Indeed, these are not the best of times for the former military president, General Ibrahim Babaginda, he has constantly been asked to come and give an account of how he expended the first Gulf war windfall which he administered through the dedicated account, in fact he was roundly indicted by the Pius Okigbo panel for misappropriating $12.4billion, and the big question is still hanging on his neck, is that, what did he do with the money? Or where is the money? In any case he has some questions to answer. Also, the brutal murder of the celebrated Nigerian journalist, late Dele Giwa was put at the doorstep of the retired military General for trying to expose his evil deeds through the instrumentality of the press. That is why the radical Lagos lawyer and human rights activist Chief Gani Fawehinmi has argued repeatedly that he has a case to answer concerning the assassination of the cerebral journalist killed by a parcel bomb in 1986. There other cases against him, like a generation of army majors that were wiped away in precipitated plane crash and of course, the annulment of the June 12 presidential elections. However, what is creating sleepless nights for the “evil genius” now is the persistent call by Sufiya, the late widow of the assassinated former army General, Major General Mamman Vasta, who was killed on the orders of General Babaginda for participating in a coup plot. In the first instance, what makes this particular case painful and problematic is the fact IBB and Vasta were very close childhood friends, they are even classmates and from the same state. Not only this, after Vasta had been sentenced to death for the coup plot they purported claimed he orchestrated, Professors Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and John Pepper Clarke went to IBB not to kill him since he was also a bona fide member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), because, he was an accomplished poet, and he agreed only for the moment, only for him  to order for Vasta’s execution as soon as they left. Now the widow of Vasta is asking for justice for the inhuman and dehumanizing treatment meted out to her husband.

Stirring the hornet’s nest is Sufiya, wife of the Major General Vasta who was executed on March 5, 1986 for purportedly attempting, alongside others, to overthrow the Babaginda regime. This is coming at a time IBB is serious nursing the ambition of contesting for the 2007 presidential election. According to Sufiya, her late husband’s execution was a pure case of premeditated murder because there was no iota of evidence linking Vasta to the plot. She argued very trenchantly that the Major General Charles Ndiomu Special Military Tribunal which sentenced Vasta to death had no evidence whatsoever, two, Vasta’s appeal to the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) against his illegal conviction was yet to be considered when IBB had him secretly executed along with other convicts and thirdly, the enacted Treason and Other Related Offences (Special Military Tribunal) Decree No 1 of 1986 under which  Vasta was purportedly tried was signed by Babaginda on January 6, 1986, several days after his arrest. She said she was only seeking justice, not vengeance and have said she would talk over the issue with president Obasanjo.

It would be recalled that, Vasta was alleged to have financed the coup by giving money (claimed to be farm loan) to one Bitiyong to organize men and arms to execute the coup. It was also alleged that because, Vatsa knew that the armoured corps in the Army was filled with Babaginda’s loyalists, he shifted attention to the Air Force. Vasta and other were accused of plotting to violently over throw the IBB regime, bomb many parts of Lagos, the then seat of power and immediately relocate the capital to Abuja.

However, in his response Vasta said, “I have never nursed any political ambition that is not in conformity with the norms of the profession and the laws of the land. The sentence shall not be my final hour, for I have God’s promise that His judgment is the last. I leave you with smiles as smiles surprise people. But I will tell members of the Nigeria Army that the day you start insulting yourselves, others begin to join you”. And, to really compound matters one of the very prominent dramatis personae In the whole coup plot saga Lt-General Domkat Bali said in an interview that, “My regret is that up till now, I am not sure whether Vasta ought to have been killed because whatever evidence they amassed against him was weak. My only regret is I could not say don’t do it. I am not sure whether we were right to have killed him”.

 The implication of these revelations is that perhaps there is more to the coup plot than the military establishment wants us to know, from all indications it seems Vasta was ruthlessly sacrificed on the alter of militio-political intrigues and extremely serpentine political power play, by the military politicians that held Nigeria hostage then. It is all about who gets political power through military intervention in politics, hold on to it and consolidate political and socio-economic power, eliminate oppositions, loot the treasury and continue to be relevant in the scheme of things. Those who know Vasta and IBB very well said, they were in deed very close from the same state, but perhaps IBB saw him as threat to his ambition. But what IBB himself said gives us a peep into his mindset as to why he did what he did, he said, “We were classmates and more or less, competitors. Lt-General Theophilus Danjuma himself pointed this out. Some said I should have retired or imprisoned Vasta but Vasta was not that kind of a person. Even in capacity, he tried to escape through an air conditioner hole. He could have planned a coup either in retirement or in prison because he was stubborn. At least Jerry Rawlings did it in Ghana”. It goes without saying therefore that IBB eliminated Vasta because he did not trust him and he saw him as threat to his political ambition as well as continued stay in power. Now, if one looks back at those that were killed during the IBB regime for coup plotting, they were enough to form a garrison, more importantly is the fact that, the brightest crop of military officers were the ones killed for planning coups that perhaps only existed in the imagination of some people. So, were these lives sacrificed just because of the political ambition of one man? If we add Bali’s regrets to IBB’s remark, it doubtful if really a coup was ever planned. Vasta was just taken out of the way, so that, IBB could have an unfettered access to power. This particular case should not be swept under the carpet; it must be thoroughly looked into by the government, not only as a way of healing the wounds of the past or even righting the wrongs of yesteryears, but to instill the fear of God and service to humanity in our future leaders. This disturbing error of judgment by a leviathan must be corrected now, if not, it could still re-occur in the future with far-reaching grave consequences. Then it was Vasta, tomorrow it could be anyone, and again no one will want to lose his or her loved one   for just any flimsy political tragedo-drama. This issue is the more important now that IBB wants to vie for the highest position in the land; Nigerians certainly would not want to have a killer-president to prevail over their affairs. In fact, no nation would pray for an undertaker as a head, because, he could turn the whole country into one huge mortuary, may this never happen in Nigeria. What the government should do is to set up a commission of enquiry to look into whether or not there was a coup plot or not, and ascertain whether the execution of Vasta by IBB’s government was right or not, and this probe should be extended to all other coups that took place in, Nigeria in the past, to really authenticate there veracity. Also, military coups or military intervention in politics should be completely outlawed in the country by our stature books, as a disincentive to military adventurism in the political arena.

From the foregoing, therefore, it stands to reason that IBB has no business contesting again for the presidency of Nigeria, he should go and sort himself out first, as it regards the execution of Vasta, the killing of Dele Giwa, the misappropriation of $12.4 billion Gulf war windfall, the issues raised during the Oputa panel and the Oputa report itself, the fallout of the annulment of the June 12 presidential election and many more other nagging matters that concerns the country begging for urgent answers. To be honest, IBB has a lot to on his hands that he has to attend to right now, and not a shot at the presidency. Without mincing words IBB is not the right kind of president Nigeria needs with all the atrocities he had committed in the past, he can just not impact positively on the polity, again what does he want to give to Nigerians now that he hadn’t the opportunity to do for eight years? Nigeria has past the stage where just anybody can come forward and wants to be the president of Nigeria; the issues are what is the person’s pedigree? What has he in stock to offer Nigeria and Nigerians? What is the persons self worth? Does he have the moral propriety to preside over the affairs of Nigeria? Does he have an impeccable track record to rule Nigeria? IBB has ruled once, so there is nothing new that he would do, Nigeria is a country of over 120 million people, he should, therefore, give some other people the opportunity to take a shot at the presidency, to bring fresh ideas into governance and positively move the country forward to meet the various challenges of the 21^st century.