In his first scathing attack since falling under official scrutiny for his past misdeeds, former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida,  has told the Obasanjo administration not to see itself as the only “saint" while others are “evil and corrupt.”

Babangida, speaking at a public lecture marking his 65th birthday, in Abuja, said that the pride of the present administration could break the country, but he did not elaborate how it could. Babangida was reported as having a secret meeting with some other retired generals a day before the attack on Obasanjo.

“National history is never an episode. It is a continuous contribution and efforts of succession of leaders, each entitled to his success and mistakes alike,” he said, adding: “We should not allow national discourse to degenerate to a level where we begin to see a difference between our past and present in terms of absolute. Evil versus good, corruption versus holiness, soldiers versus civilians, saints versus sinners, we are sharpening the edges of conflict in the society, and where as our national discourse is still an endangered practice.

“Such deprecations reduce the picture of those who express their views. They also add to the negative perception of Nigeria by the outside world. When you indulge in such, simplistic generalisation will desecrate the memory of our founding fathers and ingratiate the honest efforts of our past leaders.

“Each generation of leaders has distinctive challenges. Each has been confronted by problems, not exactly like those of leaders before them or those who have come after them. We have to operate in a different clime, in a changing world and vastly different social and economic environment.

“Against this background, I want to use the opportunity offered by this occasion to share with you my personal appreciation of the great challenges of national leadership and collective efforts of past leaders and the sacrifices of our various peoples.

“No one can deny the various struggles of our founding fathers as they faced the challenges of engaging colonialism and all its inherent injustices. In the post civil war era, General Yakubu Gowon has the credit of healing the wounds of war; he united our divided people and rekindled hopes among them. The creation of states sought to re-engineer our nationalism and strengthen the efforts of our founding fathers for a united nation.

“Murtala Mohammed and Obasanjo’s regime was to reform the social morality and reignite our sense of nationalism, protect the dignity of the Blackman in the face of lingering foreign domination especially in South Africa.”

He even said the profligate Shagari administration laid a foundation for democracy, although he was one of the top soldiers who demolished that democractic administration in 1983.

As for  Buhari, IBB said he restructured the social order in the society.

On his own failed administration, Babangida said he repaired the economy as he  “confronted the futility of states’ domination of economy." Nigeria's economy was worse under Babangida and a 1995 World Bank report on the Structural Adjustment Program detailed how he fooled Nigerians into adjstment while wasting national funds. He lavished $12 billion war windfall in 1990 on things like cars, sardines and television sets. Instead, IBB boasted: "We posited instead the entrenchment of free market economy as the bedrock of political reform.”

He said the search for leadership should not be restricted to a particular people or generation, adding that great leaders have been found all over the world across a diverse geographical, age and professional identity.

The former president described his birthday as an opportunity for him to reflect personally on matters of public interest and nature.

In the lecture itself, the guest speaker and former External Affairs Minister in the Babangida government, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, showed how freely he had fallen from principle. Akinyemi was a NADECO leader who used his most productive years to fight the atrocities of  General Babangida after the June 12, 1993 election was annuled. In a total capitulation, he was back at the master's table for the crumbs.

Akinyemi suggested an amendment requiring the president to appoint 50 per cent of INEC membership while the National Judicial Council appoints the rest, to “give some form of credibility to the system.”

Alternatively, the former Babangida minister said INEC members could be appointed in proportion to party representation in the National Assembly, or a new Assembly of Councillors of State could be mandated to make the entire appointment.

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