By Olusegun Olanrewaju
In a spate of orchestrated obeisance, former Nigerian self-styled military president, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (otherwise known as IBB), has been playing host to some glorified guests trying to curry his favour to become the president.
It started with sitting vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, to All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former VP, Atiku Abubakar, and one-time Senate President and Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki.
The process started in December 2021 when Babangida endorsed the candidature of Osinbajo, who came to his Minna residence to seek his blessing ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.
In his response, Babangida described Osinbajo as a good man to lead Nigeria.
Sitting VP, through a political platform, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo Support Group had also gone to Minna to sell their aspirant to the former military leader in his hometown
Another of the VP’s prompters, Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation (OGO), also visited him in his Uphill residence in Minna.
Babangida urged the vice president to stay on course and be resilient.
He said, “I know the vice president very well. He is a good man. He is a man who has conviction about Nigeria; a man who can communicate with the country and inspire people.
“Such a man is a worthy person to work with. We need a good man to lead Nigeria; a man who has a passion for this country. Nigeria is a good country; the people of Nigeria are good. You must learn to understand people and constant discussion is a key.”
According to the former military president, “I want to convey my best wishes to the vice president through you (the group). And I want you to tell him to stay on the course. I know it is not easy but he has the conviction. I wish him the best.”
National Convener of the organisation, Ojo Foluso, had earlier expressed joy over the endorsement of their preferred president of Nigeria come 2023 by the former military leader.
Osinbajo has been deputising President Muhammadu Buhari since 2015. They both will complete their second and final term on May 29, 2023.
Though by the weekend, he had not officially indicated interest to vie for the presidency, speculations are rife that the vice president would give it a trial as his forward campaign groups continue to intensify consultations. In the event he does, Osinbajo would slug it out with other contenders in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), among them the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.
Then followed by a visit to the same residence by Tinubu and last week by Atiku. The former vice president’s visit to Babangida lasted for about two hours.
Atiku paid his endorsement trip, carefully packaged as a courtesy visit, to IBB and host state governor Abubakar Sani Bello. The meeting came a few weeks after the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, visited Babangida, to “get his blessing” for his presidential bid.
He later tweeted and shared photos of his meeting with the former Nigerian military ruler.
When Saraki paid his version of the mode of ‘traditional obeisance’, with a well-packaged delegation in his ABS National Campaign Advocacy Council, it was on a high-profile note. Led by its chairman, Prof Iorwuese Hagher, a former minister under the General Sani Abacha military regime, the team also comprised former director-general, Osaro Onaiwu.
At IBB’s residence, the ex-head of state, widely dubbed ‘Maradona’ for his ‘superb’ dribbling skills, did not hide his admiration for Saraki. He also did not mince words on his approval of the former Kwara governor.
Employing military tactics on which he was adept Babangida as a former armoured corps general, Babangida equated Saraki to a Self-Propelled (SP) artillery gun. He said it was an abbreviation for the office of Senate President, and to describe a character whose credentials and personality, he added, “speaks for him”.
Babangida said, “Many aspirants have come, and will come here. But a young man of his (Saraki) status, who knows the country well, should lead the country for maximum results”.
He added, “I am glad to have found people who have defined who a true Nigerian leader should be. This definition was lacking. I am happy you have identified someone who can do the job. The narrative has to change. I know your client very well. I am part of him. His father was very close to me.”
Babangida dug deeper into his armoury of noted theatrics, as observers are wont to notice. “You have zeroed on a good candidate,” he told the delegation, adding, “I call him SP. In the artillery, we have a Self-Propelled gun called SP, with strategic responsibility and functions. That is who he is”.
The ex-head of state also lauded what he called ‘Saraki’s patriotic efforts’ as President of the 8th Senate, saying, “It was Saraki’s efforts that saved the nation from the imminent crisis that ensued. Remember, if he was not able to nip the crisis, only God knows what would have happened. It was his intelligence at play that saved the nation. He is the best for Nigeria.”
But Saraki, he noted, had done a lot of work, which must be done, to convince colleagues and Nigerians to do.
He said, “You have identified the right person for the leadership of this country. We need a leader that can utilise our rich diversities to our advantage. We have abused our diversity, and are not able to use it well to our advantage. I believe that the young Saraki can bring back this glory to our nation. He has my prayers, he has my absolute support.”
Responding, the leader of the ‘large delegation’, Prof Hagher, said he was asking for IBB’s blessings and support for Saraki, largely because of the advantage of his ‘youthful age’ earlier canvassed by IBB himself for the leadership of Nigeria.
Hagher said, “Your Excellency sir, we are here to present to you your son, Dr Bukola Saraki. The country has not fared well under the present system, and if nothing is done, the situation will be worse. We remember how you provided concrete leadership for this country. We recall with a great sense of pride your intelligence, how you were able to assemble the best brains, to build a strategic network of contacts, connections, and lasting relationships which are still standing strong today. You don’t forget your friends nor do you forget your relationships built over the years.
“Your son, Saraki has your DNA and is following these beautiful footsteps of yours. He has all that it takes to provide the kind of leadership you bestowed on this country.
He is intelligent, cosmopolitan, patriotic, determined, energetic and strategic to do the job”.
Last week, following the perceived success of its endorsement mission, Atiku shared pictures of the visit on social media.
He wrote: “At a courtesy visit to the former military president, Ibrahim Babangida and Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State in Minna today.”
Some weeks earlier, presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu, also visited Babangida, also seeking his magical blessings for his 2023 ambition.
Although Atiku has not, as at press time formally announced that he would be contesting, it is widely believed that he has eyes on the position. There are even commentaries and reports that he had been formally adopted as the candidate of the North in the presidential race.
The module
Nigerians note that it has become a tradition of sorts to replicate such visits in which political aspirants pay homages to leaders, especially Babangida who had assumed a cult-image in Nigeria’s political class. As a former army official, he had been credited with enthroning several of the nation’s leaders in the past, military or civilian, even the one which midwife the transition to the present civilian democratic dispensation in 1999.
A write-up had once identified how IBB endorses all presidential aspirants who visit him. It described Babangida as “a stalwart in the murky terrain of Nigerian politics”.
A quote will suffice. “Sitting on the gilded stool of an elder statesman, politicians pander to him and grovel for his attention. At the start of each election cycle, his Hilltop mansion on the outskirts of Minna, Niger State, becomes something of a “political Mecca” where entourages of power-seeking politicians visit on ‘pilgrimage”, just to include their names in coveted headlines that read “IBB endorses.” Almost kingmaker-like, they mill around him for recognition, and he rarely disappoints them.
Do his ‘endorsements’ work?
In the build-up to the 2011 presidential election, Babangida’s reputation as an endorser suffered severe hiccups. He had backed the return of the presidency to the north, following the demise of President Umaru Yar’Adua while in office. He claimed that the then vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, who was seeking re-election after rounding up Yar’Adua’s tenure, should not run because the ticket belonged to Yar’Adua and the north, by extension.
Hence, he endorsed the candidature of Nuhu Ribadu and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) ‘s top banking profession candidate, Fola Adeola after the duo visited him at his home in Minna.
IBB then described the candidates as “the pair that the country needs to turn her fortune around. I endorse generational change, which Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu and Alhaji Fola Adeola stand for. I have strong faith in them, and I believe they can deliver the goods.”
“Someone asked me who my candidate is, and I analysed the situation. The fact is that the country needs people of your age (young) to take over the leadership of the country.
“I believe we have to allow generational change, which the ACN candidate represents. That is why; I endorsed and supported Alhaji Ribadu and Alhaji Fola. We have faith in them and we have hope in them.”
· A university don’s perspective
Some believe those seeking his blessing are only wasting their time, but offering a different perspective, a Management lecturer at the Kogi State University, Ayingba, Prof. Juwon Johnson Orugun, thinks Babangida still holds some ace, even if by default.
“While the leper may lack the fingers to milk the cow, ironically he has the hand and punchespunches to waste the bowl containing the harvested milk. The Abiola experience with Babangida and his military cohorts is a lesson to be penitently learnt, rehearsed at heart, or are fully weighted by all those who might want to throw their hats in the ring.
“Yes, there is no denying the fact of a Babangida factor in Nigerian politics. He is still a rallying point for many of these retired military officers and several political appointees and cronies of his, who are still politically potent in all the states of the country, due to the humongous amassment and patronages enjoyed while he held sway.
“The seeming octopus image of the general atop Minna still holds some political coverage that cannot be merely wished away by any contender for the number one position in Nigeria.”
