The National Association of Ogun State Students has strongly criticised the autobiography of former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd), titled A Journey in Service, describing it as a deliberate attempt to cover up the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
The students dismissed the memoir as a collection of falsehoods, accusing Babangida of failing to address the controversies surrounding his regime, particularly his role in the annulment of the election won by the late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola.
They rejected Babangida’s claim that his successor, the late General Sani Abacha, was responsible for the annulment, calling it an attempt to shift blame rather than accept responsibility.
In a statement made available to journalists on Monday, NAOSS President Kehinde Thomas criticised the former military leader for waiting over three decades to justify what they described as a gross injustice.
“As students who are indigenes of Ogun State under the umbrella of NAOSS, we want to express our disappointment and deep resentment to the accolades that greeted the launch of the memoir of the former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (retd).
“That IBB acknowledged that an illustrious son of our dear state, late Bashorun MKO Abiola, won the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election does not absolve him of the wrong and injustice meted out to the winner and the entire southwest.
“One wonders what kept an acclaimed combatant soldier, military tank specialist, and General, for over three decades before he came to take responsibility for what happened back then.
“Why did he just come out to blame the late General Sani Abacha for standing stoutly against the declaration of Abiola as the winner of the poll? He had an ample opportunity to set the record straight while Abacha was still alive. His confession now reeks of nothing but cowardice.
“To us, that memoir did not shed light on any grey issues, rather, it confirmed what people have come to know over the years. Apart from the issue of June 12, 1993, why did IBB fail to tell us who murdered Dele Giwa, an investigative journalist who was killed with a letter bomb? What of other atrocities carried out by his foot soldiers?”
The student body also condemned the praises showered on Babangida by some Nigerians and the N16 billion donated at the book launch.
“However, it is appalling and disheartening to see that the book launch grossed nothing less than N16 billion, while some prominent Nigerians eulogised and poured encomium on IBB at the event.
“Such actions, no doubt, betrayed the sacrifice and the supreme price paid by that great Nigerian and proud son of Ogun.
“We are very sure that the late MKO Abiola will be turning in his grave if he could see that IBB, who was a harbinger of the darkest era in the annal of Nigeria, is today being celebrated as a hero,” the statement added.
The students further argued that Babangida’s admittance of Abiola’s victory, after over 30 years, does not atone for the suffering and bloodshed that followed the election’s annulment.
Thomas stressed that as the Head of State at the time, Babangida should have towed the path of honour by resisting the injustice done to Abiola and the people of southwest Nigeria rather than attempting to deceive Nigerians.
“The admittance of Babangida that an illustrious son of Ogun actually won the annulled presidential poll over three decades after is not only an act of cowardice but confessing to the obvious,” Thomas added.
