Snippets of how the Babangida administration raped Nigeria have been released by former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe, who said military officers in power were using security votes to loot the treasury, one of the reasons he didn't last long in one of Nigeria's most corrupt regimes.
Speaking on One On One, a Nigerian Television Authority personality interview, Commodore Ukiwe said that the amounts mentioned as security votes these days were outrageous and subject to abuses since nobody accounts for them.
"As Chief of General Staff,' he said, "I was in charge of what the state governors did. I remember very well that they had a limit of N10,000 monthly as security vote. This was the money they used to monitor the security situation in their states. They were not expected to account for it."
Ukiwe said that they could hardly exceed that limit. "In exceptional cases, they could spend N15,000, but must account for it."
He said he left the administration because of difference over its practices. "It is nothing personal with Babangida. We had our disagreements, and these were expected, since he was not working with a buffoon. It would be impossible for people to agree on everything," he said.
"There were major policy disagreements. One of them was over the OIC - the Organisation of Islamic Countries. I thought it was wrong as the number two man in the administration for me not to be told about such a major decision. I still maintain that Nigeria, as a country, should not be a member of a religious organisation. Individual organisation can take up membership of religious organisations, but not the country."
Ukiwe, who started his career with the Nigerian Navy, but fought for the Biafran Navy during the Civil War, said his main regret was "that we had to fight each other, especially in a war that people have now realised was unnecessary".
He continued: "I do not think it was a regret for me alone. Officers on the other side felt the same way." He considers his personal losses, including the denial of promotions, after his absorption, two after the war, as nothing. "All those are in the past. I remember that there were awkward situations where officers that I trained had been promoted above me, yet I had to command ships where they were subordinate to me. When it comes to commanding those ships, there were no sentiments, one had to have the training and experience to do so. I held command positions as a Captain, when those postings were meant for Rear Admirals."
Commodore Ukiwe said that the marginalisation of the Igbos was real. He admitted that it affected his promotions in service, and that others in other areas could be suffering the same fate. He refused to be drawn into direct criticisms of General Babangida when asked to access him and his administration.
"It is not as if I am afraid of him. Whatever I would have to say about him, it would be wrong to say so in his absence. If he was seated here, I would say them. By my training I cannot criticise him in his absence," said, remarking jocularly that he could not have been "strange bed fellows with General Babangida, "since I doubt if we were even bed fellows". He thought his own character complemented General Babangida's and served the administration well.
When asked if he was running for a political office, he said it was not a decision he take alone or discuss on television. Commodore Ukiwe, 66, was Chief of Staff from August 1985 until his departure in October 1986.
