A member of the Vatsa family likened Babangida’s statement to shedding “crocodile tears” “an after thought”.
Mr. Jonathan Vatsa,a nephew to the late Gen. Vatsa, added that Babangida’s statement is a cock and bull story. He advised him to stop playing on people’s sensibility.
Vatsa said the family was not surpised that Babangida used the occasion of his 70th birthday to retract his earlier acceptance of all his actions during his dictatorial rule, including the execution of Vatsa who was his Best Man, during his wedding.
“How come it is now that he is admitting that the decision to kill his self-admitted friend was the most traumatising moment, when in the past he told the world he had no regret for all his actions.
“Let him stop playing God. Let him go and search his heart and beg for forgiveness from all innocent souls he took. He is now 70, let him know that the judgement day for him is nearer than before,” Vatsa advised the former military leader.
He said the family wondered why it took Babangida 25 years to realise that the late Vatsa was “a friend and brother”. According to him, “when Babangida ordered the execution of Mamman then, it never occured to him that, they were friends with strong family ties. IBB should stop playing people.”
On the claim that the 1976 decree tied the hands of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), in approving the death sentence of the former minister, Vatsa said, “whether it is military law or not, a day of reckoning will soon catch up with Babangida. Let him prepare and reconcile with those he has injured, the families he threw into everlasting mourning.
“For us in Vatsa’s family, we cannot be cajoled by his cock and bull traumatising excuse. Mamman (Vatsa) is dead, let all living mortals expect to taste death too,” Vatsa said.
