A journey in service: The ghosts of January 15 1966 and June 12 1993

• WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER

info@medaner.com, justme4justice@yahoo.com

This country is becoming by the day more of a joke; an epicentre of caricature. How else do we summarise events as they unfold literally every other week non-stop? Just last week, on the floor of the American Parliament, it was alleged that all these years of agonies by Nigerians due to the high level of insecurity in the Northeast and several other parts where Boko Haram spread has the hands and signature of the American government, and yet we could do nothing! All the American Administration had to do in response was to rebut the statement and put an end to it. Would any nation try that with America or any serious nation and get away with such revelation cheaply, even if it were a mere allegation? Definitely not!

While we were grudgingly accepting that we are a nation without spine, and started licking our wounds, the drama in Osun state began. Where in sane societies do we witness such magnanimous abuse of powers, trampling on principles and attacks on democracy all rolled into one at the same time? Maybe only in Nigeria and perhaps, some other challenged nations like ours. It however becomes quite obvious and though, difficult to admit that it further portrays Nigeria as an unserious society where anything goes. A society where law and order are meant to be tread upon by those with power and authorities and where respect for constitutional provisions is subjected more to interest than it is to the sanity of the society.

While we were still grasping with the broad day attacks on our democracy in Osun state, the worst happened. The very soul of the country was hit, and rather than responding like a sane system, we rolled out drums to celebrate one of the worst news and revelations of the decades and the confessed perpetrator of mutiny, among several other confessed offenses against our motherland.

It would be an understatement to reecho the fact that the ghost of the 1993 presidential election has continued to haunt us as a nation, just as much as the chain of events orchestrated over the decades by the high handed men in military uniforms in their ruthless attempts after attempts to rule the country. We have not healed from the first coup of 1966, as much as the annulled presidential election of 1993. These events, carried out by selfish and power drunk individuals have been the true definition of disunity and continuous insecurity in our nation. And here comes a man accepting in the open that he, indeed, committed one of these offenses against the country.

The greatest offense that can be committed against our nation is treason; an open rebellion against the proper and legitimate authorities. No one knows this more than the man in khaki; and like the author, the confessor repeated severally and in strong terms in his book, every soldier knows the consequences of committing treason against the country.

In 1993, in the aftermath of the presidential election annulment by the then military government headed by Ibrahim Babangida, the country was thrown into chaos; it was by sheer luck that the situation did not degenerate into serious ethnic war. Apparently an unknown number of innocent people were killed, including the legitimate elected president of the country, his wife and  other prominent Nigerians in the subsequent years that followed. Many were forced into exile. The seat of power was usurped while the president-elect – who ought to be fully recognised following the latest confession – was in prison and eventually died, all thanks to Ibrahim Babangida, who the high ranking personages in the country roll out drums to celebrate last week as he openly confessed to annulling a legitimate election in the country. It will remain an injury to all of us that after 35 years, we chose to roll out drums to celebrate the man responsible for the annulment of the freest and fairest election in Nigeria history; for the death of the president-elect and for the gory incidents that greeted the country and have remained an indelible spot in our national garment. The presence of certain people at that gathering even made it worse.

I am seriously wondering if it occurs to the custodians of our laws and those who swore to protect them that a serious offense, not against an individual but against the country and against our democracy, was just confessed by that individual who is still working free without legal consequences. I am still imagining, if president Jonathan had decided in 2015, to abuse his power to deny the winner of the election access to power and instead manipulated the system to organise a fresh election, would those who celebrated Babangida last week stay true to their conviction that the past should be in the past and we should move on? I don’t think so. We cannot move on from the past without addressing the atrocities, some notable ones, committed against our system, moreover, when the perpetrator has openly confessed to the crime. The Antoney-General of the Federation must as a matter of national urgency, institute charges against all that were involved, dead and alive, now that the truth is no longer hidden; otherwise, we would be creating a terrible antecedent for the future of Nigerian democracy and governance. For as long as crime does not die, it will remain a brutal onslaught against our national sanctity for a confessed criminal as we witnessed to stay innocent and walk around and be celebrated. No, that cannot Be!

Indeed Babangida was the evil genius as he prefers to be called; the ‘Maradona’ that wiggles his way around and out of every situation. What we witnessed last week was more than a confession of the truth. It is more of an orchestrated plan to deceitfully change the course of history by a single man to change entirely the course of known history, to redirect his own perception through ages. What an aberration. For those of us who were alive and old enough to witness the events of the era that Babangida tries to change in our own very eyes, it seems more like an insult to our collective intelligence and capacity to understand situations as they unfold.

How on earth would Babangida expect Nigerians to come to terms with the lies that he did not intentionally singled out Abacha to be left behind for the purpose of taking his turn at ruling Nigeria when he forcefully retired all senior officers before he unceremoniously stepped aside from power? He wants us to accept that he was without authority to retire Abacha. He wants us to believe that as powerful as the evil genius was, his second in command, would take orders from another principal, a third party, to annul the election without his knowledge. He wants us to accept the fact that of all days, the best time to travel out of Abuja to visit the Yar’adua family was the day the election result was to be announced, after he had told us that he was aware of all the serious opposition to the election and gang up within the leadership and the ranks and files of his own men to scuttle the election. He accepted that Arthur Nzeribe was a close friend, but he knew nothing about the Association for Better Nigeria, ABN, that was used to annul the election which seems difficult to reconcile and untenable.

How convenient Babangida finds the courage and audacity to shift the blame for his atrocities to the late General Sani Abacha, because he is no longer around to defend himself, and perhaps write his own memoir. Yes, agreed, the Abacha regime has its own issues and not without flaws, but in all comparison, he is a far better personality compared to Babangida. Babangida was a known ruthless ruler who was unrepentant of the people he ordered for their execution. Abacha might be called names, but we saw Obasanjo, Diya, Adisa and several others accused of mutinies and coups but all spared and living to tell their respective stories – before some of them eventually died of natural death. Babangida cannot and would not be allowed to turn around today to carve out a saint figure for himself, justifying all his atrocities. No, he is not the sole custodian of history. Nigerians witnessed his time and reign. As bad as Abacha’s reign seemed to be, he kept his victims in prisons and a number of them made it out. Who was that one person that escaped from Babangida’s clutch? Not one. The same Abacha he cast in a bad light today, had his men appear at the Oputa panel to defend their many roles in power, yet the supposed innocent  Babangida refused to present himself or a representative to clear himself.

Economically, Nigerians would forever remember the genesis of the economic pains we bear till this day. There was that time when our currency was sufficiently strong for our pace of economic development until Babangida was used by the IMF to devalue the naira. Since then, naira has been struggling. The Structural Adjustment Program brought pains that never translated to promised gains. It was more like the government became a tool in the hands of America and the West to turn the country into a puppet and beggar that it eventually becomes. We all saw Abacha’s resistance to external controls of our internal affairs. The only stain in Abacha is the fact of June 12, 1993, and the parts he played to scuttle the will of the people. Otherwise, he is a far better head of state compared to the man claiming innocence today.

After reading his book, it becomes obvious to all that IBB knows more about the 1966 coup than he has been given credit for before now. During the Oputa panel session, General Adisa accepted some of them were culpable in the coup because they had prior knowledge of it, and not because they participated. IBB had prior knowledge of the 1966 coup, so much that he offered advice to the planners, yet he was not guilty of complacency in the coup. He or the reviewer of his book did not see any wrong in such action. The question to ask now is, if Babangida was aware that the coup planners were going to kill the Prime Minister, the Premier of the Northern region (Sardauna of Sokoto) and others, and chose to keep quiet by not reporting to his superiors, we can reasonably conclude that there are benefits in the success of the coup for him. And we can authoritatively submit that that coup was not entirely planned by the officers of the eastern extraction. A northerner, one at the least, knew what was coming and allowed it to happen. The north must wake up to ask pertinent questions, and this is the time.

By some of these weighty revelations, we now know some of the architects of the broken Nigeria. We can begin to see those who orchestrated the dreadful BIAFRA war by their actions and INACTIONS as well. For all we know, the war was a consequence of the two coups of 1966. The urge for power led these men to manipulate the system for decades to their caprices, turning a prospective peaceful and prosperous nation into a theatre of wars, insecurity, disunity, exploitation, subjugation and economic woes. Nigeria cannot afford to celebrate this kind of a man. He is an enemy of the country. Like the evil genius he called himself, he wrecked evil upon us and yet wiggled his way to become a celebrated elder statesman who has secured his celebration.

Very true. Like the once popular James Hardly’s crime novel, “The Dead Stay Dumb,” it is damn too easy for Babangida to transfer all liabilities to the dead; not one single man living. The only person who was innocent in the entire saga, was the president who held the baton of power to decide what would be or not be, and oversaw all the events as they unfold. How convenient! Today, Babangida has tactically made himself the victim of all the events he participated in since the nation’s independence. What a righteous man! Innocent, yet made the national address that ratified the annulment in June 1993, terminated all court proceedings about the election and ordered clamp down on protesters.

Is it possible that we would just wish away the events of the 1993 annulment and the long list of innocent lives that were brutally killed following the responses of  the highhandedness of Mr Babangida and the political unrest he coordinated by his actions and inactions in that era? No, it is not possible, except he fulfills complete remorsefulness and a rational submission of plea for forgiveness to Nigeria and Nigerians.

We are in a dilemma of edited history, thanks to the manipulative attempt by Babangida to reinvent his image in the annals of our history. How on earth would it be only Babangida that witnessed and knows exactly what transpired all through our history since 1960. The main mutilation of our known and recorded history is becoming a destructive propaganda that can set us up on fire if not promptly corrected and decimated by those who should speak out now.

The 1966 coup of the five majors headed by major Kaduna Nzeogwu; was that coup witnessed only by Babangida? Was he the only person who can lay claims to facts and realities of the coup? Why are we hearing a new version of the facts of the coup 59 years after? Were those historical facts of the coup up till now incorrect and should be jettisoned? How on earth is it possible that the Northern leaders were killed, the Yoruba leaders killed and the leaders from the Eastern part summarily kept alive for a Yoruba man to be enthroned as president? And no one cares to spill the beans until now. Where is the sense in the submission? What exactly is Babangida wishing to achieve from the muscling of the truth and realities. Who are those that should speak out immediately to correct the lies in the interest of the nation?

We agreed that the civil war was unnecessary and should not have been prosecuted. We all agreed the war left scars on our unity as a nation up till now. We also all know discerningly that we are continuing to find it difficult to accept the fact that that war was over. The unspoken animosity continues to speak and direct our interactions; the BIAFRA agitation, for instance, has been a testament of the freshness of the war in all minds. How then could someone like Babangida play with such a sensitive issue of national unity. How can he choose to use such delicate rhetoric to buy himself a way out of guilt?

The same Babangida literally confessed to be in the know of the first 1966 coup and offered honest opinions to the planner in his own account. Was being in the know of a coup not synonymous to being an accomplice to mutiny at that time? Who did he report to? No one! Can’t we say he knew about the planned attacks and killing beforehand and chose to keep it to himself for personal gains? He knew the Prime Minister and others would be killed and he was at home with it. The north should see this and ask questions. Nigerians and the North must agree that to unravel finally the intricacies of the realities of the gory day and events of the first coup and the killings that followed, we must be bold enough to ask seemingly difficult questions and demand absolutely honest answers. And people like Babangida know more than we all know. This is the time to ask before it is too late.

One thing Babangida has successfully done is, throwing the country into another round of confusion and grounds for revulsive rhetoric from contesting units. He has definitely strengthened the position of the BIAFRA agitation by the lie he chooses to propagate. Already, the region is lapping onto the lie to demand apologies and compensation from the centre. If the Federal government would fail to address this issue to the extent of correcting the half truths regarding this import matters in the controversial book, then we should be expecting a new invigorated onslaught against the unity of the country. And if we choose to stay mum and allow the book to become the new reality of the war, then the region will be entitled to what they demand.

On the coup that killed General Muritala Muhammed, we should ask how culpable Ibrahim Babangida was. Colonel Dimka was a close friend, so much so he was so sure he would not shoot him as he walked to him at the broadcasting station where his superior officer, General Danjuma ordered him to go and flush him out, and arrest him. By his own account he went to have a parley with him and returned back empty handed. By the time he was ordered to return back, he did not know how Dimka managed to escape.  Couldn’t it be the same way Dimka cannot kill him, he cannot also afford to let Dimka get caught or killed. He summarily told us it is surprising how Dimka managed to escape from the broadcasting station drunk.

In all his confessions, the only one he cannot shift blame to the dead, he denied. He denied killing Dele Giwa. The evidence against the Babangida-led Federal government was too damming without any offer of a tenable defense nor upholding justice for the slain over the years. For decades, Gani Fawehinmi urged him to come to the open to answer questions to clear himself of culpability over the death of the journalist. He claimed evidence abound, but Babangida ran from every opportunity to clear himself; even the Oputa panel, where every other principal political actor including men of the very Abacha that he  picked as the scapegoat, came to absolve themselves of allegations and shed lights on many secrets till today. Today, he said the death of Dele Giwa was a set up against him. Why can’t he also mention those involved in setting him up, after all, with the power and intelligence at his possession as the CIC, unveiling that wouldn’t have been an issue. Would it?

The book we all read is not a confession of truth beyond the acceptance of the fact that the June 12, 1993 election was adjudged free, fair and roundly won by Chief M.K.O Abiola who was denied the mandate and later killed in prison. The truth of the events that culminated in the annulment are yet to be told, as much as the enacted new histories of the critical events are intentional propaganda to sway emotions and rewrite personal perception by the evil genius.

The book is apparently a compendium of lies, self created truths, half truths and self projections of the author’s dastard rule of eight years and heinous involvement in the military usurping of power in the country over 28 years. One, Nigerians must ignore the lies in the book. Secondly, Nigerians must unanimously call for the prosecution of the self confessed crime of treason against the country and the mandate of the elected president in 1993. Nothing short of this would be acceptable. And finally, we must reevaluate the responses of our leaders regarding abuse and perversion of our commonwealth. If the ones we call leaders saw nothing wrong in celebrating General Babangida as he rubbed various atrocities under his watch against our country to our faces in the open, then, there are problems. Would it be the same people who celebrate him that would persecute him, or would the persecution begin and end on social media with the ordinary and helpless citizens?

History has a way of unveiling the truth, no matter how deeply it is buried under the weight of propaganda and revisionism. In the confession of the Evil Genius, Babangida attempts to justify his role in Nigeria’s political history. Yet, he conveniently sidesteps some of the most crucial questions that continue to haunt our nation’s conscience. Who were the key players of Northern extraction who conspired with Nzeogwu in the assassination of Sardauna?. Now that it has become clearer that Babangida knows much more than any other person alive about the coup, we should ask.

For decades, the official narrative has painted the January 15, 1966, coup as an Igbo-led rebellion, conveniently erasing the fact that Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu himself was not Igbo but of Anioma (Western Igbo) descent, born and raised in Kaduna, and deeply integrated into the Northern establishment. His closest allies were not limited to a single ethnic group, and the coup had sympathisers across regional and tribal lines. Yet, despite this, history records no prominent Northern officers at the forefront of the gruesome execution of Sir Ahmadu Bello. Was this an oversight, or was the betrayal orchestrated in a manner that left only specific names in the annals of guilt? Were there silent enablers who, from within, facilitated the coup’s success in the North? And if so, why has their role remained obscured in official accounts?

Babangida, a master of political manoeuvring, witnessed firsthand the consequences of that fateful night. He rose through the ranks in the chaos that followed, ultimately seizing power himself. Yet, in his reflections, does he dare to address the hidden hands from the North that may have had prior knowledge of the Sardauna’s fate? Or does his confession, like many before it, serve only to absolve specific figures while condemning others? If history is to be fair, it must ask difficult questions and demand honest answers. Until then, the ghosts of January 15, 1966, will continue to cast long shadows over Nigeria’s political landscape.