Ask For What Will IBB Do For The ‘Poor’ And Not ‘Personal Apology’ For June 12.

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) observes August 17, 2004 as his birthday I on behalf of my family and my associates in the US who recently paid him a visit in Minna wish to join many Nigerians in wishing him happy returns for the day.

SIGNIFICANCE OF AUGUST 17, 04

This day serves as a watershed in his life and in the life of Nigeria. It is a day that marks the culmination of sober reflection on his past and on his decision to offer himself to be considered as a democratically elected leader of Nigeria, come 2007.

MY WISH FOR IBB

My wish for the General is that this should be a day when he should resolve never again would he be dragged into responding to the question of June 12. You took personal responsibility many times since 1998 not for a personal failure but for a system failure; that is enough. Nigerians had the opportunity to take on the system in the past but failed. The Nigerian people are now interested in who would address the chronic poverty in Nigeria.

One would recall that the past leaders did not believe in the struggle for freedom from the colonial rule, so too the Nigerian political class of my generation did not believe in the struggle for democracy from the military.

MY PLEA WITH IBB HATERS

My plea with the IBB haters is that Nigerians will still have the opportunity in the future to use June 12 in the political arena of party politics whether he says sorry today or not.

Those who are basing their platform on June 12 will fail just as they failed in the past to take on the system. Those who want to base their politics in 2007 on the June 12 would be surprised how many Nigerians would substitute their quest for welfare for June 12.

Demanding an apology from IBB for the annulment of June 12 today is an oversimplification of a complex issue in the history of Nigeria. I am surprised that the Nigerian media should demand such an act from IBB just because General Yakubu Gowon in a birthday party said he was sorry to Professor Wole Soyinka for unlawfully detaining him during the Civil War. Again what General Gowon did at a birthday party in honor of Professor Soyinka was an over simplification of a deadly serious affair of the past. I was surprised that Professor Soyinka would use this trivialization of a serious issue in his life and in the life of Nigeria after over thirty years as a basis of calling on General Babangida to apologize to the country for June 12. Maybe we should wait for another birthday party in thirty years time maybe when Professor Soyinka turns 100!

As if the above was not enough over simplification, a journalist even reminded me of what President Bill Clinton did in the US when he came on the TV to offer an apology to the US people. I wonder if the same journalist would go back to the memoir of President Bill Clinton. Do we take these two events as analogous or comparable?

WHO IS AFRAID OF IBB?

It is a pity that some Nigerians, well placed in society are frightened by IBB’s decision to go the Nigerian people for their consideration as a democratically elected President in 2007. This is most unfortunate. There should be no reason why any Nigerians should be afraid of his decision to apply to be evaluated for a position of President of Nigeria that would be vacant in 2007. This is an employment through the democratic process.

Those who are going to the press to raise question as to his qualification outside what the Constitution and the Electoral Law say are unwittingly displaying their anti-democratic behavior. They should not substitute themselves for the political party, the PDP to which they are non-members that would be considering his application in the first instance. They should not also show contempt for the Nigerian voters that would eventually pass judgment on who would be an elected President in 2007.

APPLYING FOR ELECTIVE JOB IN A DEMOCRACY, RIGHT OF ALL NIGERIANS

May I use this medium to remind my fellow Nigerians that showing interest in an elective office is offering the Nigerian people the opportunity to make a reasoned choice? As President Bill Clinton of the US would put it, seeking an elective office is like filing an application for a job. It is a most serious process. It starts with the party and ends with the voters. General Babangida from my interaction with him recently knows these two stages very well. It is his hope that he would be offering himself to his party and later to the Nigerian voters as a democrat.

I had opportunity to go through with him recently what it would take to be a candidate; he impressed me with his command of the facts of Nigerian problems and what should be done to fix them. He impressed with his commitment to the goal of democracy in Nigeria and in Africa. His vision that he would make known in future is far in advance of those who are raising question about his intention. His passion for democracy is without reproach unlike those who would want to deny him his democratic rights.

If his desire to raise the level of the poor in Nigeria is not progressive, one wonders what is progressivism other than labels. Maybe Nigerians should wait for the progressive candidate promised by Professor Wole Soyinka. Where will he be coming from? Not from Nigeria!

My counsel to the eminent Professor is that he should wait for such a time when his ‘progressive candidate’ outside the known political parties or maybe of the CNPP would take on IBB.

My further counsel is that those who are raising question as to IBB’s decision to offer his services to the Nigerian people through the democratic process should wait until such a time when he would lay out his vision for Nigeria and his mission in politics. It is the political party who would nominate him and it is the Nigerian people as votes, who would eventually employ him come 2007. This two-stage process would not involve those who are not members of the same political party with him. Certainly the process would not involve those who are too far from the Nigerian voting community.

OVER-PERSONALIZATION OF JUNE 12 UNHELPFUL

Those who are laying at IBB’s door step the complex issues in the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election ought to have appreciated that they are unduly over-personalizing a unique historical incidence that no one hopes and prays for again in Nigeria. Professor Wole Soyinka (WS) would recall that he and I once had an opportunity to exchange private written communications in the past on the need not to over personalize the complex issues in the annulment.

I tried on other occasions to impress on him that the issues in the annulment were systemic and fundamental in nature and far beyond one person, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. This was what I tried to put across in my account in my book, The Tale of June 12. I genuinely thought that Nigerians of goodwill would have considered all the issues I raised since then.

One would recall that I appealed to WS then and I am still appealing to him through this medium that we should work together for a fundamental restructuring of the Nigerian federal system including the depoliticization and deethnicization of the armed forces. Is this not at the root of the program of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and of the political leaders of the southwest that focuses on ‘political restructuring’? Is that not the basis for the demand for a ‘true federalism’ whatever that means?

IBB AND WS ARE CONVERGING ON SOME FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES

Going over the interview IBB granted to the Tell interviewers in 1998, one observes that there are some areas of agreement between IBB and Professor Soyinka. Let us take the issues of ‘restructuring’ and ‘national conference’; I can see a convergence, if not agreement.

On ‘restructuring’, IBB said he agreed with the Professor Wole Soyinka’s advocacy for the restructuring of the Nigerian federal system. To the question as to his views about the restructuring, IBB had this to say:

I read virtually everybody who talked about restructuring of this country. I think my conclusion was that there is a basic misunderstanding. Those who talk about restructuring are confusing us. If you try to read what they are saying, you cannot make head or tail out of it. Like Professor Wole Soyinka’s ideas about restructuring of the country are great, if by restructuring you are saying that Nigeria should have a lean government.

He went on:

There are lots of things that the federal government get involved in, which should not be. If you say that the federal government should have no business in education, should have no business in secondary schools etc yes. …………By the time the time the federal government divests itself of some of these activities, there will be more money to the states and local governments.

(See Tell, December 7, 1998).

From the above would one not say that IBB is in accord with WS and those who are calling for a restructuring?

On the ‘national conference’, one recalls that recently IBB tends to agree with the advocacy of Professor Soyinka when he strongly supported the idea of resolving the Nigerian lingering political problems through ‘dialogue’ or a national conference? The end of a national conference according to IBB is to improve on what we have agreed to at various times in our history such as, ‘Presidentialism’, ‘federal system’, ‘non-adoption of any religion as state religion’, etc. and not to dismember Nigeria. In effect, what IBB wants is a discussion that would and should lead Nigeria to what in the US is called ‘a more perfect union’.

One would recall that the original meaning of ‘restructuring’ as propounded by the ODUA leaders in the US especially during the period of Abacha was a coded term for Confederation that could lead to secession. This was why OBJ and some northern leaders were opposed to a National Conference immediately after 1999.

FOCUS TODAY SHOULD BE ON THE POOR AND NOT ON JUNE 12

I want all progressive forces and the religious leaders to promote the cause of the poor in Nigeria that they are not doing at the moment.

It would appear that the so-called progressive forces in Nigeria are too preoccupied with name-calling and personalization of politics. They are publicity seekers with no plan for the poor. The poor people of Nigeria know that the Balarabe Musas and the Enahoros of this world are too comfortable to appreciate the plight of the poor in their midst.

It would appear also that the religious leaders are too preoccupied with praying for political leaders and the erection of castles. One hopes that one-day, a Martin Luther King would emerge from the rank of the Nigerian clergy who would champion the cause of the poor.

The Nigerian media should focus more on the state of the poor in Nigeria than on the political class and their preoccupation with June 12. The Nigerian media hardly focus on the deplorable condition of the old people, the women, the rural dwellers, the young, the school leavers and the sick.

Suppose IBB turns out to be the champion of the poor? Suppose he turns out to be the champion of the rights of the people of the oil producing communities? Suppose he turns out to be the protector of the rights of the minorities in Nigeria beyond the tripod in Nigeria? Would the poor; the people of the oil producing areas and the minorities not have the right to express their support for him?

If he believes in the above, I believe IBB would qualify to seek the support of these people and qualify to secure the support of the so-called progressives in Nigeria.

VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF JUNE 12 NOT A ONE-MAN ACT

I am distressed that no one seems to discuss the issues raised in the account by (General Tunji Olurin, Col Dangiwa Umar, General Chris Alli, Senator Ibrahim Mantu and General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and yours truly Omo Omoruyi) who were conversant with the different aspects of the ‘complexe’ called annulment of June 12. Despite all these accounts of the annulment saga, some Nigerians are still looking for that “guilty” person they call IBB who they believed single handedly annulled the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. That person did not exist. That person will never be found except in the imagination of IBB pathological haters, which is unfortunate.

IBB’S ACCOUNT IN TELL OF DECEMBER 17 IS ENOUGH

That annulment happened ‘on IBB’s watch’ does not mean that he single handedly annulled the election. That it happened on his watch had been acknowledged by IBB himself in many fora since 1998. One recalls the many interviews he gave to the media especially in the Tell of December 7 referred to above. I still consider the Tell interview a groundbreaking piece that in my view should be reprinted by the Tell management and distributed free of charge. I had opportunity of telling the Nigerian reporters of this recently when I was asked questions about the June 12. I referred them to the Tell piece. I seemed to have shocked inquisitive newsmen anxious to know what IBB and I discussed when I said that through out the four days I spent with IBB in Minna, June 12 never featured in our discussion. This was so. Reason, we were too concerned with what he could do for the poor in Nigeria.

Yes he said that he took personal responsibility for what happened under his presidency. My good friend, WS said that taking responsibility for a system failure on his watch was not enough. Even the leaders of the Apartheid regime in South Africa failed to take personal responsibility for the atrocities of apartheid. They attributed the atrocities of apartheid to the system that could not be attributed to one person. That is how it should be.

JUNE 12: ANALOGY WITH THE US OR THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR

Who apologizes for the US or the Nigerian Civil War? Yet both fundamentally defined the US and Nigerian politics since then till today. The pathological IBB haters are looking forward to where and when General Babangida would personally apologize for such a historical incidence that could be likened to the US or the Nigerian Civil War.

I am not aware that any US politician in the past or in the present has ever been called upon to apologize for that historical incidence, yet the issues arising from the US Civil War are all over the country. The politics of ‘Flags’ in the south and the politics of ‘reparation’ are part of the lingering issues from the US Civil War. These issues are still reoccurring at every election since the end of the Civil War.

As recent as the Nigerian Civil War is with all the scars still everywhere in the country and the actors still everywhere and vying for elective offices in the land since 1979, no one has been called upon to apologize for the Nigerian Civil War. We do not even have an official history of the sad period of Nigeria. There are no scholarly books written by Nigerian scholars. There are no memoirs by the leaders of the two sides of conflict, General Gowon and Dim Emeka Ojukwu.

My view is that the June 12 and other issues arising from Nigerian past including the Civil War would necessarily feature during the 2007 election. This should be expected in a democracy.

ISSUES IN THE ANNULMENT ARE FUNDAMENTAL

When I refused to lay all the blames on IBB in the past, some commentators especially from the southwest were disappointed. They accused me so during the time I was promoting the book. They were upset that I should still be calling him ‘my friend partly because of what he was accused to have done with the June 12 and partly because of the effect on the lives of so many Nigerians including that of yours truly. I refused to deny IBB as ‘my friend’. They went on to accuse me that I refused to lay all the blames on him. They were uncharitable in saying that I was trying to shield him because he was my friend. He is my friend and I know him and know what he stands for. Just as I used over twenty essays to defend why I endorsed OBJ in 2003, I would do the same thing and more for IBB in future.

What I tried to say in the past with respect to June 12 and its annulment arose from what I was privileged to have known as the issues in the annulment. This was why I apportioned blame to all concerned, individuals and groups in Nigeria and in the international community. My view then and still is today is that the annulment was possible because of the nature of the British Design called Nigeria from 1914 and the nature of the military in politics. Only Chief Richard Akinjide and Professor Itse Sagay up till today appreciate the relationship between the British Design of Nigeria and the issues in the annulment and the issues in the politics of resource control respectively.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY OF SNC IN THE PAST

One would have thought that the annulment of the June 12 was an opportunity for the Nigerian pro-democracy forces to unearth the issues. This was when they failed the Nigerian people.

The aftermath of the annulment was also an opportunity when the pro-democracy forces ought to have pressed for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) as the only modality for coming to terms with the issues in the annulment. This was my position after the annulment. I made that clear in various press interviews.

Reading General Shehu Yar’Adua’s biography recently, I was happy that this was his position too as contained in his posthumous autobiography. He genuinely thought that a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) should have been in place instead of the Constitutional Conference that the political class accepted from General Sani Abacha in 1994.

A second opportunity was missed in 1998 after the death General Abacha. This was the position of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as soon as he was released from Abacha’s Gulag in 1998.

Unfortunately Nigerian politicians who missed the opportunities for a Sovereign National Conference in 1993 and in 1998 are calling on a legitimate government to surrender its power to a National Conference.

NEVER AGAIN

The Nigerian people know and appreciate that annulment could only occur under a military regime. This also explains the annulment of such elections in Burma and Algeria.

Nigerians, including President Babangida and my humble self and those who are raising question about General Babangida’s intention from his past as the former military President should join hands together and resolve that never again would Nigeria be faced with the issues in the annulment. One should commend President Obasanjo’s fundamental restructuring of the armed forces as a step in the right direction. There are still many issues that would still have to be addressed; General Babangida knows this. How he would address this from what I know would be part of his vision for Nigeria and his mission in politics.

WAIT FOR IBB’S VISION AND COMPARE IT WITH OTHERS

My plea with those who are raising question about his decision is that they should wait for such a time when they would have the opportunity to consider him and what he stands for along with other aspirants in due course. This is what democracy is all about.

I have the greatest respect for Professor Wole Soyinka as a passionate defender of the democratic rights of people worldwide. Of all those who called themselves pro-democracy leaders in the Diaspora only he I found to be genuine and sincere as distinct from those who called themselves leaders of NADECO who were on the payroll of Canadian government. May I plead with WS that he should not abandon the protection of the democratic rights of General Babangida because of his past?

One would expect that the genuine defenders of democratic rights such as WS would credit the Nigerian people as voters with some common sense and capacity to decide for themselves. The Nigerian promoters of democracy should assume that the Nigerian voters have the ability to ponder over what candidates would have to offer to the Nigerian people.

THE VOTER IS THE KING IN A DEMOCRACY

The IBB haters of today should not use their privileged position in Nigerian society to use the Nigerian media to lay claim to be the defenders of the conscience of the Nigerian people because they are not. One would expect them to wait until such a time when all the candidates are before the Nigerian people.

The IBB haters would have the opportunity to support other candidates or campaign against him. This is their right.

The IBB haters would have the unlimited opportunities to use all the issues they are using today as the basis of opposing his candidature or of supporting other candidates that are opposed to him. This is also their right.

IBB WILL TAKE HIS CASE TO THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE

From what I know of IBB, he would be able to make adequate explanation of all the contentious issues being peddled in the media since he shows interest in partisan politics. One would expect that these IBB haters would leave the Nigerian people with the decision to judge for after all the voter is the king. This is an irreducible minimum in a democracy.

Happy Birthday.

Professor Omo Omoruyi.