Lagos — One of the intrinsic characteristics of leadership is the ability to forgive and forget the past and build on the present, which only a few leaders are endowed with.
Former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, who prides himself as the "evil genius" appears to posses this quality, hence his recent reconciliation with Professor Saliba Mukoro, one of the egg heads of the April 22, 1990 bloody coup that attempted to topple him.
Babangida stunned many on Tuesday, June 9, when he braced the odds to reconcile with his former subordinate and leader of the 1990 military putsch, in what many have described as a step befitting of a true leader. The reconciliation reportedly brokered by Governor Olagunsonye Oyinlola of Osun State marked the first time Babangida and Mukoro would be seeing each other in 19 years.
The former President, however, remarked that it was pleasant, and that he had forgiven Umukoro as a father would do a son. "Fortunately, both Governor Oyinlola and Saliba were my students. They were privileged to be part of those people I trained in the military. The Governor insisted that we must be together and it was a pleasant meeting. I so much cherish it. I have forgiven him as a father does to a son," Babangida said.
Babangida, by his latest move, seems to have endorsed the cliche that to err is human and to forgive divine, and has proved that he could be a leader with a large heart.
The reconciliation has, nevertheless, been described by critics as a political stunt by Babangida, geared towards oiling his political machinery for a pivotal role in 2011. Those holding this view also claim that his reunion with Mukoro is part of the political plot to launder his image and reposition himself to Nigerians, especially the Niger Delta area, where Umukoro hails from.
But supporters of the gap-toothed military politician see the meeting differently, insisting that Babangida does not have anything to gain from reconciling with Umukoro, but was just playing his part as a leader with a large heart, who holds no grudge against his friends or subordinates, no matter the differences.
Yet, Colonel Tony Nyiam (rtd), while not subscribing to the kind of reunion between Babangida and Mukoro, says the only way forward is true reconciliation. "I welcome full reconciliation that will be based on truth. Any other, which is a vehicle for working against a sitting President, is hurting, whether Christian or Moslem, and I cannot be a part of such reconciliation. Truth is unchangeable and fears no one," Nyiam further said.
Babangida was born on August 17, 1941 in Minna, Niger State and joined the Nigerian Army, where he rose to the position of Chief of Army Staff and member of the defunct Supreme Military Council (SMC) in 1983. He was unelected military President, the first in the history of Nigeria, and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces from 1985 to 1993.
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It is nice to hear about that move by the former president - I am not suprise the least he did that. He is "maradona", and especially an unpredictable person. I admire some of his qualities such as being a good listener, one with preemptive capacity to act, and above all unpredictive. His only fault to me is his cancelling the historic June 12 election - a political history never seen in the politiacl elections in my motherland - where casting of votes based on tribal sentiment was "buried below the sea level" by for example Tofa loosing to Abiola in the latter's home state. By that singular act, I hold the general responsible for the inmatured state of Nigerian politics today. I hope he will, in his life time, do any act that will reverse that act. certainly I will not be suprise if he does. I wish him good luck in anything he will do that will be of benefit to Nigeria and all Nigerians.
Death to Babangida he his the reason we are where we are today. It is amazing how anyone can respect such deviousness. Nigerians!!! wake up. Especially Kite. The only good thing IBB can do is to hang himself..........Death to IBB!
Here we go again. Babangida's propagandists again in action, writing and commenting on their writing. We are not deceived. Actually you make people more angry the way you use the looted money. Imagine how many million stolen dollars Babangida has spent and is still spending on propaganda. Money that should have been used in infrastructure building, education, health ...
Mukoro owes Babangida no apology at all. The only people he needs to apologise to are Nigerians - for their tactical mistake which led to the failure of that revolution. That group fired the first shots in Nigeria's true independence movement and deserve a special place in the history of the country when it is finally free. NIGERIA IS NOT AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. NIGERIA IS STILL A COLONY - a colony of the Far North - those sharia states that the late hero Major Okar, Mukoro and others wanted to excise. It is being controlled by the corrupt and wicked jihadist oligarchs who act with impunity and make no secret of their belief that they are born to rule.
Mukoro should now join other Nigerians to work for those ideals they failed to accomplish on that Sunday, April 22, 1990. All hands should be on deck. We all know what a colonized and occupied country needs to do in order to free itself. The most urgent thing is to admit our situation and start talking and writing about it. Start calling a spade, a spade. Other things will fall in place. Mukoro needs not apologize because the task they set out to accomplish is not yet finished. Greetings from Copenhagen
This Babangida of a thing is like a cancerous cell. It rears it's ugly head, every other day. He overthrew a government(it does not matter wether the govt was as illegal as his military junta) he killed people, he stole our money and in the typical contemporary style of some Nigerians, sticks out his neck here and there to look for some clandestine favorable public image. Mr General, what part of "NO" don't you understand? You are a "Cog" on the wheel of our progress. Besides, people donot like you for what you did in office. By the way, why dont you do things the "Obaxansanjo" way and try to get some degree in any thing? You understand Yoruba very well, please "Efimisile jare and Gberanle!".