A Book To Unite And Heal?

KAYODE KOMOLAFE

The historical significance of what happened two days ago in Abuja should not be lost in responding to the momentous event of the launch of former President Ibrahim Babangida’s memoirs. The well-produced book is entitled “A Journey in Service: An Autobiography.” The occasion was also that of a fund-raising for the IBB Presidential Library, which is magnificently conceived.

It is not often that you have an incumbent president and former presidents and heads of state converging in an occasion of a book launch to discuss the past, giving hitherto unknown insights.

In a rare honour of Babangida, President Bola Tinubu sat for hours in the hall with former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former President Goodluck Jonathan. Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s message was delivered by a representative.

The hall was also full of present and past governors, ministers, lawmakers, retired military and security officers, leading businessmen, traditional rulers and several other members of the socio-political and economic elite.

In his brilliant review of the book, former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo graphically demonstrated the intersections in the respective careers of the generals who later came to power at various historical conjuctures. From the recalls and instructive anecdotes freely offered, the wounds inflicted on one another became manifest. The wounds sometimes appear fresh when those affected tell their painful stories. These are stories of blood and sweat.

Meanwhile, the generals who live to tell their stories are lucky. A number of lives were lost in the episodes to which references were made.

Among those involved or who eventually benefitted from the Juy 29, 1975 coup against Gowon were Obasanjo, Buhari and Babangida. According to Gowon, the combination of the circumstances leading to the fall of the First Republic foisted on the military the task to take over power in 1966. He asserted that his ambition was to be an accomplished professional soldier. Yet, he became head of state at the age of 32 when his boss and the first military head of state, General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Agauiyi-Ironsi, was killed in a 1966 counter-coup. Gowon recalled again his story of how he was accused by the military government of Obasanjo of involvement in the February 13, 1976 coup in which the head of state, General Murtala Mohammed, was assasinated. For the following three years in which Obasanjo was in power Gowon was on exile. It was President Shehu Shagari who later made it possible for Gowon to return home and Babangida subsequently restored his rank. Incidentally, the story was told yesterday of how it was the same Gowon, a dazzling young captain, who inspired the military careers of Babangida and about a dozen other students from their secondary school in Bida, Niger State.

Buhari continues to tell the story of the August 27 1985 coup in which his military government was toppled. He was incacerated for over 30 months while Babangida, who succeded him, was in power. At a point Obasanjo had to champion the advocacy for Buhari’s freedom.

Obasanjo still recounts his ordeal when he was jailed by the the regime of General Sani Abacha. Abacha, who was left behind as Chief of Defence Staff when Babangida stepped down on August 27, 1993, seized power in the aftermath of the disastrous end of the Babangida’s transition programme.

Even Babangida did not have it all rosy while Abacha was the maximum ruler in the land. On page 293 of his book, Babangida gave a hint of the condition of things with him as follows: “The Abacha ascendancy understandably imposed its censorship and limitations on my retirement freedoms. It was a precarious time for me, but my faith in our country’s future and our people’s resilience helped me cope with the stress of the period.”

Despite the moral wounds nursed by the generals in one way or the other they were united in honouring Babngida yesterday in what may appear as some positive signals on the horizon.

Yet, some questions are bound to arise on the content of the book especially on the wounds of June 12.

For instance, Babangida declares in the book that Bashorun Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) won the election in which his opponent was Alhaji Bahir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). He also, for the first time, says that Abacha, with his faction in the military annulled the “freest and fairest” election in Nigeria’s political history.

This is at least one reason why it is important that Babangida has written the book to give his own version of history. By the way, Babangida has always been concious of his role in history as an individual in a process. This intellectual streak is manifest in some of his speeches while in office. For instance, while giving the theoretical thrust of the Babangida’s convoluted transition programme, Dr. Tunji Olagunju, Professor Adele Jinadu and Professor Sam Oyovbaire give a clue in their book, “Transition to Democrcay in Nigeria (1985-1993).” The scholars, who advised the regime on the political transition, put things like this: “President Babangida views goverance as a trust. This fiduciary view presumes tolerance, moderation, accountability, consultation, participation, due process and commitment to human rights. He further believes in the institutionalisation of liberalism as a process to secure good and responsible government.”

It is on this score that the verdict of history would possibly be passed on Babangida.

Will the latest positions stated by the former military president especially on the June 12, 1993 presidential election be sufficient to put a closure to some of the issues? Will these positions unite and heal the extant wounds inflicted on the nation’s political landscape? And more poignantly, beyond the unity displayed by the elite, there were enormous human, and material and moral costs inflicted on the people during the June 12 crisis.

Contrary to the expectations in many quarters, Babangida actually says something new in the book. For instance, before now, he was not categorial on the truth that Abiola won the June 12, 1993 presidential election and that his right hand man, Abacha, led the group in the military that forced the annulment against the law enacted by his regime on the election.

Some critics of Babangida say that the former president has only confirmed the position of the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Professor Humphrey Nwosu, in his own book, “Laying the Foundation for Democracy in Nigeria: My Account of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election and its Annulment.”

According to Nwosu , “the result of the June 12, 1993 presidential election would have conferred on President Babangida’s administration the greatest reservoir of legitimacy no regime had ever enjoyed in Nigeria. Undoundedly, its annulment on June 23, 1993 created the greatest legitimacy problem toward the end of his admistration and the problem so created still lingers till date. The critical questions to answer include the following: why was the presidential election which Alhaji MKO Abiola won decisively and which the two political parties affirmed at each level of collation annulled? Was the election flawed in any way? Was it rigged in any manner? Was it free and fair? Were the peparations put in place by NEC for its conduct shoddy?” By the way, Nwosu, who died recently, was never celebrated for his heroism in the June 12 story.

Doubtless, the news now is that 32 years after, Babangida, who appointed Nwosu to conduct the election, has clearly answered these questions.

The lingering question is still this: will Babangida’s book be a closure to this tragic story?

– Komolafe is Deputy Managing Director of Thisday Newspaper