The IBB all-clear

Of all Nigerian despots, perhaps no one courts controversy like Babangida. He had overthrown his colleagues, Muhammadu Buhari and his unsmiling counterpart, Tunde Idiagbon after the duo had snatched power from Shehu Shagari. He had done so on his honour with a promise to return Nigeria to the path of democracy, the new virus infecting […]

Of all Nigerian despots, perhaps no one courts controversy like Babangida. He had overthrown his colleagues, Muhammadu Buhari and his unsmiling counterpart, Tunde Idiagbon after the duo had snatched power from Shehu Shagari. He had done so on his honour with a promise to return Nigeria to the path of democracy, the new virus infecting the continent of Africa after years of despotism. Along the line, IBB discovered a football counterpart in the person of Diego Maradona. Maradona was good on the field of play, but he is much remembered for a handball which gave his team global victory, a goal he called ‘the hand of God.’ Babangida decided to play Maradona with the destiny of his nation oblivious of the fact that even the most interesting match must play on time. While he enjoyed his dribbling, the referees blew his time up and he had to ‘step aside’.

Over 20 years after Babangida had told the world he wants to return to do a proper handing over, IBB would be remembered by many for different reasons. Politicians loathe him for taking them on a roller coaster ride to nowhere and journalists remember him for the unsolved murder of one of their finest colleagues, Dele Giwa blown to bits under his watch.

In the south-west, IBB is synonymous with the death of MKO Abiola. Abiola was a friend of IBB who was lured by the assurance of his friend to enter into the murky waters of politics. Though he was popular, bookmakers would have said he signed his political death warrant when he found only a fellow Muslim as a running mate. But Nigerians failed to be blackmailed by that fact and went out en-masse to vote. They would never know the true result of that polls because Babangida cancelled the results before they were officially announced. The consequence was dire for Nigeria and is an underlying factor of the zoning brouhaha that has overtaken the political landscape today. Last week, Abiola’s kinsmen in the Afenifere say they would mobilize against IBB except he can reproduce their dead son – an impossibility for a mere mortal. But, at any rate, what is the weight of an Afenifere vote if Babangida’s kinsmen with their numbers, decide to vote for their son to show that they are behind the zoning arrangement?

Adoke’s announcement is the fillip that Babangida needed to plunge headlong into the fray. Before that declaration, there had been talks in some quarters that the Okigbo report on that $12 billion would be exhumed and used as a scarecrow to shut up Babangida and his ambition, but for once, the General appeared poised to stand up against his adversaries before whom he had chickened out in the past. This time around, his deft calculations appear set to pay off. With the report dead and buried, all Babangida has to do now is to convince the PDP that he is their man. If he succeeds, it would be another coup of the century because it is 100% clear that the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, would run and he would use all the arsenal of incumbency against any other opponent.

IBB would also have to beat other candidates in an election which the ruling party believes is a walkover for whoever eventually flies the party’s flag. PDP proposes, PDP disposes and God can sit pretty in his heavens! IBB is also up against a known formidable foe – the man he overthrew almost three decades ago – General Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari represents the clean face of politics and the astringent needed to clean the political Aegean stable. Buhari is popular with the poor and has promised to keep running as long as his bones can stand him on his feet. Buhari has had disappointments but they seem to make him bolder. If the inevitable happens and IBB beats other opponents to become the ruling party’s flagbearer, would that swing the ‘votes’ or would the ruling party deliver IBB in spite of any swing votes? This is the scenario of which Nollywood scripts are made. For now, IBB is in the race and so is Atiku, who practically, is swimming against the tides and who appears to love it. There are also other jokers in the race, but clearly, the 2011 elections is a race between the generals and some of their boys. That is if Attahiru Jega gets the support he needs to organize elections.