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The much acclaimed reconciliation between Maj-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, both former military rulers, raises some salient questions and poses some difficulties for the interest of the north and the polity generally with regards to 2007. Oke Epia reports
The much acclaimed reconciliation between Maj-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, both former military rulers, raises some salient questions and poses some difficulties for the interest of the north and the polity generally with regards to 2007. Oke Epia reports
The dying days of 2005 propped up a new lease of life in the relationship between Generals Mohammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida, both retired military Heads of State, who had hitherto been locked in a no love lost affair. This development which comes at a time the political climate seems to be confounding the meteorological measurements of 2007, has raised salient questions and heightened the stakes in the polity.
Why have both men who had remained diametrically opposed on virtually every issue for decades, suddenly found the olive branch at this point in time? Could this fresh concert be in line towards mobilizing against the alleged third term bid of President Olusegun Obasanjo? With the fresh wave of north/south polarization over what area should produce the presidency in 2007, could these men from the same constituency now be in tandem for the northern interest? Or for the sole interest of the retired military cabal which has never hidden its large appetite to hold on to the levers of the Nigerian state? What happens to the disparate presidential ambitions of Buhari and Babangida? Why was the reconciliation achieved in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, and through the instrumentality of Governor Orji Kalu, that maverick politician known for his knack for contriving occasions for publicity and with a wavering aspiration for the presidency? Many questions that may or may not be answered in the weeks and months ahead indeed. But one thing that is clear is that the colour and mosaic of the country's politics cannot be the same, at least, in the immediate aftermath of the Umuahia accord.
Last month, the duo of Buhari and Babangida buried their decades-long shared hatchet and resolved to work together ostensibly for the unity of the country. After a peace meeting brokered by Governor Kalu, they chose to adopt the disposition of statesmen, smiling for the television cameras. Speaking after a closed-door meeting between the troika, Babangida said Buhari had been his friend for over 40 years, adding that they were fully forgiven of each other's misgivings and were set to contribute towards holding the country together.
In his own speech, Buhari, who had cut the impression of being the more embittered of the duo, upped the ante by saying the only point of difference between him and his successor in office was that they belonged to different political parties. "We are extremely serious about oneness of Nigeria and we must do everything to keep her together," he said corroborating Babangida.
A swift build-up on the Umuahia reconciliation followed a few days after, when Buhari paid a surprise visit to the Minna Hilltop family home of the Babangidas. A profusely flustered Mrs. Maryam Babangida was said to have been taken aback by the unannounced visit of Buhari, wondering if there was no fresh axe to grind with her husband.
But the events of last December in Umuahia and Minna respectively, were not the first time that a reconciliation between Buhari and Babangida had been attempted. Shortly before the 2003 general elections, political leaders of the north had tried to rally the two men together in an effort that ended in futility, or so it seemed.
The occasion was the wedding ceremony between the son of former Chief Justice, Mohammed Bello, and the daughter of Colonel Sani Bello (rtd). While Babangida acted as the father of the bride by giving out the lady, Buhari acted on the side of the groom and accepted the bride according to native custom. But more than a marriage ceremony, key elite figures of the north present at that occasion had catched in on the opportunity to broker peace between the Generals. Obviously, it was an effort down the drain, as the mutual hostility held on.
The unavoidable question to which an answer must necessarily be desired in the light of recent development is how was the seed of discord sown between both Generals? How were they able to sustain a mutual cold shoulder that lasted(?) for decades inspite of truce moves by some concerned friends? To unravel some of these puzzles, it is pertinent to spotlight the healthy and heady days they both shared when the going was good.
Buhari and Babangida, it must be noted, played key roles in the truncation of Nigeria's Second Republic. The military struck at a time the controversies surrounding the re-election of President Shehu Shagari in 1983 was holding the country to ransom. It was a relief of some sort therefore, when Buhari overthrew the civilian president, in a military coup and installed himself as head of a junta that was to become one of the most dreadful dictatorship the country ever had.
Politicians were hounded into jails and those lucky enough escaped into exile; the press and civil society was suffered a deadly blow by virtue of Decree 4; and a severe economic austerity measure was meted out on a harpless and helpless citizenry, in addition to a military-styled imposition of social discipline. In all these, Babangida, who was Chief of Army Staff, was not in line with the extreme measures of his boss at the time.
This point of tactical departure became obvious to all when he led his loyalists in the Army to overthrow Buhari in a bloodless palace coup on August 27, 1985. With the yam and knife in his kitty, Babangida dealt Buhari a deadly cut, hauling him into detention for over two years. By the time Babangida was through with his former boss, the latter had lost virtually all he had in life- family, friends and fame. The seed of discord planted whilst they both shared the reins of government and power had grown into a big tree that became impervious to the cutting edge of several reconciliatory moves. Thus, for about two score years, both men would not see eye to eye.
Even when the tide of events tended to tamper the harsh memories of the ugly past, Buhari and Babangida continued to maintain a safe distance from each other. In fact, they steadily drifted apart on issues and ideologies. For instance, while Babangida began to gravitate towards the political arena, Buhari never hid the bitter contempt with which he held both the game and its players. When the Minna General rallied northern power brokers to recruit Obasanjo who was then fresh from prison to mount the Aso Rock stool, Buhari maintained a steeled silence and indifference.
There was virtually nothing to bring them together. The feuding Generals were however, in a one-on-one meeting with each other last year when Stella Obasanjo, wife of the President died, and former Heads of State were in concert at Aso Villa on a visit to commiserate with Obasanjo.
Apart from sharing the record of having ruled the country in khaki uniforms, both men could only point to the shared defiance of denouncing the very first attempt by the incumbent President to reconcile the country's ugly past through the instrumentality of the Human Rights Violations and Investigation Panel, popularly known as the Oputa panel, headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.
Together with the immediate past Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), they had stoutly refused to appear before the panel to answer charges of gross human rights abuses leveled against them by petitioners. In fact, Babangida did not only shun the panel but had gone a step further by securing a court ruling which stopped the federal government from releasing and acting on its recommendations which is widely believed to have indicted the former rulers.
But that is where a sense of relatedness between them ended. At least, until Buhari changed his mind and crept into the political arena and became the latter day democrat and assumed the position of touch-bearer of the northern interest in the 2003 presidential election when he contested against Obasanjo on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Throughout the campaigns, the parallel line between Buhari and Babangida ran untampered- whilst the latter who was widely rumoured to be guiding his loins for the race eventually stepped down his ambition and covertly pitched his tent with the incumbent, the former had to make do without support from Minna. He lost any way.
Having indicated his interest to contest the 2007 polls, Buhari's new found rapport with Babangida who is not yet known to have abandoned his taste for the presidential power he was forced to 'step aside' from in 1993, could be given several interpretations.
The first that is easily alluded to is that both men are coming together at this time to form a bulwark against the alleged third term bid of the President and to protect and promote the interest of the north vis-a-vis 2007. This speculation gains ground amidst the rising polarization of the polity by the agitations for the presidency by the north and south respectively.
While the north has since the end of the 2003 elections, insisted that the presidency must rotate its way in 2007, the south especially in recent times, has become unyielding in its determination to hold on to power after the Obasanjo presidency. This side of the divide argues that it is the turn of the South-east or South-south geo-political zones to clinch the country's topmost office after the South-west must have relinquished it in less than two years time from now.
It is against this backdrop that some political analysts have argued that the new rapprochement between Buhari and Babangida is to ensure that the north remains unshaken in its resolve to produce the next president. But there is a snag in this argument. It is the question of the place and motive of Governor Kalu in this new mix. Is it in the interest of the governor who is pursuing a presidential aspiration on the Igbo presidency plank in 2007 to be the chief architect for cementing northern interest?
It was said at the Umuahia meeting that all three figures resolved to pursue their individual presidential aspirations in an amicable manner but how does such laudable talk fit into the campaign of self and sectional interest that has now beclouded the polity? Perhaps, it is a rare attempt to uplift the character of politicking in the land.
Even so, the reconciliation of Buhari and Babangida ostensibly for the interest of the north raises doubts in itself. If their antecedence is anything to go by, a claim to promoting the cause of arewa in a Buhari-Babangida fashion, could easily unravel in the face of tough challenges ahead 2007. For instance, the much touted declaration of interest in the presidential election by the Minna strong man is believed to be suffering delays and hesitation because of the alleged third term bid of President Obasanjo.
If that is actually the case, it is doubtful how much filip a Babangida can give to the interest of the north with respect to 2007. But even if the sectional interest is actually the slab cementing both men together, another round of reconciliation, perhaps a more rigorous and potentially rancorous one for that matter, must be contemplated. Because between Buhari and Babangida, and of course, Vice President Abubakar Atiku, the north can only have one presidential candidate behind whom, it must eventually queue.