By Jude Opara

Recently, the former self styled Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida ahead of his 80th birthday granted an interview to Arise TV. In that chat, Babangida who is also known as ‘Maradona’ and the ‘Evil Genius’ spoke on a variety of national issues including the burning question of how to choose the next Nigerian President in 2023.

For the records Babangida ruled Nigeria from August 1985 to August 1993.

Babangida indeed lived up to the name ‘Maradona’. For those who may not be football freaks, Diego Maradona was prolific footballer from Argentina. He was reputed for his quality dribbling skills which he used to dazzle the world. So Babangida was dubbed ‘Maradona’ due to his uncanny ability to maneuver, meander and wriggle his ways out of every difficult decision.

For instance, Babangida during his reign was able to take Nigeria through what looked like an unending transition programme. Five times he made the promise to hand over power to a democratically elected government and five times he reneged on that promise always with one flimsy excuse or the other. And when he eventually made the final promise he did not give any time line when he was expected to leave office.

He had said; “Following lengthy deliberations with my service chiefs, I offered as my personal sacrifice to voluntarily step aside as the President and commander in chief,” he told members of the National Assembly in Abuja. In his characteristic manner Babangida was seeing his leaving office after presiding over the affairs of the country for eight straight years as a favour to the country.  

Many analysts had argued that Babangida did not really want to leave office but for the intense pressure on him coupled with the fact that the country was gradually sliding into a state of anarchy occasioned by the incessant protests and civil disobedience that was the order of the day, especially in the South West.

Therefore watching the latest interview which was the first time the General would be seen in public after a long period of time was interesting as it was revealing because despite the rumours surrounding his health and all that, Babangida was still at his best, full of intelligence with the uncanny ability to be doggy.

When posed with the question on why he decided to annul the 1993 election, Babangida said he did that because there was going to be a bloody coup if Abiola was made president. This latest position is not the same reason he gave in 1993. Then he had claimed that the elections were evidence of fraud and vote buying.

But despite his age, Babangida still was at his best; witty, sharp and of course foxy. He was able to crack some jokes with his interviewer and also articulated in his responses while not disappointing in dogging critical questions especially when it concerns his activities in government and the issue of who becomes the next Nigerian president.

He also took a dig at the present administration when he asserted that the level of corruption during his regime is a child’s play when compared to what is obtainable at the moment.

But what appears to have generated the most reaction is his position considering the clamour for zoning of the presidency which is more popular in the South. Recently, the governors of the 17 Southern states met to demand that the presidency should be zoned to the south in 2023.

However, the retired General who is also from the North either by commission or just a mere coincidence argued along the same line being canvassed by most Northern politicians that zoning should be discarded because it is undemocratic. It is on record that before the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015; most of the people rejecting zoning today were yesterday insisting that it was the turn of the North to produce the next president because late President Umar Yar’Adua died midway into his presidency and his vice, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner was sworn in.

Unfortunately, in Nigeria the discussion has always been focused on which part of the country will produce the president. Shortly after every election, just two years after, the frenzy over who will become the next president will take centre stage. This has continued to take the toll on development because instead of investing time and resources to governance, successive governments have rather focused on how to remain in power. Indeed, this scenario has made many people to advocate for the introduction of the zoning arrangement.

Zoning could be introduced in a multi ethnic and multi cultural country to make it easier for peaceful coexistence among the different groups that make up the country. And talking about selecting the best materials to lead the country, there is no part of Nigeria that cannot boast of quality presidential materials. Therefore allowing zoning at least to go round each of the six geopolitical zones will go a long way in uniting the country because it will give everybody a sense of belonging.

Since the country returned to Constitutional democracy in 1999, three zones; the South West, the North West and the South South have produced the presidents. So letting it go round to the South East, North East and North Central will be a great idea. May be thereafter, we can jettison the zoning because then everybody has felt that sense of belonging which is very necessary for the sustenance of unity and development of the country.  

Another area General Babangida weighed in is the area of security and he was right when he noted that the military has been over stretched. The rising spate of insecurity in parts of the country has continued to degenerate to the extent that there are military operations in about 32 states out of the 36 sates of the federation.

Frankly, speaking the state of insecurity did not start with the present administration but certainly, the actions and in actions of the administration has contributed in small way to the state of insecurity. For instance, the way and manner President Muhammadu Buhari handled the issue of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is quite different the way a General Babangida would have handled it. The Babangida we know from the onset would have tried to hear those protesters out, even if he was not going to heed their demand. Of course no leader will want the country to be divided under his watch but at the same time, a leader is supposed to know how to moderate situations to achieve a lasting peace.

Babangida also talked about the state of the economy. While he did not frontally carpet the present administration over the state of the economy, he nonetheless noted that there is too much control of the economy adding that there is the need to open up the economy a little more. Probably he is right because government is still holding tight on so many areas they ought not to and indeed Nigerians are groaning under this yoke.

But during his time, Babangida introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986 which at that time led to one of the most prolonged crisis including the celebrated SAP riots of 1989. SAP was inspired by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as a way of navigating the economy out of the woods. It was interesting listening to Babangida in his recent interview praising himself for introducing that policy that literally increased the cost of living at that time. He claimed that SAP lifted up a lot of Nigerians to become millionaires, but there are many analysts who believe that the programme rather condemned millions of Nigerians into abject poverty because with it came the skyrocketing of the cost of living occasioned largely by the pump price increase that was introduced by the government.

The former Military President also talked about the happenings in the nation’s political system, dousing the fears that the country could be drifting into a one party state despite the spate of defections by politicians from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the parties especially the two largest ones, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Babangida is a proponent of the party system and that is why he introduced the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). He also did one significant thing by building both state secretariats and local government offices for the parties in each state and local government area in the country. But as stated earlier, he rubbished the whole thing when he began to dribble the entire country.  He said the two parties were; “a little to the left, a little to the right” and this saw the military sharing power with the civilians.

Finally, Babangida has started prescribing for Nigerians the type of person that should become president in 2023. He said such a person should be a person who is well versed about Nigeria and having friends in every part of the country. He also said the person should be in his 60s. But he has not really told Nigerians why he annulled the election won by Abiola. When he won that election in 1993, Abiola was 55 years old and reputed to have had friends in every part of the country. The talk of a planned coup d’état may be another ‘Maradonic way of handling’ the country.

So at 80, the ‘Evil Genius’ still remains who he is.