"Truth shall make you free; but, first, it shall make you miserable" - Anonymous, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 253.
VBQ is available online: Facebook and You Tube. Free Reading.
One of the most difficult assignments I have set for myself is to write an annual tribute to General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, given the hostile reception usually generated by the June 12 activists to favourable commentary about him. I was once just as hostile to IBB on account of three trips to short detention during his tenure. But, a remark by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, claiming that Buhari had achieved more than any other President sent me rushing to the library.
I thought Osinbajo was lying; I needed proof. Part of the evidence is in a book on IBB (also available online). My findings revealed how true Chief Onabule's statement about IBB was. "The most uncharitable critic of IBB, after experiencing four other administrations (Shonekan, Abacha, Abubakar and now Obasanjo), readily conceded that but for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, the man IBB would have been an untainted hero."
The late Chief Duro Onabule was Chief Press Secretary to President Babangida.
On the former Presidents listed above, I confidently include Jonathan and Buhari. School is still out on Tinubu; who inherited a totally ruined economy from Buhari. The misdeeds committed by all of them surpassed ten annulments.
Those old enough would remember that IBB kicked out Buhari after 20 months as military Head of State - January 1984 to August 1985, when Buhari got us into the first recession in Nigerian history. The apostles of June 12, who tell only one tenth of the history of that period, cannot admit, even now, that Nigeria would have been a lot better off if Buhari was again kicked out in 2019 - instead of getting four more years in office. All the unpatriotic elements, now shedding crocodile tears about Buhari, after getting him re-elected, including his former officers, deserve nothing but contempt.
Babangida was 83 yesterday; just as we are starting to clean up the mess created by the Hunger and Hardship protests nationwide. He served for eight years and left footprints on the sands of our history which no President after him has been able to match. Let me mention just a few today; because the IBB tenure is an endless story which the apostles of June 12 want buried. They will have to wait until after I am gone for that to happen.
PETROL, POWER, GAS AND FOOD
In 1992, the four Nigerian refineries were working. Fuel depots located throughout Nigeria had fuel and tankers waiting to load fuel caused traffic hold-ups everywhere because the regular Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, was performed on schedule. IBB's Ministers of Petroleum, Professor Tam David West and Professor Jubril Aminu, made sure about that. Since IBB's departure, TAMs have not been successfully undertaken - while more funds have gone down corrupt pockets than the cost of establishing the four refineries.
Power generation today would have been a lot worse than we are now experiencing if Babangida had not established the Shiroro Power Station in 1990 to complement the Kainji Power Station which was a legacy project of the Gowon regime. Without the two power stations Nigeria would return to the Dark Ages.
The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, was incorporated as a limited liability company on May 17, 1989, to harness the country's vast gas resources. That was almost four years after he became Head of State. Take out NLNG from the Nigerian economic power and energy mix today; and there will be very little left worth talking about.
IBB's contribution to increased food supply was multi-faceted. But, only one example would be sufficient for today. More dams were constructed or commissioned under his regime than any other leader. The Goronyo Dam, tapping water from the Rima River and commissioned in 1992, was a work of genius which turned Sokoto State, hitherto arid, into one of Nigeria's food baskets today. I lived and worked in Sokoto during the period and was a living witness to the transformation. I challenge any of the noisy apostles of June 12 to point to anything done in the last nine years which can be compared to just one of the IBB accomplishments.
"A fool if offered eternity would not know what to do with it", said Epicurus, 341-270 BC (VBQ p 62). We have blundered by offering eight years to a June 12 activist President. His successor, another fellow traveler, is now telling us that he inherited a totally ruined economy. Nobody in 1993 complained about inheriting a ruined economy. We are also in the 15th month of the administration of another June 12 enthusiast. Again, I challenge anybody among the vocal June 12 political mercenaries to a public debate on the topic: Are you better off today than under IBB? I know, even without the debate, that out of sheer embarrassment on account of the last nine years' disaster, nobody would accept the challenge. Nigerians have experienced what they can do since 2015; and the horrors are beyond belief. Nothing before in our history has come close.
DELTA STATE CREATION AUGUST 27 1991
Among other accomplishments, IBB created Delta State on August 27, 1991 out of Bendel State. Delta was not the only state created on that day. But, to me, the creation of Delta, just like carving Akwa Ibom out of Cross River on September 23, 1987, was among the measures which served the ends of social justice. Without the bold steps, Uyo and Asaba would remain, till today, glorified villages - while Calabar and Benin would be rivaling Dubai. The oil-producing areas of the Niger Delta would have not benefited so much from the wealth extracted from their communities.
Certainly, everybody who was/is a Governor, Deputy Governor, Minister, Speaker, Commissioner, Senator etc, from Delta owes IBB a debt of gratitude for making it easier to reach those dizzy heights of political office.
It is quite possible that most of the young generations of Deltans might not be aware of the fact that the late Mrs Maryam Babangida, nee Odogwu, was from Delta State. So, IBB remains the most famous son-in-law of the good people of Delta State and their biggest benefactor. His four children, two boys and two girls, are half Deltans -- with cousins all over the state.
In fact, if there is a state that should annually celebrate August 17, IBB's birthday, that state is Delta. Unfortunately, the only person who, unfailingly, remembers Babangida is Pa Chief Edwin Clark, OFR, CON. Not good enough.
OTHER STATES TOO
"It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong" - Jeremy Bentham, 1748-1832, in A Fragment on Government, 1776
Babangida listened to the yearnings of Nigerian people more than any President before or after him. He created nine states - Akwa Ibom and Katsina in 1987, Abia, Enugu, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Osun, Kogi, Taraba and Yobe on August 27, 1991. Few measures by any Head of State brought more joy to millions of Nigerians in two days than those days in Nigerian history. And, nobody in any of those states would want those decisions reversed. The transformation of Uyo, Katsina, Umuahia, Asaba, Dutse, Birnin-Kebbi, Osogbo, Lokoja, Jalingo and Damaturu represent lasting legacies of the most visionary leadership Nigeria ever had. Who can possibly dispute that?
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Again, I challenge the June 12 activists to point to anything done since May 29, 2015, till today, comparable to all these demonstrable achievements.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE - TOTALLY RUINED IN ONE YEAR
Like, my Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, I published an advertisement every year, since 2017, to congratulate IBB and to wish him many happy returns. I was looking forward to this year's event until disaster struck. For the first time in decades, investments in Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical sectors which provided income for modest, but, comfortable living, in 2024, brought nothing. That was bad enough. Investments worth trillions on the aggregate and billions, personally, were totally wiped out. One of my personal role models lost over N5 billion on one company's shares alone. My own more modest investments went down the same drain; and the end is not in sight.
Just one year and three months of new government has wiped out investments made since 1974. At 80, anybody asking me to wait for a long term solution must think that I am Methuselah with 900 years left to go.
I hope General Babangida will understand why I cannot afford an advertisement this year. But, there is hope that next year will be different.
Still, I want to wish General many happy returns of yesterday. History will be more factual and disregard the emotional false narratives of the June 12 promoters. The multitude of institutions created during his tenure already rank him as the Best President of All Time, BPAT, so far. None can compare. Certainly, not Obasanjo, Jonathan or Buhari...
