One of the favourite pastimes of Nigerians is Babangida-bashing. For his annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O Abiola; his “stepping aside” after installation of a hand-picked president, and the charges of corruption on account of the N12 billion Gulf War oil windfall, the former military president has never been short of persons who are sworn to ensure that he never has a chance to go near the presidency again.

But Babangida is a man that is as passionately loved, as he is hated. While he has a surfeit of critics who are galled at the prospect of another Babangida presidency, there are those who believe his presidency, come 2011, is the best thing that could happen to them.
And this is not their fault. With the nation’s surfeit of lacklustre leadership and the failure of leaders since he exited office about 17 years ago to birth the nation’s aspirations, it is not strange that some people still see in Babangida the Messiah that Nigeria needs. And, Babangida is not one to say no.

So, at almost every point when the baton of leadership is scheduled to change hands, the name of Babangida, initially surreptitiously, comes up. He usually at first appears disinterested, tries to test the waters to see if the time is ripe, and, being the Maradona that he is, pulls back if he feels the time is not perfect for the move. This played out in 2007.
Nigeria has seen quite a number of these “Babangida boys” forays onto the political scene to canvass his presidency, but for the Maradona, the time had just not always been exactly right.
But about two weeks ago, possibly on account of the nation’s protracted leadership vacuum that was only recently resolved in favour of Jonathan but with the North still stridently angling for the presidency, either now or come 2011, Babangida found the time just right to declare his interest in the presidency next year.

And he is not being equivocal in his bid, this time. In Delta State, on his way to a memorial lecture in honour of his late wife, Maryam, he declared his plan to contest the presidency next year.
He is not only ready to contest; he has expressed his confidence to win the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), much to the chagrin of other contestants for the exalted position. But these are all legitimate aspirations. There is nothing in our constitution that says Babangida cannot run for presidency. He has stridently faulted critics of his administration and those who blame his introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) into the country.

In his strong defence of SAP, which his critics say impoverished the ordinary people and made life very difficult for the masses, he has cited the non-collapse of the Nigerian economy as a justification for the programme.
He has been quick to tell us the gains Nigeria made under SAP. Hear him: “I want you to know that if you read all the books on the economy of Nigeria, you will find out from 1960-1995, Nigeria made far-reaching progress. I left office in 1993. You should be asking what all those who came after us are doing.”

This could be a legitimate position. Nigerian leaders, post-Babangida, have not held themselves out as much better alternatives. We have not seen any remarkable progress in the effort to build the country.
It has been said that Babangida introduced massive corruption into our politics, but his successors entrenched it, deified it and made it a national mantra until it became the guiding principle of access to political office in the country. They did not punish it to serve as a deterrent, neither was the “introducer”, Babangida brought to book by succeeding regimes.

What am I trying to say? The bottom line is that Babangida has every legitimate reason to believe that he did well as Nigerian president, because subsequent regimes cannot incontrovertibly be said to have outperformed him.
Even if he is not morally justified to make a return bid for Aso Rock, he is legally justified, so the legitimacy of his bid cannot be contested.

What can be taken exception to, and which has to be stridently contested by the younger generation of Nigerians, is his recent statement on the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BCC) that he is planning a comeback because of the non-availability of capable younger people who can steer the ship of state of the country.

Explaining why he doesn’t want to give the younger generation a chance to rule the country, he said: “Because we have seen signs that they are not capable of leading this country, … we feel we should help them. Maybe they are not given the proper education…”
He went on to say that Nigeria lacks experienced young people like American President, Barack Obama, who could run the country. As he put it: “ Honestly, it is our wish that God will bring the younger people that will take over from us if they are available. I was the one who introduced the politics of new breed in the country.”

This position is preposterous and scandalous. While IBB has every right to contest, his decision to castigate younger generation of Nigerians for inability to run the country is in bad taste. How many young Nigerians have been allowed by people of his generation to run the country and they failed?

What “signs” did he see that showed that the younger generation is incapable of running Nigeria? And, his view that the younger people cannot rule because “maybe they are not given the proper education”, is a self-indictment. It is an indictment of his leadership and that of all other Nigerian leaders before and after him if they truly failed to educate young Nigerians to prepare them for the challenge of ruling the country.

What type of education did they give the youths? By that statement, IBB has put his foot in his mouth. He has put a wrong foot forward and it is no surprise youth groups across the country have risen up against his statement.
His statement is, to say the least, unguarded, unpatriotic and provocative. It is a strange statement coming from a former leader who wants to lead all Nigerians, including the youths. The statement is also not based on any scientific or verifiable data, and can only win the former president, opprobrium and disdain. It is one statement that has further exposed the desperation of the older generation to desperately clutch to power.Already, an avalanche of criticisms has been unleashed on Babangida. He should expect more adverse reactions.

He, probably, has not carefully thought through the reasons why he is angling to come back to power. The “incompetent young generation” mantra is an expensive mistake that he should get ready to deploy his entire Maradonic prowess to correct if he is to have any shot at the presidency. His condemnation of a whole generation of Nigerians is unbecoming of a leader, especially one who is still desirous of the leading the same people. It is embarrassing and should be retracted. Babangida can contest the presidency if he so desires, that is his right, but he should not malign any category of Nigerians to achieve his ambition.

Link:

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2010/apr/21/opinion-21-04-2010-001.htm

In a bid to glorify the dead man! I=immorally B=born and B=breed.

In a bid to glorify the dead man! I=immorally B=born and B=breed.

In a bid to glorify the dead man! I=immorally B=born and B=breed.

Babaginda claims dat frm 1960-1995 d economy of Nigeria was beta off dan post 1995, this shows his lack of depth nd his poor analysis of issues, he actually laid d solid foundation for d failure by failin to invest in electricity generation wen a larger percentage of Nigerians were still in d villages, he failed to invest in Nitel was d foundation 4 d total collapse of Nitel, his foundation in corruption is so solid dat d superstructures of corruption is still very dificult to bring down nd above all d youths he studied nd discovered dat can't rule this country are a product of his hard work between 1985 nd 1993.

Babaginda pls leave dis country alone no be only u dey naija.

pls tell d Immorally Born Basterd to go to hell, enough of his stupid vision for nigeria at this crucial hour Nonsense!!!!