₦airaland Forum

My Reflections On General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida's book are as follows:

On June 12 Annulment: General Babangida obviously had to contend with General Abacha as a counterforce in his government. Many people are too young to remember that Abacha was referred to as Khalifa (successor) after he quashed the April 1990 Orkar coup and felt entitled to succeed Babangida.

I actually believe General Babangida when he says that Abacha led the counterforces that pushed through the annulment.

In my opinion, there were too many military forces opposed to Chief Abiola, for various reasons, and Babangida had been away from direct control of troops for too long to have effectively countered them.

The annulment was regrettable. It set us back. However, I can understand why he felt he had to go along with it. The alternative may have been a violent coup that may have cost him and Chief Abiola their lives.

On Dele Giwa: I find it hard to believe that the government did not know more about the killing than it let on. If I am generous, I could unwillingly agree that General Babangida may not have known about the death. However, revelations from the Oputa Panel led me to conclude that the state was aware of what happened to Mr. Giwa.

On IBB's Handling of the Economy: I believe that by initiating the privatisation and commercialisation of our economy, whether or not it was part of the agreements that the Babangida regime entered into to access World Bank loans, which included the Structural Adjustment Program, IBB set up Nigeria's economy to fare better after him.

Much of what we are currently enjoying by way of a robust private sector was his doing.

However, not enough light was shed on the alleged misuse of the $12 billion Gulf War oil windfall. If that money had been better utilised, Nigeria would be better off today.

Also, we had an awful inflation rate under IBB at over 57%, which I believe he ought to have dwelt more on, because they were either caused or aggravated by some of his own actions.

On ECOMOG: General Babangida deserves credit for setting up the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, which has gone down in history as one of the most successful peacekeeping efforts.

ECOMOG also demonstrated the power of the Nigerian military as a force to be reckoned with and gave Nigeria international prestige. It would have been welcoming if General Babangida had given our current crop of military officers tips on how to replicate ECOMOG's achievements in the fight against terror and banditry.

Conclusion: The book is timely and answers some questions that had previously piqued the minds of Nigerians. In hindsight, General Babangida was a charming leader who governed with a lot of warmth. He owed much of the success of his personality cult to his stunningly beautiful and dutiful wife, Maryam Babangida, of whom I had expected more to be said about during the launch.

General Babangida is now an octogenarian and should be left to God to judge. Other than the June 12 faux pas, I would have given him a pass mark. But that incident undid much of the good he did, and I am afraid I have to pass on giving him such a grade.

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.Ll

fuckingAyaya:
IBB said the 1966 coup wasn't an igbo coup as portrayed by some miscreants, so what do you miscreants have to say concerning the 1966 coup?

Softmirror:
It tells you that IBB is still the same IBB. He denied being responsible for the annulment June 12 by pushing it on a dead Abacha, he denied being responsible for the death of Dele Giwa despite having fore knowledge about the letter bomb......denying an IGBO coup should not at all surprise anyone.

ValarDoharis:
Hahaha...insisting on your ignorance. IBB had all the tools and involvement to know but you who was born yesterday is arguing due to Igbo hate

Softmirror:
IBB is just being himself a MARADONA lol 😂

ValarDoharis:
You have no way of knowing, so why are you insisting your version is the truth?

Softmirror:
A controversial person like IBB cannot change established truth of many decades. If it is Gowon or Buhari that made such claim then there won't be anything to dispute. But IBB lol hahahahaha 😂.

ValarDoharis:
Unfortunately for you, Buhari and esp Gowon refused to write a book about their journeys because they cannot afford to tell the truth

Softmirror:
Obasanjo that writes and write and write has never said it wasn't an Igbo coup.

ValarDoharis:
The key players in ghe coup and counter coup that are alive are Babangida, Gowon, Danjuma, Buhari so they're the ones to speak to that and not Obj thats a nationalist. In any case, you wouldn't have believed Obj if he said so, heck, some of you said his closeness to Igbos is because his father is from the East.

Softmirror:
Okay. What about Danjuma?

ValarDoharis:
What about Danjuma? Was it not Danjuma that said the military is colluding the terrorists to kill his people?

Softmirror:
Buhari said same about Jonathan's government.

ValarDoharis:
So whats your point? He has said its not and Igbo coup and that Gowon was responsible for causing the uncivil war. Gowon is alive, let him come and refute.

Softmirror:
He never said Gowon was responsible for the 'uncivil war'. Haba!

ValarDoharis:
He said it. It will be the next point of discussion soon. Just wait

Softmirror:
Gowon thanked IBB for restoring his honor and rank at the occasion.

ValarDoharis:
That discussion regarding the civil war is already being discussed. You'll see it soon