Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida(IBB), has finally opened up on the nation’s adjudged freest and fairest June 12 election.
Though Babangida, while speaking at the public presentation of his book, ” A Journey in Service” admitted responsibility for all that happened under his eight- year rule, he shed more lights on the intrigues behind the annulment of the election acclaimed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate.
The former maximum leader noted in the book that he was away in Katsina to commiserate with the Yar’Adua family over the death of Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua, only for the him to be informed the June 12 election had been annulled.
In the book, Babangida admitted that the annulment of the election was contained in “a terse, poorly worded statement from a scrap of paper, which bore neither the presidential seal nor the official letterhead of the government, annulling the June 12 presidential election.”
Exonerating himself from the annulment, Babangida on page 275 of his book admitted that the annulment was only a component of a series of other options.
According to him: “But to suddenly have an announcement made without my authority was to put it mildly, alarming.
“I remember saying: ‘These nefarious inside forces opposed to the elections have outflanked me! I would later find out that the ‘forces’ led by General Sani Abacha annulled the elections.
“There and then, I knew I was caught up between ‘the devil and the deep blue sea’!! From then on, the June 12 elections took on a painful twist for which, as I will show later, I regrettably take responsibility.”
Babangida also regretted in the book how the fallout of the annulment of June 13 divided the military hierarchy in 1993.
On page 276 of his book, Babangida said: “Within the military leadership, there was palpable outrage. The best of us, like Lt. General Salihu Ibrahim and Major General Ishola Williams were alarmed and Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar threatened to resign.
“Even Admiral Aikhomu, whose press secretary, Irabor, had announced the annulment , was horrified. The public vilified me. Instigated, among other things, by elements within the Armed Forces, the Nigerian press called me all kinds of names and described me as a power-drunk dictator who desperately wanted to cling to power.”
Providing insights into the book, the reviewer, former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), said General Babangida acknowledged that the late MKO Abiola, who contested the presidential election on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), secured the majority of votes and the geographical spread to be the president.
Osinbajo said the autobiographer described the June 12 election annulment as the most challenging aspect of his life.
Osinbajo said: “He (Babangida) also answers the question whether Abiola actually won the June 12 election, and I quote him, ‘although I am on record to have stated after the election that Abiola may not have won the election, upon deeper reflection and a closer examination of all available facts, particularly the detailed election results, which are published as an appendix to this book, there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 elections.”
He, however, said that he was happy that President Muhammadu Buhari later acknowledged that Abiola won the election and honoured him with the greatest national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), which is reserved for Presidents.
