Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, has revealed that a part-time National Assembly is what the country needs to cut cost of governance. In an interactive session with journalists yesterday at his Minna Hill Top residence as part of activities to mark his 75th birthday, IBB said he is not evil as misconstrued by some people. He also revealed how he almost killed his wife.
You have been a military officer cum president, which one was more challenging?
Being a military officer is more challenging than being a military president. Being a military officer, you are leading men into danger, your life and their lives very much depend on you as the commander. If they have faith in you, they will follow you.
If you have faith in them, you will go along with them. I see it as more challenging than being the president. As a military president, you still have to seek people’s advice, you interact, you discuss based on the prevailing situations you find yourself, but being a military officer, you are the only one with the troops you are commanding. Their hopes are on you and if you read them wrongly, you will kill a lot of them. If they have faith in you, they will also protect you. So, I consider being a military officer more challenging than being political leader.
You fought on the Nigerian side during the civil war. What was your toughest experience?
I think it was the movement from Enugu to Umuahia. It was very tough and challenging. You need to be physically fit to be able to undertake such movement because we were moving on feet and we had to go through the jungles, mountains, hills and so on. You can never tell, but I think it was the toughest experience I’ve ever had and this was in April 1969.
It has been a while that you lost your wife, how have you been able to cope?
It has not been easy, but I thank God that I have children who show remarkable understanding and have been doing their best by trying to do what their mother was doing. I also have a lot of grandchildren and they take most of my time.
How do you feel clocking 75?
I feel old because what I was able to do 25 years ago, I cannot do physically now, but I thank God that He has spared my life to reach this Diamond age.
What advice do you have for the younger generation?
I only have one advice for them; play hard and pray hard for the country.
What advice do you have for the younger ones who want to join the army under the prevailing security situation?
The basic elements still remain the same up till now despite what we went through. We joined the army for the purpose of being in the force to protect this country. That hasn’t changed. Because you subject yourself also to a constituted authority, you will have to undertake tasks or jobs assigned to you by government.
And because Nigeria signed some treaties and the rest of them, we are expected to serve in any situation that we may be called upon to serve either by the Economic Community for West African States, African Union or the United Nations. The army is a noble profession and it is a profession that requires a lot of courage.
You said recently that you will be giving advice to leaders and the younger generation. How does it feel being an elder statesman giving out advice to leaders?
You feel good because you are not at the receiving end. Based on your experience of the past, you can now be able to offer advice because you might have come across a similar situation during the course of your time.
You have been misinterpreted in the past and people still view you that way. Do you wish you were not misconstrued that way?
I am not the evil that quite a lot of people consider that I am. I have had a very excellent background and, by training, we have to love one another.
However, I can understand the feeling. But by virtue of the job I was doing, I was bound to be misconstrued and people will take it like that, but I consider it as an opinion as long as I am not what you think I was.
I feel satisfied. I read somewhere sometime ago, where they said I stole N12.8 billion and I said if I stole such a money, I had no business staying in the country, but those are the type of things that one has to live with. I hope the younger generation will carry out research on leadership, individuals and what role they played in the development of the nation, so that they come up with a different conclusion from what is on ground now.
How do you feel about your death rumour and what came to your mind?
The first thing that came to my mind is that it is not new, they did it to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and not long ago, to Shehu Shagari. They have also done it to quite a number of elder statesmen. So, it is not a surprise at all couple with the fact that whether I like it or not, I will still die. They are only stating the obvious. The only thing we do not know about death is that we don’t know the cause, time or place.
Some sections of the media have described you as a “cat with nine lives.” Would you agree to that?
Those who say that I am a cat with nine lives; maybe they know all the challenges that I went through as a person, what should have happened to me but did not happen. I also think it is based on perception.
The first time I had one experience was when I was on a flight going to Lagos and suddenly there was panic and before then, everybody was drinking tea and taking coffee. And when we touched ground at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, nobody was talking again. Before the sudden drop, I had my entourage, everybody was drinking tea. I came to cheer them up but I wasn’t successful. That was the first time I had an experience.
What is that particular secret you would want to share before you depart this world?
Is there any secret? I have said everything that you would want me to say. But the only thing is that, you may decide to add one or two if you know.
What do you wish you would do differently if you had the chance, either in your public or private life?
During my public life, there were a number of decisions I took as a military officer or as a political officer, when I was a dictator that if I had the chance again, I would have done differently. For example, in 1989, we proposed that the National Assembly should be optional, that is part-time. I still believe that if I had the opportunity, I would make the National Assembly part time. I believe in that very strongly. It’s all in the effort to cut down the cost of governance.
When you were young, you must have been very handsome and smashing. Looking back, how were you able to convince your late wife, Maryam, to marry you?
While we were courting, there was one aspect that she did not believe about me. She did not believe that I was serious because of the reputation I had as a ‘playboy’ but I assured her that it won’t be a problem that I will be a changed person and I am glad I am. I had no problem solidifying the relationship because I knew her and I knew everyone in her family.
How did you ask her to marry you?
I was straight to the point. I told her bluntly that I want to marry you.
In the course of your military career, did you have any record accidental discharge?
Accidental discharge! Oh no, I almost had it with someone very close to me and when I did, the person involved luckily was not dead. I had it during the course of my service and it was in Dodan Barracks and the person who almost took it was my wife but she escaped it. But I also had a situation where I was moving with some of my junior officers. There was an alarm and the ammunition fell and hit one of them and he dropped dead there. There is nothing you can do, as a commander, you have to move on.
Of course, I knew the family very well because he was my driver. They came, I told them what happened and they took it in good fate, saying that was how God wished it to be, but it was a very painful death.
Was joining the army the only option you had in your choice of career?
When I was young, my principal wanted me to go into administration, but I personally wanted to go for engineering.
Then politics came, the Minister for Army at that time, one Tanko Galadima, from Bida, came on a recruitment drive in my school. He wanted people from this part of the country to be enlisted into the Nigeria Army because there weren’t many of them at that time.
He asked how many of us were interested and a lot of hands went up, thinking it was a joke, our names were taken down and within a week, enlistment forms into the army were brought. We sat for the examination; we deliberately decided to pass the examination because we didn’t want people to say we failed. So, we passed the examination, we were interviewed, went for medical and aptitude tests. We decided to go into the army because we had a strong backer in the minister in charge of the army.
Despite your position and the roles you have played so far in the history of this country, you seem not to have any honorary doctorate degree or chieftaincy title. Is it because you don’t want or nobody or institution has come to you?
First of all, I kept on thinking, if you give me honorary degree, what will I do with it. When you talk of honorary, I do have one or two; one from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and from the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna.
I accepted that of FUT because it is in my town and I thank God I brought about FUT because it was during my time. And recently I took one or two also. But I don’t need to get a job, so, I said I will not take it because I am not going to need it for seeking for or get a job because I had already got a job. So, I turned town quite a number of offers.
