Another Roots for IBB
By Ndubuisi Ugah, 10.30.2010

LAGOS

Secretary of Awori Youth Vanguard of Nigeria, Dr. Yinka Badmus, has said it is unfair to continue to blame former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, for the woes besetting the nation.
He said after 17 years since he left office with six successive heads of government, such attribution of Nigeria’s problems to the presidential aspirant is unrealistic as it is deceptive.


Badmus, who listed what he referred to as the familiar template of Babangida’s political ‘sins’ by his detractors to include the annulment of June 12 election, the murder of Dele Giwa and the $12.4 billion Gulf War windfall, averred that there is more of politics to the accusations than substance.


His defence of Babangida, which also reflected the former leader’s positions on the accusations was contained in a statement issued in Lagos.
On June 12, he said: “At the appropriate time, Nigerians will not only know but would be shocked to discover those who pressurised IBB to annul the election, freest and fairest ever, including the man who said Abiola was not the messiah. Thus we must all reason to appreciate the issue in its true elements vis-à-vis our judgements. Moreover, his interest in democracy and the election can never be in doubt otherwise he could have aborted the election via ABN’s injunction but he overruled it.

He has since been remorseful and accepted responsibility as a leader for all that was June 12. Yet we must remind ourselves that those who are claiming to be democrats today were the same people who quickly accepted interim government in place of the new expedited election proposed by IBB then”.
Badmus added that the Okigbo panel was set up to examine the restructuring of the CBN not only under Babangida’s era but also other governments like that of Shonekan and Abacha, a point, he said, is often conveniently omitted, saying the report never indicted IBB but said some of the projects for which money was spent on were not priority projects.


He noted: “But when we look back today those projects remain the nation’s monuments in infrastructure, industrial and socio-economic development of the nation. We have to compare the revenues under IBB with those we have had from 1999 till date and see the level of developments across board and we can then appreciate the fact that IBB deserves some respectable credit and indeed deserving of his quest to rebuild and improve significantly on our national agenda and overall development as a reformer. Yes, IBB’s critics should relate his tenure to the squandering of 20 billion dollars excess crude funds in 4 months and depletion of external reserves to 33 billion now in just some months to properly situate his legacy.”


The statement similarly regretted the fate of Dele Giwa, whom Badmus regarded as a great journalist but said the recurring attachment of his death to Babangida in spite of court’s avowal to the contrary is a calculated attempt to smear his image and reputation. He said that about 8 other journalists who lost their lives in similar circumstances in this democratic dispensation are also deserving of attention.
“Such deliberate insistence on falsehood and campaign of calumny against IBB by the so-called “democrats” and tenants of democracy and the plan to stop IBB at all cost only point to his popularity. IBB’s fate should be allowed to be decided by the people as it obtains in a democracy”, he stated.