Celebrating An Evil Genius In A Collective Amnesia
I want to publicly thank Professor Isaac Albert for his wonderful tutelage on Elite Consolidation and Fragmentation during my second sojourn in the University of Ibadan. His course on the introduction to Peace and Conflict Theories was one of the high points of my MA in Peace and Conflict Studies. Today, his theory came to play.
The launch of the memoirs of former President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has dominated the airwaves today. I have tried to justify the celebration of Babangida by the elite and political class today. I have tried to find justification for the great things they said about him today. I have searched for the rationale for the celebration of his person and what his legacy denotes. I have searched my brain for the motivation for the words of adulation, heaped at IBB today. Before today, I knew never to speak ill of the dead. Now I know, that through hypocrisy and elite consolidation, we can speak good of the living, even when their evil deeds stare us in the face.
I have watched the videos again and again. People who ran from the evil genius now sat comfortably to praise his brilliance. People who were cowered by his “elimination squad” stood up to praise him boldly. The monied class, the political elite, the rentiers and profiteers, across political leanings all came to pay homage to the man who once held Nigeria by the jugular and emboldened Abacha to send hundreds into exile. It was a macabre spectacle.
The economic elite also came to pay obeisance and doll out money to build a presidential library in honour of a tainted legacy. The man took enough money to build his hilltop villa in Minna. Why not give him enough money to build a “Presidential Library”?. Was he even our “President”? The man who annulled the best election ever held in Nigeria was being feted and honoured by the same political elite he tried to extinguish. Not a surprise in a nation where a former military head of state, who took power by force and declared himself “president” is usually the first person people with national political ambition would consult before they seek the votes of the common man! All of them have gone to seek his support to rule us. The maradona has given them tips on how to dribble us. The “evil genius” has shared the tricks of enslavement with them. Fitting it is, that they support his final attempt to dribble us out of his place in history and extort more, from the privileged class.
I am not part of this collective amnesia. The political elite usually convene around interests rather than ideology. Nigeria’s politics has no ideological anchor, anyways. But to whitewash and canonize the man who began the systemic institutionalization of corruption into our public life seemed like a stretch the limits of our imagination until today. What a conclave!
Of particularly pathetic note was Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, threading the delicate balance of creating a synthesis between the account of the author and the legacy of the author, known to everyone who was an adult when Babangida ruled. His brilliant mind, fecund and ever-ready to engage; struggled to make meaning of the dissonance, today. Even with his flashes of brilliance and beautifully delivered anecdotes, Osinbajo struggled to reconcile the man, his actions, his account of history and our collective memory. He annulled the best election to avoid a bloody coup! Who believes that? Same guy who retired military officers prematurely and was implicated in sending a faulty C130 to convey young military officers to their doom!
My first job ever was at Police Affairs Office on Ribadu Road, Ikoyi. I ran into IBB severally, while going home. I know the fear he instilled in people. I witnessed it first hand. The Officers’ Mess of the Brigade of Guards was annexed to Dodan Barracks at No. 3 Ribadu Road. I know the vibe that enveloped that place after he became head of state and “President”. Soldiers practically lost their courage. His innocent mind belies a ruthless mind. His sharp mind, quick wit and disarming demeanor disguised the psychography of a psychopath. Someone who invited academics, technocrats and technical experts to power, just to demistify them by sabotaging them. Ask Tai Solarin and Maria Sokenu.
He played this country like a fiddle. I was in Obafemi Awolowo University. I know how many student union leaders he detained. I know how many times we came out to protest against him. I know how many times our school was shut down during his regime. I don’t know how many people disappeared without a trace. I know Mamman Vatsa was killed for attempting the exact thing that brought Babangida to power. Mamman was the best man at his wedding. Yet, his life was snuffed out at the command of his friend. I was at Obalende, eager to witness Gideon Orkar overthrow him on that fateful Sunday before Tola Zidon and Raji Rasaki reinforced and rescued him. I know the ruthlessness and deviousness with which he ruled this country. I know Dele Giwa did not do more than write articles. He paid with his life. We know his last words…. “This must be from the President.”
Let them canonize the evil genius. It tells us more about all of them, than about all of us. It is their collective hypocrisy, not ours!
WRITTEN BY ADEMOLA ADEWUSI, Western Post, February 21, 2025
