What I Anticipated Before We Executed 1985 Coup—IBB

What I Anticipated Before We Executed 1985 Coup

OpenLife Nigeria reports that in his book “ A Journey in Service,” former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida revealed what he anticipated before planning and executing the 1985 coup that ousted late General Muhammadu Buhari from power and ushered him into the number one seat

                                         The Challenges of Leadership
When I stepped into the saddle of national leadership, I was not under any illusion that there would be incumbency challenges.

From my experience in participating in changes of government over the years, I knew a few realities about power incumbency. I knew, for instance, that any government, especially a military one, needed to keep its ears to the ground to monitor the widespread feelings.

In addition, there was a constant need to feel the pulse of the officer corps of the armed forces. It was also essential to understand the previous power interests and formations within the country and see their linkages with interests in the armed forces.

Most importantly, although military governments come into being by supplanting an existing political administration, the dethroned politicians remain a group of interest when considering the stability of power in the hands of the military.

From my experience, hardly any military coup takes place without knowing the inspiration of political interests.

Both civilian governments and intending military leaders always have their ears on the ground of public opinion to sense where the wind is blowing.

The atmosphere of public dissatisfaction creates the environment for a change of government. That is the object lesson of Nigeria’s A Journey In Service encounters with military administrations and coups from 1966 to the final exit of the military from power in 1999.

Therefore, from the inception of our administration in 1985, I had general anticipation that there would be challenges from various segments of the populace, such as the military, labour unions, radical student unionism, big business interests, etc. My approach was to rally the nation around vital national policies and programmes.

We needed concrete road maps around reforming the national economy, re-orientating society toward desirable values, promoting self-reliance to boost the economy, and promoting a fairer and more equitable federation. Above all, we needed to implement a credible and workable political transition programme.

I was under no illusion that even our best efforts could eliminate disquiet in the polity. Nor did I deceive myself into thinking that political interests would not exploit our frailties to try and discredit and destabilise the administration.

But as in most things in life, our troubles came from sometimes unexpected directions and from events that were sometimes totally unrelated.

I wish to recall only a few of the events that shook the administration to its foundations under our watch to highlight the inevitable fact that every administration experiences some challenges in leadership.

What matters, however, is the ability to surmount and handle these challenges, re-stabilise the ship of state, and proceed with the tasks of governance and nation-building.