Former chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) says former Military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) never wanted the late MKO Abiola to be sworn-in as president after winning the June 12 1993 presidential election.
In his autobiography titled ‘ A Journey In Service’, Babangida had blamed the late General Sani Abacha largely for the annulment of the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election which he (Babangida) now admits was won by the late Abiola.
Babangida, who stepped aside as Head of State and installed the late Chief Ernest Shenekan as head of an Interim National Government on August 27, 1993 to run the nation’s affairs, denies speculations that there was a pact in place for the late Abacha to succeed him in office.
However, speaking in an interview with TheScrutinyNG, Sagay argued that putting the blame of the annulment squarely on Abacha as IBB did is not justified as he (IBB) was the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
He further argued that IBB could have retired the late Abacha to render him powerless rather than promoting him as Minister of Defence, which was the most senior military position back then after the Head of State.
“By putting the blame on Abacha, he just doesn’t want to accept responsibility. He was the Head of State, he was the Commander-in- Chief. He was the most powerful man in the country. I believe IBB let the country down with his actions over the annulment. If he wanted the election to be upheld and MKO Abiola to assume office and some Generals were opposing it, he could have retired them immediately”.
“If you retire a senior military officer, he is as powerless as the next civilian. There is nothing he can do again. He can’t give an order to anybody. Rather than retire them, IBB was promoting Abacha as his Khalifa (successor). He was holding hands with him in public. When he was leaving, he made him Minister of Defence, in other words, he gave Abacha the authority to assume power as the most senior military person left behind”.
“IBB prepared the stage for Abacha to take over from him so there is no way he can blame Abacha. He must have known that Abacha will do what he did. So, he has no excuse. I think he didn’t want Abiola as president but he didn’t want to be the one to say so. So, he put it on the head of Abacha who is a more headstrong man and more honest man than IBB. IBB is the Artful Dodger, the Maradona. He wanted to dodge the June 12 annulment blame but he is solely responsible because the bucks stops on his desk”.
Sagay however commended Babangida for writing the autobiography, saying leaders should endeavour to write their stories so that people can gain deep insight into what transpired while they were in office and learn from their mistakes.
“Well, I think it is always very important that those who have held public office should public their autobiography and make it public so that the world can learn from their experiences and people can clarify hidden facts that were not clear before. No matter what you think of the person, one ought to know what went on when he was there”.
“So, I think it was a very good thing that IBB wrote his autobiography. One of my greatest regret was that Chief FRA Williams who played such a large role in our pre-independence life and in the early life of Western Region and the country did not write an autobiography. A lot of information was lost as a result of that”.
