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By Williams Eghebi

The autobiography of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida entitled ” A journey in Service” officially presented yeserday, buried all assumptions about his role while he was the Head of State and later President of Nigeria. It was a certification by him of all the evils but correct narratives that are already in the public space.

Though I only had a peruse, the snippets I got from the controversial book are not new. The self-styled evil genius only confirmed that he’s after all, a shameless coward.

Those that worked closely with him such as Director-General, Centre for Democratic Studies, Prof Omo Omoruyi and Chairman of National Electoral Commission, Professor Humphrey Nwosu had long given insights into the intrigues of the annulled June 12,1993 presidential election won by Late M. K. O. Abiola. In my opinion, the memoir was just a mockery of the families of the victims of the June annulment. Many Nigerians are victims of the truncation of the release of the results. I lost a couple of friends and schoolmates through post annulment violence. Nigeria remains the greatest loser.

The chunk of the enemies to the development of the country and beneficiaries of his corrupt administration who converged in Abuja needed opportunity to pay tithes to their benefactor. They scrambled to donate bloated money to his library project. This class of people should periscope the life of IBB as no evil done to humanity will not be punished. If not now, later. If not by man, certainly by God.

A soldier, nay! A Commander-in-Chief of the Nigeria Armed Forces, who says his subordinates will assassinate him if he allows Chief M. K. O. Abiola benefits from the election he won, is nothing but a shameless coward. He was afraid to die without a recall that the young military officers that died in a plane crash at Ejigbo had families. The evil genius should be reminded that there was a man named Mamman Vatsa. Does IBB remember that there was a man called Dele Giwa? How did Kudirat Abiola die?

Babangida loves power. It is instructive that even in his senile age, he still craves for power but frightful. With his trademark toothy smile, he claimed that Abiola won the election. Every truth said has a benefit. And sadly the truth by IBB in relation to the annulled election has no currency. Nothing can be more bunkum than this self-serving narrative. In one breath, he said he regretted his actions but in another, he claimed it was in the interest of the nation.

It must be said without misconceptions that IBB recorded some feats but his penchant for power, wealth and deceit made him the merchant of death. Without a doubt, he won the lottery but allowed Sani Abacha to take it to hell. I am sure that Sani Abacha will give him the ticket when they meet there.

If the mental health of IBB is still stable, I recommend he reads the works of Socrates, the Greek philosopher. He will certainly find out what Socrates did with hemlock. This is the only way he can have a mention in history books authored by patriots. A cowardly soldier can die brave. Unfortunately, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida deserves no military medals. He remains alive to identify the tombs of the brave soldiers and nationalists. This is the role of cowards, after all.

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, we won’t miss you.