Michael Adesina
Nigeria’s top leaders, including Atiku Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo, are converging in Abuja to pay tribute to former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB).
Atiku Abubakar, in particular, made a courtesy visit to IBB on Wednesday, ahead of the former president’s book launch.
Atiku took to social media to share news of his visit, stating, “On a courtesy visit to former military President Ibrahim Babangida ahead of his book launch tomorrow.”
Book by Babangida
The memoir, ‘A Journey in Service’ by Babangida will be released on February 20 at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
The book marked 32 years since IBB left office.
The book launch will be held alongside a fundraiser for a presidential library.
The event would be chaired by a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, with President Bola Tinubu as the special guest of honour.
The keynote address will be delivered by the former President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, while the autobiography will be reviewed by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Other notable guests expected to attend include former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari, Yakubu Gowon, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Goodluck Jonathan.
Former Minister of Defence Theophilus Danjuma and BUA Group Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu have been named as chief launchers.
Interestingly, Babangida had previously expressed doubts about Nigerians finding his book inspiring due to misconceptions about his leadership.
Specifically, he cited the June 12 crisis and policies implemented during his tenure from 1985 to 1993.
In an interview he granted eight years ago, he mentioned that people might not read his autobiography because of his perceived dictatorial past.
He said, “People may not read it (the autobiography) because it is coming from a dictator. A lot will say dictator, he cancelled June 12 and that will kill the book.
“If God spares my life, I will discuss about June 12 election because I still believe people don’t get what we were trying to put across. Nobody has ever sat down to say the two persons involved are friends, what went wrong? We tried to rationalise why we had to do what we did but nobody is prepared to listen to us.
“I have never seen anybody write anything on this to try to give people a different version altogether.”
