Babangida: His Life and Times (Part 3: The Return of the Military)

Having handed over power to a democratic
government led by President Shehu Shagari in 1979, Baba...Read the full article.

[dele26]

Babangida later denied rumours that Bako would have become Head of State had he not been killed. He also revealed that he was approached to become the new Head of State but declined as “Buhari was our senior, so I did not want anybody to jump him.”

Liar!!!

[dele26]

“Babangida is the only Nigerian military leader that actively sought political power prior to coming to office, prepared for it and waited patiently for it to come his way. He was probably the most prepared military ruler in Nigeria's history.”

Max,
did you say waited patiently? I disagree; he schemed his way with blood on his hands to the state house

[dele26]

Originally Posted by General Babangida

“There was a lot going in our favour. So we seized the moment …..You see we are very smart people. We don’t intervene when we know the climate is not good for it or the public will not welcome it. We wait until there is a frustration in the society. In all the coups, you find there has always been one frustration or the other. Any time there is frustration we step in. And then there is demonstration welcoming the redeemers"

You people are not smart but opportuned mediocres cum thugs. While your mates were studying in the university you people dropped out of school to carry guns.

Would you say Sani Abacha was smart? ......... remember that you will be made to pay for all your atrocities someday

[Afeni]

IBB is a pathological liar. The man can't help himself.

After failing the Nigerian people, the id iot general from minna spends his remaining time trying to launder stolen Nigeria funds (see: Glo) and whats left of his image.

One thing IBB should know is that the Nigerian office holders do not have the support of their people. So no amount of invitations from the worthless bas tard Governor of Ogun (Otunba Gbenga Daniel) to mediate one crisis or another (despite the fact that IBB is probably most hated in Ogun State) will help.

[ttonjo]

"It was the monotone voice of Brigadier Sani Abacha, the commander of the 9th mechanised brigade in Ikeja. On the last day of 1983, the military overthrew Shagari’s regime in order to “save this nation from imminent collapse”.


What an absolute nonsense!!

It was the same Babangida and Abacha, that eventually DESTROYED Nigeria economic, (through some of their senseless and meaningless SAP programs),contrast to the reasons why they took over power in the first place. (They nearly collapse Nigeria economic, and dashed the hopes of many Nigerian youths).

History and Nemesis will surely judged them for what their wicked and selfish actions plunged Nigeria into. They are nothing but power hungry thugs.

The blood of The Eminent Journalist Dele Giwa, Comrade Saro Wiwa, Chief MKO Abiola, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, and numerous others, that the above blood thirsty Babangida and Abacha, prematurely destroyed are crying for revenge that they will never escape from.

Well, I mean here or hereafter. Revenge is mine, says the Almighty God.

[Agidimolaja]

I think Gen. Muritala Mohammed was the most prepared for political office before he came to power or better to say, he was the first one to be so prepared.
Since he lost out to Gen.Gowon in the scuffle to lead the nation in 1966,Muritala was always looking for the chance to pull down the regime of Gen.Gowon.They never see eye to eye.
As a matter of fact, it was the presence of Gen Hassan Katsina as the Chief of Staff, Army that slowed Muritala down.Nevertheless he was secretly planning and {as IBB said},"waiting for the right time".
The waiting and planning however took him another ten years before he eventually succeeded.
Muritala made a lot of money as Federal Commissioner for Communication.It was that money he used to finance the 1975 coup. He single handedly recruited all the plotters and financed them.
During his recruitment drive,he approached Benjamin Adekunle to come and be part of the grand plot to unseat the person{Gowon} that disgraced him{Adekunle} out of military service.
Adekunle however refused to join up using his hot temper as an excuse not to work with Murutala since he {Muritala} is also hot tempered.
AdeKunle said that you and I shall be pulling guns on each other when our hot tempers got the better of us and its not going to look good nor speak well of us.
"Ok, if you can't come in,then find me another Yorubaman to be included" Muritala said to Adekunle.
That was how our Obj was brought into the plot at the last minute and later on became the Head of State after Muritala was killed. Obj, always lucky!

[AISAGBON OMOGIADE]

Originally Posted by Agidimolaja

I think Gen. Muritala Mohammed was the most prepared for political office before he came to power or better to say, he was the first one to be so prepared.
Since he lost out to Gen.Gowon in the scuffle to lead the nation in 1966,Muritala was always looking for the chance to pull down the regime of Gen.Gowon.They never see eye to eye.
As a matter of fact, it was the presence of Gen Hassan Katsina as the Chief of Staff, Army that slowed Muritala down.Nevertheless he was secretly planning and {as IBB said},"waiting for the right time".
The waiting and planning however took him another ten years before he eventually succeeded.
Muritala made a lot of money as Federal Commissioner for Communication.It was that money he used to finance the 1975 coup. He single handedly recruited all the plotters and financed them.
During his recruitment drive,he approached Benjamin Adekunle to come and be part of the grand plot to unseat the person{Gowon} that disgraced him{Adekunle} out of military service.
Adekunle however refused to join up using his hot temper as an excuse not to work with Murutala since he {Muritala} is also hot tempered.
AdeKunle said that you and I shall be pulling guns on each other when our hot tempers got the better of us and its not going to look good nor speak well of us.
"Ok, if you can't come in,then find me another Yorubaman to be included" Muritala said to Adekunle.
That was how our Obj was brought into the plot at the last minute and later on became the Head of State after Muritala was killed. Obj, always lucky!

Brother.
This your account is at variance with the contents of the book written by late Maj.Gen Joe Garba (Diplomatic Soldiering) on how Murtala was recruited for the 1975 coup.

[Ofunwa Villager]

Am disappointed that the people of this village are wasting their time sending replies to this worthless discourse. Am even disappointed in myself for sending in this reply.

[omo naija]

Originally Posted by Ofunwa Villager

Am disappointed that the people of this village are wasting their time sending replies to this worthless discourse. Am even disappointed in myself for sending in this reply.

Ofunwa you are totally right, instead we should be calling for the prosecution of these armed robbers in Nigeria Army uniform that destroyed Nigeria. However i also thanks Max for this well-research essay, this will show Nigerians the mind of these gangs of dishonorable men in Nigerian armed forces, and that Babangida is the source of most Nigeria crisis, the earlier this man is lock away the better. Babangida is psychologically sickman, only in Nigeria will people like Babangida will continue to relevance, in a civilised society they would have been shunned by society and made to be irrelavant.
I know one day go bi one day they that ruined Nigeria, will all pay.

MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS NIGERIA AND AFRICA, AND HAVE MERCY ON THE TROUBLED CONTINENT, AMEN.

[Bode Eluyera]

Irrespective of whether the account of the author is correct or not, or whatever 'hidden' objective he might have set out to achieve in writing the biography of this despotic dictator, he still needs to be commended for his efforts. It's not easy to write biographies. The onus is on us to prove him wrong. Therefore, I want to praise my fellow informed NVS villagers for taking up the author immediately. This is one of the reasons why I like NVS. You can't just pull the wool over people's eyes and go scott free.

I just want to draw the attention of the author to an interview given in January 2008 by Chief Richard Akinjide, (SAN) former Attorney General of the Federation under Shagari where he revealed that the main purpose of the 1983 coup was to prevent a Southerner from taking over from Shagari. The author might want to read one of my articles titled 'Oodua republic: To be or not to be? (part 1)' where Akinjide was quoted. I intend to produce more excerpts from Akinjide's interview in the series 'One n******ia: To be or not to be?' They are all available on this site.

All the best in your writing.

[maxsiollun]

Bode Eluyera, in another one of my articles on NVS (regarding Buhari and Idiagbon) I alluded to the fact that many southerners viewed the 83 coup as a pre-emptive one aimed at stopping a southerner from becoming President. I don't know how (un)true that is. If that really was the reason it would be odd for the military to overthrow Shagari when he had nearly 4 years of his term of office still remaining. They would surely have waited till late in his term of office, then terminate the next election - ala June 12, 1993.

Thank you for the reference regarding Akinjide. We look forward to testing the veracity of his account. Keep in mind that Akinjide is no stranger to intrigue himself. He was a member of the infamous Akintola NNDP regime which "distinguished" itself as the most prolific vote rigging regime in Nigerian history. Akinjide was also present at the historic "handover" on January 16, 1966 when the rump of the Council of Ministers abdicated and handed over governance to Maj-Gen Aguiyi-Ironsi to herald Nigeria's first military regime.

[Bode Eluyera]

Originally Posted by maxsiollun

Bode Eluyera, in another one of my articles on NVS (regarding Buhari and Idiagbon) I alluded to the fact that many southerners viewed the 83 coup as a pre-emptive one aimed at stopping a southerner from becoming President. I don't know how (un)true that is. If that really was the reason it would be odd for the military to overthrow Shagari when he had nearly 4 years of his term of office still remaining. They would surely have waited till late in his term of office, then terminate the next election - ala June 12, 1993.

Thank you for the reference regarding Akinjide. We look forward to testing the veracity of his account. Keep in mind that Akinjide is no stranger to intrigue himself. He was a member of the infamous Akintola NNDP regime which "distinguished" itself as the most prolific vote rigging regime in Nigerian history. Akinjide was also present at the historic "handover" on January 16, 1966 when the rump of the Council of Ministers abdicated and handed over governance to Maj-Gen Aguiyi-Ironsi to herald Nigeria's first military regime.

Thanks for your post. As a follow up, I want to draw your attention to the fact Akinjide in the interview said that the military struck right at the beginning of Shagari's second term in order to avoid suspiction. According to Akinjide, if they had struck towards the end of Shagari's term, their action would had attracted suspiction. Their real mlotive would be obvious. Mind you, no matter how one relates to Akinjide, one can't ignore his opinions. He is an insider who has access to information that many of us don't have access to. Moreover, I don' really think that he has anything to gain from making this revelation now. Infact, he promised to reveal more fcats/information with time.

Finally, I am very much aware of the fact that Akinjide is not a saint. I wrote in my article Oodua: To be or not to be? that he was among the Yorubas/southerners that the Hausas and fulanis used to accomplish their selfish political and economic agendas/interests at the expense of the south.

[Bode Eluyera]

Shagari's inability to quench the coup despite the fact that he was informed about it is another very strong evidence or proof that there was a conspiracy between him and Northern military officers to take over power from him .

[Bode Eluyera]

President Shagari emerged from hiding and joined the other military and civilian detainees after being given assurances that he would not be harmed.

This is a DIGRACE to the country!!!!