\ufffcBy Gbenro Olajuyigbe
\n\u2018if the truth shall kill them, let them die\u2019 -Immanuel Kant
\nBisi Alawale was a very promising young man, my friend and course mate at the University of Benin in the 80s. An adventurous patriotic cool headed young man, his life was tragically terminated by stray bullets from Ibrahim Babangida\u2019s repressive soldiers who were rolled out by Babangida to seal the fate of the June 12,1993 Election he lawlessly annulled.
\nBisi was killed on the street of Lagos among other protesters who stood against the dastardly act of the megalomaniac called Babangida. Like, Bisi, hundreds of Nigerians were pulled down into early graves by Babangida\u2019s army of fortune. My like who were on the streets protesting the manifestly tragic treason committed by Babangida against the State of Nigeria had sheer luck to have escaped his State oiled terror.
\nThe least that I can do to the memory of Bisi and others killed is not to allow their arch- killers and haters of democracy metamorphosed into teachers of democratic and just governance.The least is not to allow Babangida escape with the revisionist narratives he is polluting our airwaves with, using Arise Television platform as image laundry loobe.
\nThose of us who were witness to history know that Babangida killed one Nigeria, he stifled unity and murdered national tranquility . Successive regimes are just poor pall bearers giving indecent burial to a country survived by walnut- like- ethnic children, as executors of a dastardly written Will of a power drunk General! For the sake of the young ones, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, a General in the Nigerian Army was a military President.
\nHe overthrew Mohammadu Buhari, the General that ended Nigeria\u2019s second republic\u2019s democratically elected government of Alhaji Sheu Shagari through a coup d\u2019etat executed by him in conjunction with Babangida, who served as his Army Chief of Staff before booting him out in another coup d\u2019etat. It was under Babangida that the June 12, 1993 elections, the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria were held.
\nThe election was a watershed in the history of Nigeria that has encumbered with ethnic and religious considerations. Nigerians from all nooks and crannies of the country rose above primordial sentimental attachments to religion and ethnicities by speaking in unison through their votes that validated election of Chief Moshood kashimawo Olawale Abiola and Alhaji Babagana Kingibe on a joint ticket as President and Vice President respectfully on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP).
\nThe duo were Muslims and there was no resistance on this basis to their election. Neither any from the Christian side nor from the Muslim side. Aside from this feat, Abiola, a Yoruba man was voted for over and above his opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republic Convention (NRC), of Hausa\/Fulani extraction in Kano, his home state and other places in the North. This was the first time in electoral history of Nigeria that this sorts of unison and nationalism were achieved.
\nHowever, rather than using it a building blocks to strengthen national cohesion, Ibrahim Babangida, the then maximum ruler used it to weakened the resolve of Nigerians to coexist as one united nation by unilaterally annulling the election.
\nBy this singular unpatriotic act, Babangida demolished democracy, stabbed unity and dragged the nation through horror of national carnage and tragic mistrust that crippled the nation and demobilized her citizens from building common front for nation building and national development.
\nBabangida blew a golden opportunity, punctured the soul of unity and shrunk capacity for nationalism.
\nThe opportunity costs of his obnoxious action were that Nigerians receded into their clans to build reinforcement against one nation.
\nThis de-citizenship actions frustrated capacity for national revival, mobilize people around ethicist ideas and opened the door of Nigeria to unbridled dictatorship and oppressive governance that consequentially followed under General Sani Abacha, another species of a terror regime.
\nUnder Abacha, Nigeria became open grave and abattoir for human flesh with sundry state sponsored violence and killings that ultimately ended the lives of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of the winner of the June 12 election, Chief Alfred Rewane, Baugada Kaito, Bisi Alawale, my friend and several people that were hounded into untimely death. Also, Abiola, the winner of the election did not escape the fatal fate of avoidable gruesome death incumbent of Babangida\u2019s annulment of election outcome.
\nIt is nothing but truth-telling to say that Babangida precipitated unprecedented national anarchy, fueled fear and insecurity and pushed Nigeria and Nigerians into abyssal bottomless pit, making national recovery difficult and national cohesion hardly possible.
\nHis reign as an unelected President did not possess the candor, honor and exemplary grace needed by a knowledge bearing teacher for him to now become a person to teach Nigerians the qualities of who should be the next Nigeria\u2019s President.
\nA man who as young President in 1993 that annulled election won by a barely fifty four young man to now at eighty years old pontificating his desire to have a President less than sixty years elected is hypocritical, if not mischievous. Babangida has lost the grace of becoming a pathfinder to a new Nigeria.
\nA man who turned Nigeria to forest of fire a synopsis of unending tragedies does not have the criteria of teaching principles of leadership.
\nNigerians do not have anything to learn about patriotism and courage from a man who threw his nation under a moving train in order to safe a \u2018friend\u2019 as he claimed in his recent inglorious interview.
\nThank God that Abiola was able to respond to Babangida\u2019s claim of friendship with him while alive. Indeed, in the words of Abiola, \u2018with a friend like Babangida, no one needs an enemy\u2019. Babangida suffered flight of human spirit.
\nHe became stranger to compassion and transcended into a national traitor who raised himself up for judgment of history. A nation with sense of history would have buried Babangida in sepulchers reserved for midday demons.
\nHe was a soldier like Ephraim in the Bible, who prepared for war but turned back on the day of battle. History will remember him as a player who worked against his own victory by scoring own goal.
\nNo matter how long he lives, he should not be allowed to be a guide to the future he destroyed. We must apologize to devil if we allow his parody(devil\u2019s), the \u2018 evil genius\u2019 to wear the cassocks of sainthood he shamelessly sew for himself at 80! History already have epitaph for him at the close of day, \u2018here lies in this belittling grave the troubler of a nation who stabbed the past to murder the future!\u2019 Happy 80th birthday to Baba, the Traitor -General of the federation!
\nGbenro Olajuyigbe is the Executive Director of Emergency & Risk Alert Initiative<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\ufffcBy Gbenro Olajuyigbe \u2018if the truth shall kill them, let them die\u2019 -Immanuel Kant Bisi Alawale was a very promising young man,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737],"tags":[574,67,642],"class_list":["post-1856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-general-ibrahim-babangida","tag-nigeria","tag-the-unworthy-teacher"],"yoast_head":"\n