After a long silence, the former military dictator thought it was time to re-write history, perhaps thinking that much time has passed and many memories have been erazed. He was answering questions on a private broadcasting station, Africa Independent Television (AIT) programme, Focus Nigeria.
IBB said he kept a record of how his government managed the oil windfall and promised to make the documentary evidence public soon. "You see I want to promise you one thing, I can give you a documented evidence of how we spent the money and you can verify it; they are all reliable. We kept records of what accrued to us in the Federation Account and how we spent it, not only for the oil windfall but from August 1985 to September 1992. We kept our records because I know that such a thing will happen and I was prepared to defend myself at any time," he said.
Until now, Babaginda had kept quiet on how the money was spent.
In the heat of agitations of how the money was spent, the late Gen. Sani Abacha set up the Pius Okigbo panel to ascertain where the cash was.
The panel’s report was not made public.
Despite demands that the report be made public, successive administrations have not.
In 1992, Lagos lawyer Gani Fawehinmi went to court to compel Babangida to render account of the windfall. The case was thrown out by the Federal High Court about two month ago.
He also explained why he did not appear before the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa-led Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC) and insisted that he knew nothing about the murder of the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa, in 1986. Babangida said he declined to appear before the Oputa panel set up by the Obasanjo administration because he knew he would not get justice.
"The reason why I did not appear before the panel was that I don’t believe that I will get true justice, because a lot of things have been said or published about the incident and my voice would have been drowned by the opinions already formed on the matter; nothing I said would have made a difference."
"You (the Press) and the people were not interested in what happened to the windfall. Honestly, at that time I do not think I would get true justice if I had appeared there. And because I didn’t want to be seen as recalcitrant former president, I went to court to help me make a decision. I went to the Supreme Court and they said I was right.
"It was a right decision because it solved the problem somehow. You know you want the country to benefit from the participants, the principal actors but people were not interested in that. A lot of lives have been murdered and there was so much hysteria.
"Remember I was accused of the death of Dele Giwa. My voice would have been drowned. I feel really pained that the cold hands of death snatched him, a man that I knew, a man I interacted with and one I have always respected," Babangida said.
Babangida said it was wrong to say the military did not achieve anything while in power, claiming most of the achievements recorded by Nigeria since independence were made by the military.
"I don’t get worried by antics who say we achieved nothing. Most of the achievements, the practical ones, the visible ones were recorded during the military era. If not for the military, we probably would not have Nigeria the way we have it today," he said.
Babangida pooh-poohed claims that President Umaru Yar’Adua is slow, asking Nigerians to give him time to "study and analyse the situation". He believed Yar’Adua was not slow because he needed to study the problems at hand before he could take a better decision. "Any president needs time. People should give him enough time to study, analyse the situation and come out with his plans".
Babangida, who annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election – Nigeria’s freest and fairest ever – won by Abiola, described the late newspaper magnate as "a brother and friend".
"Immortalising MKO? Yes, I will support any effort to immortalise him. I will always see him first as a brother, friend, not as a politician but as someone who is passionate; he was a compassionate person. Before he went into politics, he used his wealth for the betterment of the downtrodden," Babangida said.
"Whatever he got, he tried to share with the less-privileged. So, there is a lot going for him, his community development efforts, and establishment of training institutions, educational institutions, fighting for Nigeria and fighting for the black people in the Diaspora," he added.
Babangida said he backed Obasanjo during the 1999 presidential election because the country needed somebody who could hold it together then.
He said: "We needed somebody who believes passionately in the concept of one Nigeria. He believes in it, nothing will deter him and we needed somebody who will continue to work despite assault, pressure by the press and if you put them on the scale he was better qualified".
"He was head of state, his name is not new in the country. He can handle the media very well, you can’t push him around the media, if you permit me to say, if you are not strong they could make you abscond," Babangida said.
He said there was nothing to Yar’Adua’s much-talked-about health. The President’s health, he said, was not an impediment to his running the country. The problem, he said, was that every Nigerian has an opinion on every issue and every other person, adding: "His health matter is nothing new. During the campaign, it came up and General Obasanjo placed a call through to him in the open.
"I think government is taking steps to let the public know what is happening. He himself has said he is a human being. Nigerians should give him time, give him useful information," he said.
