IBB's Agenda for Nigeria
by Blessed Isi Momodu
The man Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida , IBB for short, the self styled evil genius came into
political limelight on the 13th of February, 1976. It was on this day
the coup attempt lead by Isa Buka Dimka claimed the life of General
Murtala Mohammed. IBB’s action or inaction was said to have played a
key role in foiling the Dimka coup. Since then IBB has plotted to
rule Nigeria. His plan, however, materialized in August 1985 when he
overthrew his colleague Buhari and ruled till 1993.
His corrupt military dictatorship
like a ravaging viral epidemic wrecked havoc on the moral fiber of the
Nigerian society to the extent that role models like Tai Solarin were
rubbished by his tyrannical regime. His disastrous economic policy of
SAP was so excruciating that an alleged Ebony magazine publication,
widely circulated, exposing IBB as the most corrupt and richest army
General in the world spurred the IBB must go nation wide riots in 1987
in which many Nigerians were killed. Today, Babangida is said to be
worth 25 billion US dollars excluding the 12 billion dollars from 1991
Gulf war oil windfall which he refused to account for. His regime’s
assassination of Dele Giwa via a parcel bomb, closing of newspaper
houses at will, smuggling Nigeria into Organization of Islamic
Countries(OIC), annulling the political Bureau report in 1988,
annulling the June 12th election in1993,are the mortal sins of
Babandida against the people of Nigeria.
In his military constituency, IBB
substituted mediocrity for meritocracy, homosexuality, drug pushing
peaked during his grip on power in the military. His fanatical booth
lickers who became known as IBB boys were in charge because they were
getting enough crumbs from their master’s table. Babangida was so
confident of what his stolen wealth can do that he sent some of his
boys in the military to Egypt. They were to study the political system
that enables the military in Egypt to control the entire political
system. Such a system was to be perfected for him in Nigeria so that
the military whether in or out of office will continue to dominate the
entire political process. This is IBB’s agenda for Nigeria. Lt. Col.
Nyiam who participated in Orkar’s revolt against IBB and a member of
his secret mission to Egypt revealed this in his interview with the
defunct weekly concord. So far IBB has achieved his dream of imposing
the military on Nigerians but can he sustain it?
IBB with his brother Gen.
Abdusalami aligning with foreign backers imposed Obasanjo on
Nigerians in 1999. Doubting Thomases can now see that OBJ as part of
Nigerian problem historically is not in any position to put Nigeria on
the path to greatness. His first four years of
Trial and error in the act of
governance was a dismal failure. He has exposed himself as a born
again hypocrite playing dangerously with the name of God to the
gallery. He was corrupt in his first coming as head of a military
junta, his army salary could not have built Ota farm, he is corrupt as
imposed civilian ruler since 1999 because corruption has soared in all
facets of governmental dealings, how come he signed two contracts
twice for COJA just to mention but a few. His refusal to probe past
looters of our treasury betrays his penchant for corrupt practices.
Coming back to IBB, I had said in
my previous article „Arresting the menace of military banditry“, that
the military has succeeded in creating a civilian wing of the ruling
class with more than enough financial muscles to award electoral
positions for themselves. Look at the alleged murderers and coupists
like Omisore and Chris Uba, they are all creations of the military.
Such political misfits grouped together in PDP or any other gang are
going to dominate the scene for a long time if not combated in an
organized manner. This is where the question of opposition in Nigerian
politics comes in.
It is the military that is the
only organized „opposition“in Nigerian politics when they are not in
power. Here, one does not mean the real opposition like it is the case
in functioning societies whereby the opposition is the engine for the
development of that society, but in Nigeria, it is an opposition
within the same class that are not mutually exclusive. Either the
military or their civilian lackeys hold the Nigerian state by force
for a continued looting of her resources. In Nigerian politics,
opposition is an aberration, in the first republic, Action Group as
opposition was almost liquidated, in the second republic, NPN wiped
out almost all other political parties, in 2003, the PDP repeated
history. Real opposition has centered around individuals like the
Felas, the Ganis, some pen writers and most recently the prodemocracy
groups. In 1966, the military played the „opposition“ role, so was in
1983, in the present dispensation, whether the military will still
play the role of „opposition“ when the chips are down will depend on
the balance of forces. Thus, it has become imperative that all
prodemocracy groups, students, organized labour and genuine democrats
should join hands together to form a formidable opposition to resist
the IBB agenda which he and his co-looters are foisting on Nigerians. [back
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