IBRAHIM BABANGIDA’S CROSS AT 80

Eric Teniola writes that there were some decisions taken by the Babangida’s administration that are still hurting

General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd.) will be 80 on Wednesday August 17. He is the second longest military ruler in Nigeria, the first being General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) who ruled Nigeria from 1 August 1966 to 29 July 1975. General Babangida ruled Nigeria from 27 August 1985 to 26 August 1993. His classmates at Government College Bida were General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd.) General Mohammed Mamman Magoro, Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, Major General Muhammed Gado Nasko, Major General Garba Duba, Mr. Paul Babale, Aliyu Makama, Ibrahim Sanda, Abulmaliki Ndayako, Mohammed Bello Ndayako, Abdulrahim Dangana and Alhaji Alhassan Bisallat.

Till today historians are still debating his role in the project called Nigeria. One cannot be neutral when discussing General Babangida, you either like him passionately or dislike him passionately. At the time General Babangida seized power, one fifth, if not one-third of Nigerians of today were not born. Maybe a chronology of what he did may help define the man to the present generation of Nigerians.

He made major decisions that he will carry to his grave. In July 1986, he introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and on September 29, 1986, the second-tier foreign exchange market took off. He moved the seat of government from Lagos to Abuja on December 12, 1991. He completed and commissioned the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos on August 17, 1991 which was then the longest bridge in Africa. On March 15, 1988, he launched the new population policy of one woman four children to check the problem of over population in the country. On September 9, 1987, he created Akwa-Ibom and Katsina States. On August 27, 1991, he created Abia, Anambra, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Yobe and Taraba States. He then created 47 new local governments on that day. On September 23 1991, he created additional 89 local governments. On December 14, 1991, governorship elections were held, the National Republican Convention won 16 while SDP won 14. On January 2, 1992, the democratically elected governors were sworn-in and their deputies.

They were Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and Clement Nwankwo(Abia), Alhaji Sale Michika and Mr. Lynn Nathan(Adamawa), Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife and Dr. Chidi Mwike(Anambra), Alhaji Dahiru Mohammed and Alhaji Umaru Ahmed(Bauchi), Reverend Father Moses Adasu and Yakubu Agda(Benue), Alhaji Maiji Lawan and Alhaji Hassan(Borno), Clement Ebri and Cecilia Ekpeyong (Cross River), Felix Ibru and Samson Ebonka (Delta), John Odigie-Oyegun gun and Reverend Peter Obada(Edo), Okwesilieze Nwodo and Dr. Icha Ituma (Enugu), Evans Enwerem and Dr. Douglas Acholonu(Imo), Alhaji A.S. Biminkudi and Alhaji Shehu Kwafalo (Jigawa), Alhaji Muhammed Lere and James Mugaji (Kaduna), Alhaji Kabiru Gaya and Alhaji Ahmed Usman(Kano), Alhaji Saidu Barda and Alhaji Abdullahi Amidu (Katsina), Alhaji Shaaba Lafiaji and Prince Ojo Fadumila (Kwara), Alhaji Abubakar Musa and Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed(Kebbi), Alhaji Abubakar Audu and S. Ola Akande (Kogi), Chief Michael Otedola and Alhaji Sinatu Ojikutu (Lagos) and others.

On July 4, 1992, elections were held into the two houses of the National Assembly. The NRC won 37 senate seats and 275 seats in the House of Representatives while SDP won 52 senate seats and 314 seats in the House of Representatives.

On June 23, 1993, General Babangida annulled the Presidential election held on June 12, 1993. It was the last act that turned out to be tragic, both for General Babangida and the country. The annulment is a cross he still carries today. He paid for that act by “stepping aside” on 26 August 1993. Too many scholars, writers and commentators have implied that Nigeria’s problems worsened by the annulment. The old hostile exaggeration still persists till today. Hostile exaggeration can make true perspective much difficult for the living.

But then, there are those who beseeched and supplicated and still pleading till today that as a forgiving country we should forego that cardinal sin committed by General Babangida 28 years ago. They insisted and still insist that to judge a man by just one act in his eight-year tenure is harsh and unfair. Some are still arguing that the annulment is not worse than the insecurity and splits in our social, tribal and religious fabrics of today where inadequacies and inequalities have become paramount in our nation life.

Fifty three ministers served under General Ibrahim Babangida during his tenure. They were Alhaji Ibrahim Zakaw, Professor Tam David-West, Major-General Jiya Vatsa, Brigadier Jeremiah Timbut Useni, Alhaji Abubakar Umar, Lt-Colonel Anthony Ukpo, Senas Ukpanah, Air Vice- Marshal Ishaya Aboi Shekari, Professor Sam Oyovbaire, Dr. Tunji Olagunju, Air Vice-Marshal Anthony Okpere, Dr. Chu Okongwu, Major-General Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu, Major-General Muhammadu Gado Nasko, Dr. Shetima Mustapha, Alhaji Bunu Sheriff Musa, Prince Tony Momoh, Alhaji Ismaila Mamman, Major-General Abdullahi Bagudu Mamman, Alhaji Lawal Mala, Brigadier David Bonavontoure Mark, Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman, Air Commodore Adebayo Hammed Lawal, Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Major-General Yohanna Yerima Kure, Rear Admiral Koshoni, Major-General Mamman Tsofo Kontagora, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, and others.

Some of the decrees he promulgated during his tenure are Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural infrastructure, Decree 4, (1988) Medical and Dental Practitioners Decree 23, Securities and Exchange Commission Decree 29, National Primary Education Commission Decree 31, Federal Road Safety Corps, Decree 45, The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council Decree 53, National Economic Reconstruction Fund, Decree 2, Counterfeit and Fake Drugs (Miscellaneous Provisions, Decree 17, National Population Commission, Decree 23, National Directorate of Employment, Decree 24; National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Decree 48, Agriculture and Agro-Allied-Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructures Decree 4, 1987; National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation Decree 35,1992, Federal Universities of Agriculture, Decree 48, 1992, National Agricultural Seeds, Decree 72, 1992, Fertiliser Control, Decree 90, 1992, National Agricultural Land Development Authority, Decree 92, 1992, National Primary Education Commission, etc. Decree 31, 1988, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council Decree 53, 1988, Advertising Practitioners (Registration etc.) Decree 55, 1988, National Commission for Nomadic Education, Decree, 1989, National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education Decree 17,1990, Federal School of Surveying Decree 19, 1990, Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre (Change of Name) Decree 42, 1990, School Year (Variation) Decree 27, 1991, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Decree 33, 1992, Federal Universities of Agriculture, Decree 48, 1992, Medical and Dental Practitioners Decree 23, 1988, Counterfeit and Fake Drugs (Miscellaneous Provisions Decree 17, 1989, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Decree 48, 1989, and others.

General Babangida appointed 74 military governors from September 1985 to August 27, 1993. They were Colonel Godwin Osagie Abbe, Lt-Colonel Ahmed Aboki Abdullahi, Navy Captain Joseph Abulu, Group Captain Luke Chijiuba Achulor, Group Captain Ernest Olawunmi Adeleye, Colonel Abdulkarim Adisa, Navy Captain Adeyemi Afolabi, Adeyinka Afolahan, Colonel Leo Lapade Ajiborisha, Group Captain Frank Ajobena, Navy Captain Mike Ohkai Akhigbe, Colonel Robert Akonobi, Group Captain Ibrahim Alkali, Lt-Colonel Abu Ali, Lt-Colonel Mohammed Christopher Alli, Major Abdulmumuni Aminu, Colonel Dan Archibong, Lt-Colonel Ernest Kizito Attah, Colonel Abubakar Tanko Ayuba, Colonel Patrick Aziza, Colonel Ishaya Bakut, Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Daku, Commissioner of Police Sani Ahmed Daura, Lt-Colonel Herbert O. Eze, Colonel Idris Garba, Lt-Colonel Chris Abutu Garuba, Navy Commander Olabode George, Lt-Colonel Lawan Gwadabe, Lt-Commander Amadi Ikwecheghi, Lt-Colonel John Mark Inienger, Group Captain Jonah David Jang, Navy Captain Oladeinde O. Joseph, Lt-Colonel Aliyu Kama, Colonel Alwali Jauji Kazir, Group Captain M.A. Lawal, Colonel John Yahya Madaki, Colonel Joshua Mamman Madaki, Lt-Colonel Yohanna Ateyan Madaki, Navy Captain Allison Madueke, Colonel Bashir Salihi Magashi, Colonel Mohammed Maina, Lt-Colonel Fidelis Makka, Lt-Colonel David Bonavontoure Mark, Lt-Colonel Mohammed Buba Marwa, Colonel Abdul One Mohammed, Lt-Colonel Abdullahi Mohammed, Lt-Colonel Ahmed Mohammed, Lt-Colonel Garba Ali Mohammed, Colonel Garba Mohammed, Commander I.E. Mohammed, Wind Commander Isa Mohammed, Group Captain Gbolahan Mudashiru, Colonel Abdullahi Sarki Mukhtar, Wing Commander I.O. Nkanga, Colonel Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha, Commander Anthony E. Oguguo, Navy Captain Sunday Abiodun Olukoya, Lt-Colonel Adetunji Idowu Olurin, Group Captain Samson Emeka Omeruah, Colonel Lawrence Onoja, Colonel Ekundayo B. Opaleye, Colonel Sasaenia Adedeji Oresanya, Police Commissioner Fidelis Oyakhilome, Lt-Colonel Oladayo Popoola, Commander Eben Ibim Princewill, Colonel Raji Alagbe Rasaki, Group Captain Abubakar Salihu, Colonel Olayinka Sule, Colonel Anthony Ukpo, Major Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, Wing Commander Mohammed Ndatsu Umaru, Colonel John Ewerekumoh Yeri and Colonel Danladi Zakari.