IBB Set to Release Long Awaited Memoir, ‘A Journey In Service’, 32 Years After Office

•Tinubu, Obasanjo, Buhari, Gowon, Jonathan, Nana Akufo-Addo, Osinbajo, Danjuma to grace event

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), is set to launch his long-awaited memoir, 32 years after leaving office.

The memoir, titled, “A Journey In Service,” will be released on February 20 at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The regime of IBB was defined by many events, including the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which sparked a nationwide riot, among other economic regulations.

There was also the unresolved murder of the veteran journalist, Dele Giwa, among other controversial issues.

The IBB era climaxed with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

While in office, he was popular with the moniker “Evil Genius” and “Maradona”, even though his administration was also noted for a good balancing of the federal character in terms of appointments.

Explaining the nicknames, IBB said they were manufactured by the media because of his “deft political moves,” adding, “That’s the very good thing about the Nigerian media and Nigerian people, you have to anticipate them.

“If you anticipate them, then you live well with them. They call me ‘evil genius’, I marvel at that. The contradiction, you can’t be evil and then a genius.

“The definition of Maradona I got from the media is because of deft political moves. That’s the way the media described it.”

Babangida succumbed to pressure in August 1993 and “stepped aside” for the late Ernest Shonekan, who headed the then Interim National Government.

The late General Sanni Abacha would, however, topple the government before he died in office in 1998.

Although IBB had granted interviews to local and international media since leaving office, he had somehow found a way around some of the contentious issues that happened during his regime.

Some seven years ago, he expressed doubts about writing an autobiography, and said he was uncertain if Nigerians would “want to read about a dictator”.

He added that the public had a wrong impression of him, citing his role in the June 12 crisis, and some of the policies he introduced between 1985 and 1993, when held sway

He later made a U-turn and authored the book.

President Bola Tinubu will lead former Nigerian leaders and their counterparts in other parts of Africa to grace the launch of the memoir.

According to an invite dispatched to dignitaries this week, the board of trustees of the IBB Presidential Library Foundation said the book launch would take place alongside fundraising for a presidential library.

The organisers said the event would be chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, with Tinubu as the special guest of honour.

The keynote address would be delivered by former President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, while former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would review the memoir.

Other guests billed to attend the book launch included ex-presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan, as well as ex-heads of state Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Former Minister of Defence, Theophilus Danjuma, and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, were named as Chief Launchers.