Vile criticisms continue to trail the recent declaration by the former military

ruler, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida to contest the 2011 as Apostle Zilly

Aggrey wishes that he should explain to Nigerians what went wrong with 1993

elections

General, Ibrahim Babangida earned to himself the political

sobriquet Maradona between 1985 and 1993 when he held sway as Nigeria’s military

President.  The sobriquet signifies an act of dribbling. IBB, as he is

fondly called was a master political dribbler in his eight year rule as the

country’s leader. Many times he announced the handing over date of power to civilian

and many times he failed to keep his promise. 

      Since the return to Democracy in 1999, Babangida has been nursing the vaulting

ambition of coming back to rule the 150 million Nigerians as a democratically

elected President. His interest became irresistible in 2007 but was tamed by

former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He said he wants to give the 2011 a shot

to correct some anomalies in the system and the rot in the country’s economy

occasioned by administrations after his. Babangida said point-blank that he

was ever ready to contest the presidency and was certain that PDP would offer

him the ticket to do so.

      But the General’s declaration has been roundly condemned by a Port Harcourt based

Clergy in Rivers state, south-south Nigeria, Apostle Zilley Aggrey. The

General Overseer, GO of Royal House of Grace, one of the largest cathedrals in

the country described Babangida’s declaration for the next election as an

interesting one. Zilly took Babangida to task by demanding that he explains to

Nigerians why he spent the tax payers money conducting what has been averred

as the freest and fairest election ever conducted in post independent Nigeria

only to be annulled. 

    It will be recalled that in 1993, the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola and Alhaji

Bashir Tofa of Social Democratic Party, SDP and National Republican Convention,

NRC respectively contested the presidential election with Professor Humphrey

Nwosu as electoral umpire. Abiola was leading in fourteen states according to

the piece-meal results released by the electoral body. But the entire election

was subsequently annulled by the Babangida government.

      “Could it be that Babangida had planted a seed that he is just about to

harvest? Apostle Zilly wondered. “Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap,

probably, this is harvest time where Babangida will also win the election then

suddenly it will be cancelled”. He noted that should the Minna- born

politician demands to know why the election is cancelled, “he will have to

wake Abiola and his wife, Kudirat up. And he will explain to us why he

annulled the June 12 election”.

    The Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Rivers state chapter

berated the former military ruler’s invective statement that the younger

generation cannot rule the country. Firing back, Zilly noted that Babagida’s

utterances were indications that in his eight years as the country’s military

leader, he failed to invest in the educational sector with a view to breeding

brilliant youths. “A good man leaves inheritance for his children’s children.

The fact that he ruled the country for eight years without developing people who

could takeover from him means that Babangida is a failure”, Zilly said.

    Apostle Zilly Aggrey confessed that though General Ibrahim Babangida is a great

man and he remains one of his fans but wondered what could have pushed him to

utter such provocative words. Zilly disclosed that the sixth best surgeons in

the state of New York in United States are Nigerians. The country’s pilots were

rated as some of the best in the world in 1994. There is hardly any university

in the world where a Nigerian Professor would not be found.  The Clergy remarked

that Babangida’s vituperations on Nigerian youths presupposes that his own son,

Mohammed Babangida is not worthy to contest election into any political office

in the country because he is not qualified by his father’s assessment.

      Nigeria produces 2.2 million barrels of crude oil daily. This translates to an

income of about N3billion daily excluding other sources of revenue. Yet the

country can not boast of a well equipped hospital and standard schools.

Nigeria has about fourteen million unemployed graduates roaming the streets in

search of greener pastures everyday. The population of unemployed Nigerians

alone is much more than the national population of countries like Gabon,

Gambia and other such African countries.

   The man of God explained that the only thing that will guarantee Babangida’s

success at the poll is if he gives Nigerians cogent reasons why he cancelled the

June 12 election. Or if he is the messiah that will fix the nation’s bad road

network, equip the ailing hospitals and raise the schools to international

standard. “Without these, he should go and hide his face in shame”.

    There are several factors that may impede Babangida’s dream of contesting the

2011 presidential election. First, the death of Nigeria’s most celebrated

Journalist, Dele Giwa, the pioneer Editor –in- chief of Newswatch magazine. He

was assassinated through a letter bomb in 1986 under Babangida’s regime.

Secondly, the where-about of the $12.4billion dollars oil money accrued from the

sale of crude in 1991 during the Gulf War between the American led allied forces

and the late Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Babangida said the money was accrued in a

period of eight years that his government lasted.

It is however left to be seen whether the maverick politician who “stepped aside” in

1993 will step in to the Aso Villa as the country’s next civilian president.

Nigerians will decide.