By Zainab Suleiman Okino
General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), ex-military Head of State, former Senate President Senator David Mark, and elder statesman Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Brigadier-General Haliru Akilu, Prof Adele Jinadu, Colonel Olagunsoye Oyinlola(rtd) are amongst eminent Nigerians who were at IBB Legacy Dialogue to celebrate the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
They (the IBB tribe) as were re referred to during the event all spoke eloquently about the IBB legacy, his dynamicism and vision, and how enigmatic he was as a leader.
The event which was put together by the Ibrahim and Mariam Babangida Presidential Library and Museum drew other dignatories such as such as Alhaji Bello Maitama, Prof Sam Oyovbaire, Brig Tunji Olurin, former Minister of Information and National Orientation Professor Jerry Gana; former Governor of Niger State Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu; former Education Minister Prof Tunde Adeniran; Emeritus Chairman, Daar Communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi; former Deputy Governor of Lagos State Sinatu Ojikutu, amongst others and many more.
In his remarks, Chief Raymond Dokpesi said IBB is the most talked about ex-leaders in the country and attributed it to his sterling qualities and the glamour he brought to governance even as he admitted his (IBB) traducers nicknamed him Marodona by which they meant, IBB could get things done through foul means.
Gen Abdulsalami went memory lane in his journey with IBB who he said is only a year older and as such belong to the same generation. He revealed that while they were in school, IBB was a monitor and was also called maigari testifying to his leadership traits from a very young age.
He spoke glowingly of IBB’s accommodating spirit, generosity and how always thinks about Nigeria even as he added that the man, IBB is the most ridiculed former leader.
These attributes of IBB ran through the gamut of the event, held at Harrow park, as almost everyone who spoke on his good side said he deserved to be celebrated with the hope that history would remember him in kind words. They also want him and his late wife to be immortalised.
Brig-Gen Akilu also harped on these attributes and his intelligence and how he cared for junior officers and how all these positive attributes endeared him to them especially during the coup that usherd in his administration. Akilu said his blind loyalty to friends once made him give his only car to a friend, adding that IBB will never forsake friends and associates.
Former deputy governor of Lagos state, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu said IBB’s vision started with the choice of a spouse like Mariam, while another elder statesman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu referred to IBB as a humanist and philanthropist adding that he was often vilified because he did not blow his trumpet.
He recalled how they fought on the opposing sides during the civil war, he being on Biafra side, but which he (IBB) never took to heart even as both of them have bullets in their bodies.
Dr Chidi Amuta talked on IBB’s effective management of our diversity, which is absent in today’s Nigeria, as he has always been surrounded by people from different walks of life, hence his untribilized nature.
Miss Aisha Sambo, a communication specialist in her spoken- word interlude called IBB an embodiment of a fighting spirit.
Thus it is that after surviving the civil war, coups and rumours of death several times, the only military president in Nigeria ever is being showered with accolades at 80, 28 years after stepping aside.