Babangida: Nobody will read my biography because of my past

A former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida has lamented that his past as a military dictator is affecting the way people see him as most Nigerians do not take him serious because of the annulment of June 12, 1993 election. 

Babangida, who made this statement during a programme on Channels TV titled ‘Roadmap 2019’, said he hoped that someday, the younger generation will ask for his own side of the story and understand why he cancelled the 1993 election. He said: "They say, ‘he cancelled the freest election in the history but he annulled it’ but nobody gives me credit for conducting the freest election in the country. 

“We try to rationalise why we did what we did but nobody is prepared to listen to us. So, it is a matter of time. One day, the younger generation will say they have heard one side and want to hear the other side of the story. 

“Maybe by then we will have a better society that is prepared; that is well-informed of what happened within a period of their existence. They will then be able to say this is the true story.” 

Babangida said he and late Moshood Abiola were friends before he annulled the June 12 elections. When asked if he would ever publish his biography, he said: “I don’t know. People may not read it because it is coming from a dictator. 

A lot will say ‘he is the one who cancelled June 12 and that will kill everything that I have to talk about. “I hope that one day God will spare my life so that I can discuss it because I still believe people don’t get what we were trying to do. Nobody has ever sat down to say the two personalities are friends, what went wrong. 

Share: