MKO Abiola: Abacha my biggest headache – IBB Babangida

Tamarauemi Ebimini

Former military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, has disclosed that the late Head of State, Sani Abacha, was once his “biggest headache.”

Babangida said Abacha was ambivalent about Nigeria transitioning from military to civilian rule.

He disclosed this in his just-launched memoir, A Journey in Service.

The former Head of State launched the memoir yesterday in Abuja.

In the book, the former ruler recalled how Abacha attempted to violently remove him from power through a coup.

He disclosed that Abacha plotted the coup by spreading a false narrative within the military about him, claiming that he was “the problem.”

He wrote: “Without question, one of my biggest headaches at this time was Sani Abacha. I knew that Abacha was ambivalent about a return to civil rule. But I thought, in retrospect now—naively—that he would support our transition to a civil rule programme.

“I obviously didn’t know everything about him! For instance, I was alarmed to discover that he and a handful of others mobilized negative opinions against me within the military, portraying me as the problem.

“That campaign was geared towards a violent military coup to remove me as President forcefully.”

During the book launch, Babangida admitted that the June 12, 1993, presidential election was free, fair, and credible.

For the first time in history, Babangida confirmed that Abiola won the June 12 presidential election based on collated results at the time.

While the annulment remains a defining moment in Nigeria’s democratic history, resulting in a political crisis, it also hastened Babangida’s exit from power.