IBB can't be serious
By Reuben Abati

The IBB Interview

Army General and former Nigerian dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, the man also popularly known as IBB, "evil genius", and "Maradona" granted an interview to an internet news site: The Peoples' Magazine/PointBlank News.com in which he purportedly argued that the government that he ran between 1985 and 1993 is definitely better than former President Olusegun Obasanjo's. The text of his interview has been reproduced widely on the internet and in the local media. IBB certainly can't be serious and he needs to be told so. His assumptions ought to be exposed for what they are: hollow revisionism. And of course this is not the first time that IBB would attempt to rewrite history. Since his ignominious exit from power in 1993, he and his many willing agents have tried every trick in the books to white-wash his image and smuggle him into a nice corner of contemporary Nigerian history.

This has taken the form of hagiographic books, passed off as dispassionate intellectual analysis of the IBB era, a seminar organised in Jos in 2000 titled "The Babangida Regime: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation" under the auspices of The Open Press Limited and The African Centre for Social and Political Research, an odious attempt in 2007 to sell the former President to Nigerians as a possible candidate for another shot at the Nigerian Presidency, and the existence of a stomach-driven coterie of IBB fanatics who cannot make up their minds as to whether the man is truly a "prince", a statesman or a "meal ticket". Give it to him: IBB is determined. He wants a nice mention in Nigerian history. And he is working hard at erasing whatever bad memories we may have of his eight-year reign as Nigerian military Head of State.

But we should not give up too. Each time he tries to speak as if he is addressing an audience of persons without memory, we should stick a pin in his spin and ruin his balloon of deception. This time around, IBB's main thesis sounds like something as follows. One, "I may be bad but Obasanjo is worse". Two, "I am better than Obasanjo and the facts show this to be true". Three, "inevitably history will be kind to me". Thus, he wants us to compare and contrast. Of what use is one tyrant measuring himself against another power-monger? Obasanjo may be going through a rough patch with the Nigerian people after eight years in which he missed the opportunity to deepen goodwill and win the people to his side, but it is not for IBB to say so. He lacks the moral stature to pontificate on the subject of integrity and good governance.

Hear him: "What I would probably say is that I ran an administration for eight years and during those eight years what accrued to the Federal Government was about N565 billion. That is less than what was accruing to the Obasanjo government in a year. What they were getting in one year, we got less in eight years. And I know what we achieved with that little amount of money in eight years. If I had that kind of money, maybe we could have gone places. That I am absolutely confident about and that is number one." No. the General is wrong. The issue is not about the quantum of money in physical terms. What was the inflation rate between 1985 and 1993 when he ruled Nigeria? What was the exchange value of the Naira compared to what it was between 1999 and 2007 under President Obasanjo? By the time he does the calculations, I leave that to him, it will be so clear that indeed, Obasanjo did not necessarily get more money. And even if he did, the question on both sides should be how the funds were managed. IBB considers himself a better manager of resources. That point cannot be proven by simply pointing to a difference in figures, using a volatile Naira and fiscal reality. And by the way, what did he achieve? I shall return to this presently.

But hear him again: "Number two, the world is made to believe that my administration institutionalised corruption. Now, we know better who institutionalised corruption. So, I am grateful to God and may be, history will eventually vindicate me.... History will give us credit that every other thing people are talking about concerning reforms started during my administration" ... If history were a human being, it would sue IBB for defamation! Let him leave history alone. His administration not only institutionalised corruption, it is certainly one of the legacies it passed on to future administrations. I concede however that the Babangida administration made some serious efforts at reform. He managed to put together a team of very bright Nigerians who had great ideas about how to open up the economy. When you read the IBB governance documents even today, you cannot miss the quality of thought that went into the design for example of the privatisation agenda, trade liberalisation etc all of which were the major reforms carried out under General Babangida.

But two things stood in the way of that administration: corruption and power abuse. IBB ended up being regarded as the most corrupt leader in Nigerian history. His economic policies which read so well on paper failed; rather than activate the policies as development mechanisms, IBB was more interested in creating a cult of personality which he sustained recklessly with public funds. When he assumed power, Nigeria was a rich oil producing nation, by the time he left in 1993, Nigeria had become the 13th poorest nation in the world. This was the mess that Obasanjo and the return to democracy was meant to correct, but Obasanjo, IBB's senior in the army, bungled his own chance or the task proved too enormous for him. IBB says in the same interview that "we military men are always very smart". Smart? Always? Between him and Obasanjo, I wouldn't say so.

IBB Reforms? It was the Babangida administration that introduced a Structural Adjustment Programme through the back door as it were, and completely against the wishes of average Nigerians. SAP as it is otherwise known was a prescription for chaos. It impoverished the Nigerian people as poverty grew wings and damaged the people's lives. By the time IBB took over in 1985, Nigerian universities were among the best in the world. Teachers and students came to Nigeria from all over the world to teach and study. University lecturers were confident, the schools were well-equipped.

By the time the IBB government withdrew education subsidy and also began to victimise the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the country's education system began to fail. We have not yet recovered from this. Yes, IBB encouraged the private sector, and under him there was an explosion in the banking sector. Every family, anyone at all who had access to the Presidency got a banking licence or an importation licence. This had no real effect of deepening the economy but it created a few more millionaires and billionaires and turned the Nigerian economy into an arena for speculators and middle men. This was one of the things former President Obasanjo tried to correct when his government through Soludo's Central Bank introduced a policy of consolidation in the banking sector.

Who institutionalised corruption? Accountability and transparency were foreign words under the Babangida administration. IBB was known as a "generous President" who doled out money at will to buy loyalty. People flocked around him not because they wanted to make a contribution to statecraft but more because they were sure of getting their own share of the national cake. Today, there are many Nigerians with dubious wealth who will readily boast: "IBB made me." Ask them to explain what contributions they made to Nigeria, they don't know and they don't care. Before IBB can speak about integrity, let him answer questions about the Okigbo panel report. The Pius Okigbo panel indicted the IBB government for misappropriating the $12. 4 billion dollars Gulf oil windfall in 1990. Babangida's response was that "development is about spending money". The Okigbo panel report has since been declared missing! Under IBB, NNPC accounts were mismanaged. Because his government was a military government, he was not accountable to anyone. Indeed, many of the young Governors and ex-Governors now looting the treasury with reckless abandon are the children of the IBB era. Under IBB, the average Nigerian was taught that it was alright to "misapply" public funds! The worst form of corruption under IBB however was the abuse of power evidenced by the murder of Dele Giwa, the assault on human rights, and above all the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. By 1993, IBB had plunged Nigeria into chaos. Nigeria became a pariah nation. Abacha came along. The people lost hope. The people's insistence on democratic rule by 1999 was a cry of anguish against the pain that the IBB government and its immediate successors had inflicted on the people.

In 2007, IBB had flown the kite about the possibility of his return to power as a civilian President. There were billboards all over the country and campaigns in the media and pretensions about the building of an IBB political machinery. In his Peoples' Magazine/PointBlank News.com interview, IBB says the reason he did not eventually run for President was because " would not like a situation at my age and having been the President before, maybe, to now see me competing against somebody I considered a brother, somebody I considered a friend." In other words, he shelved his ambition because he did not want to be seen to be competing against the present President, Umaru Yar'Adua.

I hasten to say that the main reason IBB hid away in his Minna mansion was because that gambit exposed the scope of public animus against him. The entire Nigerian civil society was up against the IBB for 2007 project, with the exception of course of those for whom the campaign was a meal ticket and an opportunity to be relevant again. The expression of outrage was widespread. Joe Igbokwe and Peter Claver Oparah wrote a book titled 2007: The IBB Option. A group of Nigerians also set up a web site: againstbabangida.com (still running) which they describe as a project by CITIZENS FOR NIGERIA... to stop Ibrahim Babangida from ever ruling Nigeria again." IBB also says one of the reasons he supported Obasanjo's candidature in 1999 is because the man cannot be intimidated by the media. Wrong. The Nigerian media at home and abroad intimidated Obasanjo and forced him to abandon his Third Term agenda, more or less the same way the media has continued to intimidate IBB to accept the truth.

That IBB is now one of the public assessors of the Obasanjo government must be seen by Obasanjo himself as a tragedy of monumental proportions. Obasanjo is at his lowest depths. He is being kicked by anyone with a foot. His humiliation is completely self-inflicted.

Robot  # 1 | 24.01.2008 23:51

That IBB is now one of the public assessors of the Obasanjo government must be seen by Obasanjo hims...Read the full article.

NWANZA  # 2 | 25.01.2008 02:05

But we should not give up too. Each time he tries to speak as if he is addressing an audience of persons without memory, we should stick a pin in his spin and ruin his balloon of deception. This time around, IBB's main thesis sounds like something as follows. One, "I may be bad but Obasanjo is worse". Two, "I am better than Obasanjo and the facts show this to be true". Three, "inevitably history will be kind to me". Thus, he wants us to compare and contrast. Of what use is one tyrant measuring himself against another power-monger? Obasanjo may be going through a rough patch with the Nigerian people after eight years in which he missed the opportunity to deepen goodwill and win the people to his side, but it is not for IBB to say so. He lacks the moral stature to pontificate on the subject of integrity and good governance. We shall not sleep nor slumber as long as these men are still alive and plotting mischief against the masses. Never again do we have to choose between two evils. Nigeria is ripe for a revolution, and some people don't see the writing on the wall, and are not ready to humble themselves before GOD. Hear him: "What I would probably say is that I ran an administration for eight years and during those eight years what accrued to the Federal Government was about N565 billion. That is less than what was accruing to the Obasanjo government in a year. What they were getting in one year, we got less in eight years. And I know what we achieved with that little amount of money in eight years. If I had that kind of money, maybe we could have gone places. That I am absolutely confident about and that is number one." No. the General is wrong. The issue is not about the quantum of money in physical terms. What was the inflation rate between 1985 and 1993 when he ruled Nigeria? What was the exchange value of the Naira compared to what it was between 1999 and 2007 under President Obasanjo? By the time he does the calculations, I leave that to him, it will be so clear that indeed, Obasanjo did not necessarily get more money. And even if he did, the question on both sides should be how the funds were managed. IBB considers himself a better manager of resources. That point cannot be proven by simply pointing to a difference in figures, using a volatile Naira and fiscal reality. And by the way, what did he achieve? I shall return to this presently. It is a shame to hear the evil genius compare levels of mismanagement, and publicly admitting that Obasanjo did more harm than he ever did. We were really cursed by our misbehavior and nonchalant attitude towards these regimes. It is a slap on the face of Nigerians to allow traitors to be parading as statesmen. It cannot be characterized as noise any longer, and he got to get some reprimand of some sort to keep him quiet. ALLOWING HIM MORE SPACE TO BROOD IS OUTRIGHT DANGEROUS! It befalls me note that congress was not able to impeach OBJ after 4 years of impunity.

Dapxin  # 3 | 25.01.2008 02:11

That IBB is now one of the public assessors of the Obasanjo government must be seen by Obasanjo himself as a tragedy of monumental proportions. Obasanjo is at his lowest depths. He is being kicked by anyone with a foot. His humiliation is completely self-inflicted. 3 Gbosas for the above oga Reueben. Sums it all beautifully for accussed shiner - Gen. Obj. Monumental there, even sounds conservative. Its indescribable... As for that idi0t called General IBB, I just tightened my ignore-list screw. Let him continue his ramblings. Ibi to fe gbe gba ni ko so. Ohun ati osi oro lenu.

dele26  # 4 | 25.01.2008 03:21

"What I would probably say is that I ran an administration for eight years and during those eight years what accrued to the Federal Government was about N565 billion. That is less than what was accruing to the Obasanjo government in a year. What they were getting in one year, we got less in eight years. And I know what we achieved with that little amount of money in eight years. Mr. Evil genius sir, when you took over power it was about N1 to $8.3 but N86 to $1 before your humiliation out of power. “If I had that kind of money, maybe we could have gone places”. Sir, even if you have the opportunity a million times you’ll certainly blow it again. I can take a bet on a million dollar if I have it that even now if you are asked to rule the Great Britain or America for 12 months their coffers will not only be drained these countries could certainly become poorer than Nigeria. Most times good leaders are made but not born. Make you go ask the Britons about their Charley. "Number two, the world is made to believe that my administration institutionalised corruption. Now, we know better who institutionalised corruption. So, I am grateful to God and may be, history will eventually vindicate me.... History will give us credit that every other thing people are talking about concerning reforms started during my administration" ... You do not deserve my sir any more; Badamosi, history will definitely condemn you as we are already witnessing. You came in to institutionalise corruption while administrations after you built on the foundation you laid

Donn  # 5 | 25.01.2008 03:37

That IBB is now one of the public assessors of the Obasanjo government must be seen by Obasanjo himself as a tragedy of monumental proportions. Obasanjo is at his lowest depths. He is being kicked by anyone with a foot. His humiliation is completely self-inflicted. yes.....his humiliation is self-inflicted,he deserves no pity. Here is a man who had tonnes of good will, confidence, support and trust from the Nigerian people....yet he carelessly squandered it. He could not distinguish between running the state and taking personal vindictive actions. OBJ started seeing himself as infallible and elavated himself beyond the possible, he allowed his retinue of special mis-advisers to personalize his administration and make enemies for him thereby missing the opportunity of justifying the initial trust and un-equalled hope placed on him by Nigerians at the initial stage of his administration. What is happening to him should be a lesson to us all that power is transient and belongs to God.....,that whenever the opportunity comes,we should strive to do good and leave a sustainable legacy to be proud of. Honestly, i feel sad for this him.

Donn  # 6 | 25.01.2008 03:42

That IBB is now one of the public assessors of the Obasanjo government must be seen by Obasanjo himself as a tragedy of monumental proportions. Obasanjo is at his lowest depths. He is being kicked by anyone with a foot. His humiliation is completely self-inflicted. yes.....his humiliation is self-inflicted,he deserves no pity. Here is a man who had tonnes of good will, confidence, support and trust from the Nigerian people....yet he carelessly squandered it. He could not distinguish between running the state and taking personal vindictive actions. OBJ started seeing himself as infallible and elavated himself beyond the possible, he allowed his retinue of special mis-advisers to personalize his administration and make enemies for him thereby missing the opportunity of justifying the initial trust and un-equalled hope placed on him by Nigerians at the initial stage of his administration. It's just unfortunate......, now people like IBB,Orji KALU,ALAMS AND VERY SOON LUCKY IGBENIDION are dancing 'atilogwu' on his grave. He asked for it.......,and he's getting a mighty dose. What is happening to him should be a lesson to us all that power is transient and belongs to God.....,that whenever the opportunity comes,we should strive to do good and leave a sustainable legacy to be proud of. Honestly, i feel sad for this him.

peterclaver2006  # 7 | 25.01.2008 06:49

Oga Reuben, that was a good one but I am in a dilemma on who is better between Babangida and Obasanjo if it concerns who is the bigger and most corrupt evil. Sadly, I choose Obasanjo for so many reasons we all know of. I don’t think any mathematical manipulation will make the proceeds of Obasanjo’s eight years oil windfall equal Babangida’s three months oil windfall. But don’t you think that when you ask Babangida of his achievements with the Gulf War Windfall, he would tell you; Abuja and the Third Mainland Bridge but what do you get when you ask Obasanjo of what he did with an eight years windfall? Philandering and financing sexual orgies with all manners of women, feeding a coterie of fraudulent hustlers cum ‘reformers’ and building phantom power plants? Babangida and Obasanjo are terrible sides of a coin that cannot be exchanged for the other. They are horrible nightmares for Nigeria and if we want to make any progress, these principalities, these devils must be set on the stake and shot. Ghana did it and are reaping the benefits today while we are still mired in the dubious maze of two male, adult delinquents, profound cultists and living evils that have sworn to ensure this country is totally wrecked. May God forbid that we should come to the strait where we are forced to choose between Babangida and Obasanjo. If however, we are forced to make a choice between the two (May God forbid such evil), I, and certainly most Nigerians would choose the lesser of these two evils and this certainly the evil genius. The pretensive, rusty, randy fraudster from Ota is perhaps the biggest fraud that has walked this country and ever evidence on ground points to this fact.

omo naija  # 8 | 25.01.2008 07:20

=peterclaver2006;4294983467>Oga Reuben, that was a good one but I am in a dilemma on who is better between Babangida and Obasanjo if it concerns who is the bigger and most corrupt evil. Sadly, I choose Obasanjo for so many reasons we all know of. I don’t think any mathematical manipulation will make the proceeds of Obasanjo’s eight years oil windfall equal Babangida’s three months oil windfall. But don’t you think that when you ask Babangida of his achievements with the Gulf War Windfall, he would tell you; Abuja and the Third Mainland Bridge but what do you get when you ask Obasanjo of what he did with an eight years windfall? Philandering and financing sexual orgies with all manners of women, feeding a coterie of fraudulent hustlers cum ‘reformers’ and building phantom power plants? Babangida and Obasanjo are terrible sides of a coin that cannot be exchanged for the other. They are horrible nightmares for Nigeria and if we want to make any progress, these principalities, these devils must be set on the stake and shot. Ghana did it and are reaping the benefits today while we are still mired in the dubious maze of two male, adult delinquents, profound cultists and living evils that have sworn to ensure this country is totally wrecked. May God forbid that we should come to the strait where we are forced to choose between Babangida and Obasanjo. If however, we are forced to make a choice between the two (May God forbid such evil), I, and certainly most Nigerians would choose the lesser of these two evils and this certainly the evil genius. The pretensive, rusty, randy fraudster from Ota is perhaps the biggest fraud that has walked this country and ever evidence on ground points to this fact. WELL WRITTEN MY FELLOW VILLAGER, THIEF CALLING ANOTHER THIEF, ha ha ha aaaaaah. Why won't IBB AND HIS Lots leave us alone and enjoy their loots in shame,is either their conscience won't let them, or they live in cuckoo land. Nigeria will rise again through Yar Adua. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AND HAVE MERCY ON THE TROUBLED CONTINENT, AMEN.

Oghre  # 9 | 25.01.2008 08:50

=omo naija;4294983481>WELL WRITTEN MY FELLOW VILLAGER, THIEF CALLING ANOTHER THIEF, ha ha ha aaaaaah. Why won't IBB AND HIS Lots leave us alone and enjoy their loots in shame,is either their conscience won't let them, or they live in cuckoo land. Nigeria will rise again through Yar Adua. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AND HAVE MERCY ON THE TROUBLED CONTINENT, AMEN. So you have pinned your hopes on an illegitimate mallam parading as a president? I wish you luck

Lagos Boy  # 10 | 25.01.2008 08:54

I don't blame the shameless ***** called IBB. The reason he can open his mouth is because he has not been lynched yet for his numerous atrocities On his attempt to campare the financial resources available to the 2 periods he forgot to apply the factors of devaluation, inflation and differences in exchange rates. If he had he would have also realised that the cost of paying salaries or developing infrastructure for example has not remained the same either It is truly sad that 2 complete failures are fighting for 1st position. A faliure is a faliure is a faliure. One more thing; Why has IBB not employed his status as a former head of state to foster peace and unity both within the country and on the African continent at large? Why has he not contributed to mediation efforts in Kenya? What kind of ***** would only be interested in laundering his image without having to work for it? IBB just return the $12B u stole during the gulf war (you can keep the interest accruing) and we will consider not sending you to jail because your time is coming

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