Who Wants To Listen To Babangida...??

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida it was who toppled the military administration of General Muhammadu Buhari, an eminently meritorious regime whose visionary presets were only comparable to those of General Murtala Mohammed.

Babangida it was who annulled the June 12 1993 presidential elections... that was won by Moshood Kashimawo Abiola...an election so free and so fair as to be rated the best in the annals of Nigeria.

Babangida it also was who institutionalized a culture of settlement, bribery and corruption in our fragile polity as he practically wiped our treasury clean of its contents.

It was also Babangida who blazed the trail in matters of sowing seeds of discord within the rank and file of the military...so as to rule them.

Babangida would rather pocket funds earmarked for arming the military than utilize it for its due purpose...for by his reasoning, arming our soldiers was merely equipping them to stage coups de tat!

Babangida's material assets are huge and cannot be explained away by income he earned from his miltary career, his severance fee or his pension! It must have derived from other means...most likely theft of national funds or hard drugs for which he has been accused!

He was so bad even he described himself as an "evil genius"... and likened himself to Hannibal and Chaka the Zulu!

His ways were so rife with betrayal, falsehood and deceit...that Nigerians nicknamed him "Maradona"...after the legendary Argentinian footballer! He enjoyed being so called. He knew no shame!

But Babangida now urges Nigerians to support Buhari's administration.

Yet unaware and unmindful of the impression Nigerians have of him and the disgust his antecedents evoke in our minds, Babangida made a most thoughtless foray into politics.

Still lacking in gumption as to realise the import of his rejection therefrom, and rather bereft of wisdom to throw in the towel and take a rest, he has made countless ill-motivated, ill-conceived and ill-advised attempts at political reentry!

Politicians love to seek attention...and by extension, relevance...

As the twilight is bound to set in... after a peak... in career... in performance... in growth.... in relevance, in every sphere of life, it is imperative for the dramatis personae to recognise this onset of diminishing returns and relax the pressure on the gas pedal!

More so in political spheres...lest an undue grasp at frayed relevance may present the person as an attention-seeking nuisance...

Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.