On June 12 Annulment: General Babangida obviously had to contend with General Abacha as a counterforce in his government. Many people are too young to remember that Abacha was referred to as Khalifa (successor) after he quashed the April 1990 Orkar coup and felt entitled to succeed Babangida.
I actually believe General Babangida when he says that Abacha led the counterforces that pushed through the annulment.
In my opinion, there were too many military forces opposed to Chief Abiola, for various reasons, and Babangida had been away from direct control of troops for too long to have effectively countered them.
The annulment was regrettable. It set us back. However, I can understand why he felt he had to go along with it. The alternative may have been a violent coup that may have cost him and Chief Abiola their lives.
On Dele Giwa: I find it hard to believe that the government did not know more about the killing than it let on. If I am generous, I could unwillingly agree that General Babangida may not have known about the death. However, revelations from the Oputa Panel led me to conclude that the state was aware of what happened to Mr. Giwa.
On IBB’s Handling of the Economy: I believe that by initiating the privatisation and commercialisation of our economy, whether or not it was part of the agreements that the Babangida regime entered into to access World Bank loans, which included the Structural Adjustment Program, IBB set up Nigeria’s economy to fare better after him.
Much of what we are currently enjoying by way of a robust private sector was his doing.
However, not enough light was shed on the alleged misuse of the $12 billion Gulf War oil windfall. If that money had been better utilised, Nigeria would be better off today.
Also, we had an awful inflation rate under IBB at over 57%, which I believe he ought to have dwelt more on, because they were either caused or aggravated by some of his own actions.
On ECOMOG: General Babangida deserves credit for setting up the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, which has gone down in history as one of the most successful peacekeeping efforts.
ECOMOG also demonstrated the power of the Nigerian military as a force to be reckoned with and gave Nigeria international prestige. It would have been welcoming if General Babangida had given our current crop of military officers tips on how to replicate ECOMOG’s achievements in the fight against terror and banditry.
Conclusion: The book is timely and answers some questions that had previously piqued the minds of Nigerians. In hindsight, General Babangida was a charming leader who governed with a lot of warmth. He owed much of the success of his personality cult to his stunningly beautiful and dutiful wife, Maryam Babangida, of whom I had expected more to be said about during the launch.
General Babangida is now an octogenarian and should be left to God to judge. Other than the June 12 faux pas, I would have given him a pass mark. But that incident undid much of the good he did, and I am afraid I have to pass on giving him such a grade.