An Islamic rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has lambasted former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), over what it describesd as attempts to exonerate himself from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election which was won by the late MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
MURIC, while reacting to the claims made by Babagida in his memoir, ‘A Journey In Service’ which was launched last week, accused the former military leader of peddling falsehood by blaming the late dictator General Sani Abacha for the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election and plotting to overthrow his government violently.
In a press release issued on Sunday by MURIC’s Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the group said it rejects IBB’s version of the election annulment saga, telling him to own up to his role in the episode instead of trying to exonerate himself.
“The former dictator should stop blaming others for all that happened. We assert emphatically, unequivocally and categorically that the buck stops at IBB’s table. We reject his alibi.
“We hold IBB responsible for the failure of Nigeria to cultivate a sustainable, visionary and dignifying political culture having annulled the fairest, freest and most peaceful election in the history of Nigeria.”
The group also lampooned Nigerian politicians and business moguls who honoured the book launch and doled out billions of naira in support.
“Thursday, 20th February, 2025, the day IBB presented his memoir, was a sad day for genuinely patriotic Nigerians. It was the day leaders decided to disappoint the masses by hero-worshipping a former dictator, a tyrant and a numero uno enemy of democracy.
“Nigeria was at the edge of the cliff when the duo of Buhari and Idiagbon came to rescue the nation from general indiscipline, corruption and avaricious greed. We were getting it right when IBB came from nowhere to topple that corrective administration. That was the beginning of our descent back to the abyss of pitch darkness.
“IBB incarcerated Buhari and refused to allow him to attend his mother’s funeral. The lives of many innocent Nigerians were wasted during the IBB-Abacha totalitarian military misadventure. Clement Akpangbo, Bagauda Kaltho, Justice Ikpeme, Alfred Rewane, etc. were sent to the beyond. The streets of Lagos and Ibadan were filled with dead bodies.
“Yet the height of heartlessness and callousness was the assassination of the winner of that monumental election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) and the killing of his wife, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
“Our leaders have failed to learn the art of healing. They do not understand the people they are leading. We are separated by a wide gulf. Arrogance and impunity are cancerous tumors which eat deep into the anatomy of love, unity, tolerance and forgiveness.
“This country has not been fully healed from the excruciating pains of June 12 and the criminal and cold-blooded killings of our first prime minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Chief S. L. Akintola former premier of the Western Region. Unfortunately, all those killings were done by the Nigerian military.
“For the temerity manifested by IBB in displaying the original results of the June 12 election 32 years later and for publicly admitting that MKO won the historic election, the author of ‘A Journey In Service’ has certified Nigeria as the land where conscienceless power subjugates powerless conscience.
“This book is the height of impunity and the author is judicable. IBB has not demonstrated remorse. His book is indubitable exercise in the territory of high-level treason.
“We give posthumous salutes to true heroes of democracy like Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti and Chief Alfred Rewane. We doff our hats to living heroes of the struggle like Professor Wole Soyinka, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, current governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, Professor Sylvester Odion Akhaine, erstwhile secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), the arrowhead of the struggle against military rule, Shehu Sani, Comrade Okechukwu Ndiribe and leaders of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).”
