"History is very important to each and every one of us. It is our memory; it is our guide; it is our teacher; it is our record keeper; it is our judge and it is our saviour if we use it properly. If we don't, it punishes severely. It is extremely difficult to escape the judgement of history. If you have been following developments in Nigeria in recent times, who would ever think Ibrahim Babangida will be facing the types of problems he is facing today. It is a lesson for all of us, history doesn't spare anybody," says the Vice Chacellor of Gombe State University, Prof. Abdullahi Madi.
Prof. Madi said former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida cannot escape judgement of history, going by the present problem he is facing since he declared his intention to contest the presidency just as he claimed all Nigerians are settlers.
Prof. Mahdi while delivering a paper at a book launch on the origin of Deba people, said the problems the former president was facing since he declared his intention was as a result of his past antecedents.
According to Mahdi, IBB manipulated history during his time, nemesis has now caught up with him.
In his paper titled,"The importance of history to the society," said what was happening to the former president was expected.
Said the Vice Chancellor, 'history is very important to each and every one of us. It is our memory; it is our guide; it is our teacher; it is our record keeper; it is our judge and it is our saviour if we use it properly. If we don't, it punishes severely.It is extremely difficult to escape the judgement of history.If you have been following developments in Nigeria in recent times, who ever think Ibrahim Babangida will be facing the types of problems he is facing today. It is a lesson for all of us, history doesn't spare anybody'.
'Ignorance or neglect of history results in unpleasant consequences.Worst of all, the manipulation of history results in dangerous conflicts, wars and suffering.What happened in Plateau State a few years ago was either a demonstration of ignorance of history or manifests its crude manipulation. Either or both led to killings of about 57,000 people including 17,000 children.The crises was engineered and generated by the elite and they have blood of people on their hands.
History will judge them very harshly. It has in fact started to judge them already. Prof. Mahdi who was also a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, warned politicians against misuse of power.
'Politicians have been messing up this country for a very long time and history will catch up with them. On the issue of indigenes/settlership, the Vice Chancellor said everybody in the country was a settler.
'There is no ethnic group who is not a settler. We are all settlers from Lake Chad to Lagos', he stressed.
Prof. Mahdi reminded politicians to be aware of history and should endevour to do things right while in office.
