that he could not link the death to the then Commander-in-Chief. However,
undeterred by the assertion, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) went ahead and
filed a suit against Brigadier-General Haliru Akilu (then a Colonel) and
Colonel Tapgun (both retired from active service). The Judiciary heard
the case to its entirety and ruled in favor of the defendants: NOT
GUILTY. The case went to the Court of Appeals and on to the Supreme
Court. Both courts of law ruled in favor of the defendants: NOT
GUILTY. Now,
to continue to accuse President Babangida is indeed a lack of judicial
wisdom and an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians. We
have recently witnessed the same judiciary at work in the trial of
Senator Omisore for the death of Chief Bola Ige. The end result: Not guilty as charged. Perhaps the same hired hands and
poison peddlers will someday create stories that may point accusing
fingers at the current President for the deaths of Chief Bola Ige, Harry
Marshall, S.K. Dikkibo, and a host of others who lost their lives during
his tenure. No one has even attempted to investigate whether Dele Giwa,
given his style of journalism, may have enemies elsewhere who were
capable of killing him. It is even stranger to the investigators that
none of Dele Giwa’s friends and associates allowed themselves to be
interrogated by the police investigators. Why? For those who believe in
justice, please allow all the facts to be presented before forming your
opinion or conclusion on this or any other issue. Since the untimely
death of this gallant man, many more have followed. (c) Corruption:
This is the biggest “sin” of them all. Many writers have coined the
words institutionalized,
politicized, militarized, indoctrinized, democratized, Nigerianized,
and even PDP-rized to describe
how President Babangida “invented” corruption in If
Babangida “invented” and “introduced” corruption into The
journalists of today are grossly underpaid by their employers to the
extent that most of them have resorted to accepting financial
gratifications to deride an innocent person. Some will even accept token
fees to interview one for publication. A good many of them, especially
editors and publishers of some dailies and magazines, have been
compromised by some State Governors and public figures to block any
damaging article that portrays them in the negative, whereas the same
publishers and editors are also used to cast aspersions and ultimately
castigate unsuspecting victims without clear evidence. This approach is
very sad to the noble profession of journalism. Therefore,
the sin of corruption could not have been introduced by President
Babangida or any Nigerian head of state for that matter. What probably
happened is that, with the introduction of economic reforms, many
brilliant Nigerians saw loopholes and windows of opportunity to defraud
the nation, foreigners, and even relatives. There is no clear
justification for this attitudinal problem. The entire nation must
mobilize and fight the scourge to a minimal level. Even
eleven years after Babangida left office, we are told by the ruling
party that 360 billion Naira were set aside for the roads of Nigeria,
that 275 million dollars were spent for the maintenance turnaround of
the refineries, that fifty million dollars were given to the Nigerian
Railways, that 45 billion Naira was spent on the just-concluded
elections, that the actual amount spent to host COJA and CHOGM are top
secret; yet, the same indefatigable journalists failed to ask questions
why these funds were never spent on the said projects, instead they want
to know what happened to the so-called oil windfall -- $12 billion!
It’s very funny indeed because notable and highly acclaimed economist,
Prof. Sam Aluko has argued that the country could never make such amount
of money in one year. Yet these traducers insist that the nation made it
in three months of the first Gulf War. Well, the current Gulf War has
been on for more than one year and the nation’s windfall is yet to
reach the same 12 billion dollars, and even the ones gained as a result
of oil price increase is yet to be properly accounted for. A
similar accusation was played in 1976; the press alleged that 2.8
billion dollars (or was it pounds?) were missing from the nations
account in London when the current President Olusegun Obasanjo was then
the military head of state and Muhammadu Buhari, later general and
military head of state, was at the almighty oil sector. No one actually
found the missing money because it was not missing; the story was
planted to discredit the regime. The same rumour peddlers are at it
again. Well, they have failed to produce the evidence and all they need
to do is to contact OPEC for its records and possibly Lloyds of London
for their records showing the vessels that lifted such crude oil. Eleven
years after Babangida left office, we read about Executive Governors of
various States moving monies (people’s money) outside the country;
yet, the same paid writers fail to identify these governors because they
have been paid to shut up. President Obasanjo, followed by Babangida,
has challenged anyone anywhere in the world to produce any scintilla of
evidence to prove that Babangida was involved in shady deals and has
stashed money in foreign accounts. Yet, no one has produced such
evidence. Instead those who need to feel important have continued to
make unsubstantiated allusions. Shame
on them! (d) The “Oputa
Panel” Sin:
This is a “sin” that was not properly conceived by the legislative
government. A panel emotionally created by the President without a clear
mandate on what they should do. I attended many of the sittings in THE
ANNULMENT This
particular “sin” has come and gone and can never be revised.
However, in a recent article titled, “June 12: Another perspective”
I reasoned that the election was inconclusive and therefore pales in
significance to the annulment of January 15, 1966, the forceful removal
of the Premier, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa (who was subsequently murdered),
and the forceful removal of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in December 1983 by
General Muhammadu Buhari. The untimely removal of both legitimately
elected governments was more sacrosanct and should even be mourned than
that of an inconclusive election of June 12. Those
who insist that the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola should be immortalized are
wrong, if the immortalization is based on the annulment; however, if
their argument is based on his support and contribution to sports and
commerce, then we are moving in the right direction and his name should
indeed be on the jerseys of the national team or even the National
Stadium, Lagos. On the political side, Abiola’s friends misled him to
insist on a mandate he assumed wrongly was his. For those who insist on
the importance of June 12, it’s important to consider, at least, the
divine option here. If God’s will prevails at all times for those of
us who are true believers, is it then possible that the Almighty God
simply allowed nemesis to catch up with the late mogul? You may need to
hear or better read the tales of the first Chairman of ITT Africa on how
he was betrayed and stabbed in the back by MKO, or how MKO financed and
supported the coup that toppled President Shehu Shagari in 1983, or the
bloody coup that brought Yoweri Museveni to power in Uganda, and many
other covert antecedents that were the hallmark of the man. It is not my
intention to denigrate a dead man, but there are certain discernible
possibilities that must be explored. After all, my Catholic upbringing
asserts that sometimes the Almighty God allows certain things to happen,
especially sad things, if one’s hands are not too clean. Some
of the prominent people whom I spoke with, who were involved in the
corridors of power during and after the annulment, posited that the
hardest decision for President Babangida was to hand over to an interim
government, and that the easiest would have been to deploy his loyalists
to checkmate the opposition and retire all those opposed to his moves,
and still remain in office. On hindsight, what these moves would have
caused is now considered mute, since he opted to leave as his personal
sacrifice to the continued unity and peace in CONCLUSION:
Former
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said: “Consensus is the
negation of leadership.” When President Babangida took office in 1985,
it is on record that he was never elected through the reasoned ballot of
the people. His loyalists chose him to lead the country after the
putsch. Given these circumstances, it was possible for him to carry out
his programs without consensus. Fortunately, those who had the
opportunity to work with him confessed that he (Babangida) never forced
orders down people’s throat. He always encouraged debate within the
Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), even if the end result of his vision
was carried out without consensus. “The
man is still standing” is very befitting of this discourse because,
since the amalgamation of The
man does not and has never claimed to be an angel or a saint. All he
wants to do is to be an instrument of change. Change and economic reform
are synonymous, and the momentum must be maintained for the
sustainability and the economic prosperity of indestructible However,
the failure of Babangida bashers and traducers to present an alternative
formula for the economic reformation of Nigeria and the fact that
despite their tirades and insults, and given that the blueprint of his
economic policy is still being implemented in disguise eleven years
after he left office are an indication that the man is vindicated. He is
indeed a true leader. Like a spot-on leader and a gallant general, he is
indeed still standing. If
it is true that he failed the nation, as some writers would want the
rest of the nation to believe, why then are some people within the same
nation being castigated for asking him to come back and contest for an
office in 2007? Why are those promoting other candidates afraid to the
extent that they have resorted to insults, mudslinging, and name-calling
to deter the efforts of his followers? Whereas those who are opposed to
Babangida’s reemergence have the constitutional right to do so, those
who are clamouring for his return equally have the same right to promote
him. Whether
President Babangida would decide to come out and contest or not will
remain in time capsule. One thing is for surely: 2007 will surely come
and, when that date arrives and he decides to contest the election, he
will indeed win… God willing; no amount of invectives, verbal or
written, will knock him down. At the end of the long road traveled, the
man will still be standing… taller. I
thank you profusely for reading along, whether you agree with me or not;
at least, you read through the piece. Thank you immensely. Long
live the Federal Republic of Nigeria! July 13, 2004 |