Ibrahim Babangida
In a press statement released on Sunday by Kassim Afegbua, his
spokesman, Babangida said it was time to sacrifice “personal ambition”
for the “national interest”.
Babangida, who overthrew Buhari in 1985 and ruled till 1993, said: “In
the fullness of our present realities, we need to cooperate with
President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May 29th,
2019 and collectively prepare the way for new generation leaders to
assume the mantle of leadership of the country. While offering this
advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former president, concerned Nigerian
and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in our shared commitment
to get this country running.
“While saying this also, I do not intend to deny President
Buhari his inalienable right to vote and be voted for, but there comes a
time in the life of a nation, when personal ambition should not
override national interest. This is the time for us to reinvent the will
and tap into the resourcefulness of the younger generation, stimulate
their entrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a conduce environment to
grow national economy both at the micro and macro levels.”
“The next election in 2019 therefore presents us a unique
opportunity to reinvent the will and provoke fresh leadership that would
immediately begin the process of healing the wounds in the land and
ensuring that the wishes and aspirations of the people are realized in
building and sustaining national cohesion and consensus,” he said.
Babangida expressed worries about the state of the nation, pointing out incessant clashes and killings across the country.
“In the past few months also, I have taken time to reflect on a
number of issues plaguing the country. I get frightened by their
dimensions. I get worried by their colourations. I get perplexed by
their gory themes. From Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from Benue
state to Rivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theatre of
blood with cake of crimson. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently,
North-West of Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable
reason. The pogrom in Benue state has left me wondering if truly this is
the same country some of us fought to keep together,” he said.
“I am alarmed by the amount of blood-letting across the land.
Nigeria is now being described as a land where blood flows like river,
where tears have refused to dry up. Almost on a daily basis, we are both
mourning and grieving, and often times left helpless by the
sophistication of crimes. The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated
even though there has been commendable effort by government to
maximally downgrade them. I will professionally advise that the battle
be taken to the inner fortress of Sambisa Forest rather than responding
to the insurgents’ ambushes from time to time.”
THE FULL TEXT OF THE STATEMENT
TOWARDS A NATIONAL REBIRTH
In the past few months and weeks, I have played host to many
concerned Nigerians who have continued to express legitimate and
patriotic worry about the state of affairs in the country. Some of them
have continued to agonize about the turn of events and expressly worried
why we have not gotten our leadership compass right as a country with
so much potential and opportunity for all. Some, out of frustration,
have elected to interrogate the leadership question and wondered aloud
why it has taken this long from independence till date to discover the
right model on account of our peculiarities. At 57, we are still a
nation in search of the right leadership to contend with the dynamics of
a 21st century Nigeria.
Having been privileged to preside over this great country,
interacted with all categories of persons, dissected all shades of
opinions, understudied different ethnic groupings; I can rightfully
conclude that our strength lies in our diversity. But exploring and
exploiting that diversity as a huge potential has remained a hard nut to
crack, not because we have not made efforts, but building a consensus
on any national issue often has to go through the incinerator of those
diverse ethnic configurations. Opinions in Nigeria are not limited to
the borders of the political elite; in fact, every Nigerian no matter
how young or old, has an opinion on any national issue. And it is the
function of discerning leadership to understand these elemental
undercurrents in the discharge of state responsibilities.
WHERE WE ARE
There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is at a major
crossroads at this moment in its history; the choices we are going to
make as a nation regarding the leadership question of this country and
the vision for our political, economic and religious future will be
largely determined by the nature or kind of change that we pursue, the
kind of change that we need and the kind of change that we get. A lot
depends on our roles both as followers and leaders in our political
undertakings. As we proceed to find the right thesis that would resolve
the leadership question, we must bear in mind a formula that could
engender national development and the undiluted commitment of our
leaders to a resurgence of the moral and ethical foundations that
brought us to where we are as a pluralistic and multi-ethnic society.
Nigeria, before now, has been on the one hand our dear native land,
where tribes and tongues may differ but in brotherhood we stand, and on
the other hand a nation that continues to struggle with itself and in
every way stumbling and willful in its quest to become a modern state,
starting from the first republic till date. With our huge investments in
the African emancipation movements and the various contributions that
were made by our leadership to extricate South Africa from colonial
grip, Nigeria became the giant of Africa during that period. But having
gone through leadership failures, we no longer possess the sobriety to
claim that status. And we all are guilty.
We have experimented with Parliamentary and Presidential systems of
government amid military interregnum at various times of our national
history. We have made some progress, but not good enough to situate us
on the pedestal we so desirously crave for. It is little wonder
therefore that we need to deliberately provoke systems and models that
will put paid to this recycling leadership experimentation to embrace
new generational leadership evolution with the essential attributes of
responsive, responsible and proactive leadership configuration to
confront the several challenges that we presently face.
In 2019 and beyond, we should come to a national consensus that we
need new breed leadership with requisite capacity to manage our
diversities and jump-start a process of launching the country on the
super highway of technology-driven leadership in line with the dynamics
of modern governance. It is short of saying enough of this analogue
system. Let’s give way for digital leadership orientation with all the
trappings of consultative, constructive, communicative, interactive and
utility-driven approach where everyone has a role to play in the process
of enthroning accountability and transparency in governance.
I am particularly enamored that Nigerians are becoming more and
more conscious of their rights; and their ability to speak truth to
power and interrogate those elected to represent them without fear of
arrest and harassment. These are part of the ennobling principles of
representative democracy. As citizens in a democracy, it is our civic
responsibility to demand accountability and transparency. Our elected
leaders owe us that simple but remarkable accountability creed. Whenever
we criticize them, it is not that we do not like their guts; it is just
that as stakeholders in the political economy of the country, we also
carry certain responsibilities.
In the past few months also, I have taken time to reflect on a
number of issues plaguing the country. I get frightened by their
dimensions. I get worried by their colourations. I get perplexed by
their gory themes. From Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from Benue
state to Rivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theatre of
blood with cake of crimson. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently,
North-West of Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable
reason. The pogrom in Benue state has left me wondering if truly this is
the same country some of us fought to keep together. I am alarmed by
the amount of blood-letting across the land. Nigeria is now being
described as a land where blood flows like river, where tears have
refused to dry up. Almost on a daily basis, we are both mourning and
grieving, and often times left helpless by the sophistication of crimes.
The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated even though there has
been commendable effort by government to maximally downgrade them. I
will professionally advise that the battle be taken to the inner
fortress of Sambisa Forest rather than responding to the insurgents’
ambushes from time to time.
THINKING ALOUD
In the fullness of our present realities, we need to cooperate with
President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May 29th,
2019 and collectively prepare the way for new generation leaders to
assume the mantle of leadership of the country. While offering this
advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former president, concerned Nigerian
and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in our shared commitment
to get this country running. While saying this also, I do not intend to
deny President Buhari his inalienable right to vote and be voted for,
but there comes a time in the life of a nation, when personal ambition
should not override national interest. This is the time for us to
reinvent the will and tap into the resourcefulness of the younger
generation, stimulate their entrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a
conduce environment to grow national economy both at the micro and macro
levels.
Contemporary leadership has to be proactive and not reactive. It
must factor in citizens’ participation. Its language of discourse must
be persuasive not agitated and abusive. It must give room for confidence
building. It must build consensus and form aggregate opinion on any
issue to reflect the wishes of the people across the country. It must
gauge the mood of the country at every point in time in order to send
the right message. It must share in their aspirations and give them
cause to have confidence in the system. Modern leadership is not just
about “fighting” corruption, it is about plugging the leakages and
building systems that will militate against corruption. Accountability
in leadership should flow from copious examples. It goes beyond mere
sloganeering. My support for a new breed leadership derives from the
understanding that it will show a marked departure from recycled
leadership to creating new paradigms that will breathe fresh air into
our present polluted leadership actuality.
My intervention in the governance process of Nigeria wasn’t an
accident of history. Even as a military government, we had a clear-cut
policy agenda on what we needed to achieve. We recruited some of the
best brains and introduced policies that remain some of the best in our
effort to re-engineer our polity and nation. We saw the future of
Nigeria but lack of continuity in government and of policies killed some
of our intentions and initiatives. Even though we did not provide
answers to all the developmental challenges that confronted us as at
that time, we were not short of taking decisions whenever the need
arose.
GROWING INSECURITY ON OUR HANDS
The unchecked activities of the herdsmen have continued to raise
doubt on the capacity of this government to handle with dispatch,
security concerns that continue to threaten our dear nation; suicide
bombings, kidnappings, armed banditry, ethnic clashes and other divisive
tendencies. We need to bring different actors to the roundtable.
Government must generate platform to interact and dialogue on the issues
with a view to finding permanent solutions to the crises. The festering
nature of this crisis is an inelegant testimony to the sharp divisions
and polarizations that exist across the country. For example, this is
not the first time herdsmen engage in pastoral nomadism but the anger in
the land is suggestive of the absence of mutual love and togetherness
that once defined our nationality. We must collectively rise up to the
occasion and do something urgently to arrest this drift. If left
unchecked, it portends danger to our collective existence as one nation
bound by common destiny; and may snowball into another internecine
warfare that would not be good for nation-building.
We have to reorient the minds of the herdsmen or gun-men to embrace
ranching as a new and modern way to herd cattle. We also need to expand
the capacity of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the Navy and Air
Force to provide the necessary security for all. We need to catch up
with modern sophistication in crime detection and crime fighting. Due to
the peculiarity of our country, we must begin community policing to
close the gaps that presently exist in our policing system. We cannot
continue to use old methods and expect new results. We just have to
constructively engage the people from time to time through platforms
that would help them ventilate their opinions and viewpoints.
THE CHANGE MANTRA
When the ruling party campaigned with the change mantra, I had
thought they would device new methods, provoke new initiatives and
proffer new ways to addressing some of our developmental problems. By
now, in line with her manifesto, one would have thought that the APC
will give fillip to the idea of devolution of powers and tinker with
processes that would strengthen and reform the various sectors of the
economy. Like I did state in my previous statement late last year,
devolution of power or restructuring is an idea whose time has come if
we must be honest with ourselves. We need to critically address the
issue and take informed positions based on the expectations of the
people on how to make the union work better. Political parties should
not exploit this as a decoy to woo voters because election time is here.
We need to begin the process of restructuring both in the letter and
spirit of it.
For example, I still cannot reconcile why my state government would
not be allowed to fix the Minna-Suleja road, simply because it is
called Federal Government road, or why state governments cannot run
their own policing system to support the Federal Police. We are still
experiencing huge infrastructural deficit across the country and one had
thought the APC-led Federal Government would behave differently from
their counterparts in previous administrations. I am hesitant to ask;
where is the promised change?
LOOKING AHEAD
At this point of our national history, we must take some rather
useful decisions that would lead to real development and promote
peaceful co-existence among all the nationalities. We must be unanimous
in what we desire for our country; new generation leadership,
result-driven leadership, sound political foundation, demonetization of
our politics, enhanced internal democracy, elimination of impunity in
our politics, inclusiveness in decision-making, and promotion of
citizens’ participation in our democratic process. The search for that
new breed leadership must start now as we prepare for 2019 election.
I get worried when politicians visit to inform me about their
aspirations and what you hear in terms of budgetary allocations for
electoral contest does not cover voters’ education but very ridiculous
sub-heads. A typical aspirant in Nigeria draws up budget to cover INEC,
Police, Army and men and officers of the Civil Defense, instead of
talking of voters’ education, mobilization and sensitization. Even where
benchmarks are set for electoral expenditure, monitoring and compliance
are always difficult to adhere to. We truly need to reform the
political system. And we must deliberately get fresh hands involved for
improved participation.
We need new ways and new approaches in our political order. We need
a national rebirth. We need a rebranded Nigeria and rebranded politics.
It is not so much for the people, but for the institutions that are put
in place to promote our political engagements. We must strengthen the
one man one vote mantra. It is often ridiculous for me when people use
smaller countries in our West Africa sub-region as handy references of
how democracy should be. It beggars our giant of Africa status.
Source: New Telegraph
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