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In Africa, people hardly tell a rich and powerful person his wrongs and evil deeds to his face, even when he or she has them in abundance.
Sometimes in February, a former military dictator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), launched his book: A Journey in Service: An Autobiography, amidst eulogies and lies.
IBB was economical with the truth in most of his narratives in the book. He denied knowing anything about the death of Giwa and gave excuses for the annulment of the June 12 election in 1993.
Although, his narrative of the January 15th coup of 1966; a coup that was largely referred to as an Igbo coup, were fair and sincere to a large extent. But a careful glimpse at the contents of the book, shredded all over the media, shows it is a concoction of narrations and flimsy assertions of half-truths and decorated lies churned out to appease posterity and alter history in his favour.
A Journey in Service: An Autobiography, by Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, for me, is a smart attempt by the author to rescue his name from the potpourri of political atrocities, corruption, and horrendous policies that had characterized his regime as a military dictator.
The timing, funfair, and unpopular eulogies constitute tangible evidence, furnishing credence to my views on this subject matter.
The convergence was a gathering of leaders and elders whose existence has a pavement of concrete demarcation with shame and scruples.
A people who celebrate evil for personal gains and aspirations and what is called “notice me” in Nigeria’s local parlance group of lexicons.
Years ago, someone was described as an “evil genius” with facts and a canister of proofs. It is unimaginable and baffling to confer the same individual with a title of sainthood and heroism.
An acclaimed “evil genius” cannot be celebrated as a saint and a role model by rewriting history, and at the instance of eulogies and fabricated lies. What this does is that, it places a question mark on the substance of our identity, heritage, and values as a people.
It was George Santayana, a Spanish-American scholar, who said: ” Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This quote appears in his 1905 work, The Life of Reason, and it clearly speaks to the show of shame that happened a few days ago.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we respectfully beg you not to add to our sufferings in a time like this in the country. We saw you laughing and having a nice time at the launch, while your draconian policies sing a dirge for us ahead of time.
And while we flounder for survival in a quest to eke a living and regain our sense of identity, we consider the flurry of praises heaped on a man who can be seen as one of the foremost architects of our misfortunes, a deliberate act of insolence.
The book is a narrative of falsehood, aristocratic grandeur, power, and historically recognized atrocities; which is an abominable to behold.
A Journey in Service: An Autobiography, by General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, can best be described as a metaphor for fallacy and a paradox of truth. And to a large extent, a clear antithesis of Nigeria’s political history between August 27, 1985, and August 26, 1993.
Let the “evil genius” remain who he is. Let no one force a villain on us as a saint, for we are not unfortunate students of history.
Sunny Ibeh Jnr is a Nigerian journalist and a Communication Executive. Contact:Editor.meridianspy@gmail.com.
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