Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, is 73 years old today, August 17. To mark the occasion, IBB gave an interview speaking about situation with the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, the President’s $1 billion loan to fight insurgency, among others.
Many Nigerians have said that the past leaders have not been saying much or advising the present administration especially on the challenges confronting the country, the impeachment processes, the Boko Haram issue and kidnapping. This is an opportunity for you to say a word and advise government.
The first question about us the older generation, what are we doing? I can tell you we are doing a lot. If there is any set of Nigerians who understands the problems of this country, it is those of us who were opportune to be at the helm of affairs at various times in this country. We know what the problems are, we appreciate what the president is doing, and the best we can do and we are always doing is to be of help to him in terms of advice, meetings, interactions, and so on. I think this is one of the luckiest countries that have got seven living heads of state, people who headed government and have always interacted with the president and we also appreciate the problems the president is facing because we were once there. So the best we can do is to always sit with him and give him advice; and I am glad to say we are doing just that.
It has been over 100 days since the kidnapping of the Chibok school girls. Despite the assurances by the international community, the girls have not been found. What is the way forward? When do you think we can get these girls back home to their parents?
Perhaps the way forward is what government is doing now. I know there are complications. It is no longer an issue that you could ask the military to move into Sambisa forest and rescue the girls. I think Nigerians want the girls rescued and brought back home alive not dead; that is a very daring thing to do. From my experience as a professional soldier, a lot of planning, a lot of cooperation, a lot of study has to be done to achieve this objective. 217 or whatever the number is, is a lot of population to lose just like that. So I think government is trying from what we got during our last briefing; I am quite satisfied that efforts are really being made to get the girls out. You see, the objective is to get them out of that place alive, the operative word is alive, you can order a full scale military operation and you could get them all killed which would defeat the objective.
Recently, the president came out with a proposal for $1 billion loan to fight insurgency, but there have been criticisms from many quarters about the loan. What is your take on this?
To me, it is not an issue, there is a process and we haven’t gone through the process yet, so why do Nigerians kill themselves arguing about things that have not happened?
But to be forewarned is to be forearmed. If no noise is being made about this, the loan would be collected and this could affect the future of the upcoming generations?
So you make the noise, maybe the government would sit down and say ‘okay, the people don’t want it so we would not take it’ but would find another way of doing it. That is how government operates.
Talking about the issue of security in the country, from the answer you gave, you seem to be saying that we should rule out military option in the rescue of these Chibok girls.
No, no, no, when I said military option, I don’t believe we should get in there as if we are fighting a war; so you have to get the military ready, the police, the intelligence assets. Somebody has to rescue them and maybe if the military is best equipped for this, it would be okay but you will not tell them to go and flush them out.
Foreign assistance to rescue the girls, what do you think of that move? Is it alright? What impact do you think that will make? Secondly, do you support the idea that government should go into negotiation with Boko Haram?
Well, you go into negotiation with people you know, people you identify, people you see, so (in the Chibok girls case), who do you negotiate with? That is the problem. Who? Surely, I don’t believe government should call (Boko Haram leader) Shekau to sit on the table and talk. So who do you talk to? Nobody! If there are identified persons who, for one reason or the other everybody knows they are fighting, they should come out openly, say this is what they want. To be fair to the Federal Government, who do they talk to? Tomorrow, if they come out to say ‘this is the leadership, this is the structure, this is our grievances, this is what we want’, they can sit down and talk, but so far, it hasn’t happened.
What the foreign help is doing, they are not going to rescue the girls. It is the Nigerian military or the Nigerian authorities that would eventually do that job. But to do that job well, they need lesson, information, exact location where the girls are. Perhaps we don’t have the facilities to do this and this is why the Americans say they will help us by flying out there, ‘we would give you the information and you use that information to carry out your operations’. So what they are doing is assisting with some assets which we don’t have and which is normal because it happened in the past when the British went to Falklands .
What about the threats of the insurgents on the social media. Some months ago, the social media was awash with threats from this group that they were going to attack prominent leaders of the North and we took it with levity. But some weeks ago, a former Head of State, General Buhari, was attacked. Also, your name was mentioned as one of the leaders they will attack. Is it not a source of concern for you people who have led this country and are still working to keep this country together? There are also threats to capture states in the North-Central.
I heard it too. I think the whole objective as I earlier told you was to put the fear of Boko Haram into the people like the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom. That is the only tactic they have to use, but I am saying it would not work; all we need is to support the military, the armed forces, the government in what they are doing. They don’t have the people’s support and this is why I challenge those who are shouting their voice hoarse to go back to the creeks or the forest. This insurgency would stop, it has to stop because Boko Haram cannot survive.
And on a lighter note, at 73, what makes you tick. Also, three years ago, you told us you were planning to remarry but you are yet to do that. Have you changed your mind?
Yes, I said I was going to remarry. That is a statement of fact. I may still do so. There is still time for it.
What is your take on the possibility that the Chibok girls are being used as suicide bombers considering the fact that some young girls were used to detonate bombs, and should the girls not be released, is the country not sitting on a keg of gunpowder? Secondly, how do you feel about Nigeria considering the fact that you were among those who fought for this nation?
If God would ask me where do I want to come back to in the next world, I would tell Him I would come back here. Come back to Nigeria, come back to Minna. The question on the Chibok girls, I think if we should allow the government, the security agencies to handle it, we may have a headway, but if you politize it, in either religious politizing or social, then it becomes a difficult thing to do. We all agree that it is a Nigerian problem, so we should allow the Nigerian authorities to solve it. I see on the television, a lot of security experts, a lot of people who talk; I don’t blame them, they don’t have the experiences in handling the case, but government is in a better position to appreciate the level of commitment to get them back. They have the military, they have the police, they have the intelligence sources, they have the contacts and so on. All we need to do is to encourage them to work it out and I know it will.
From the experiences we had in the past, three years, we fought a war; at the end of the day, common sense prevailed and we won. I think we would do the same in this case. The continued stay of the Chibok girls with the insurgents is a continued source of concern to the people. I think every Nigerian, irrespective of who, should be concerned because they are Nigerians and they deserve the right to be protected, they deserve the right to life and we should put our heads together to help the girls. I don’t believe they are the people used for suicide bombing. I want to believe that those involved must have been indoctrinated for a long period, a year or two and so we just have to find out what happened..
Many Nigerians have said that the past leaders have not been saying much or advising the present administration especially on the challenges confronting the country, the impeachment processes, the Boko Haram issue and kidnapping. This is an opportunity for you to say a word and advise government.
The first question about us the older generation, what are we doing? I can tell you we are doing a lot. If there is any set of Nigerians who understands the problems of this country, it is those of us who were opportune to be at the helm of affairs at various times in this country. We know what the problems are, we appreciate what the president is doing, and the best we can do and we are always doing is to be of help to him in terms of advice, meetings, interactions, and so on. I think this is one of the luckiest countries that have got seven living heads of state, people who headed government and have always interacted with the president and we also appreciate the problems the president is facing because we were once there. So the best we can do is to always sit with him and give him advice; and I am glad to say we are doing just that.
It has been over 100 days since the kidnapping of the Chibok school girls. Despite the assurances by the international community, the girls have not been found. What is the way forward? When do you think we can get these girls back home to their parents?
Perhaps the way forward is what government is doing now. I know there are complications. It is no longer an issue that you could ask the military to move into Sambisa forest and rescue the girls. I think Nigerians want the girls rescued and brought back home alive not dead; that is a very daring thing to do. From my experience as a professional soldier, a lot of planning, a lot of cooperation, a lot of study has to be done to achieve this objective. 217 or whatever the number is, is a lot of population to lose just like that. So I think government is trying from what we got during our last briefing; I am quite satisfied that efforts are really being made to get the girls out. You see, the objective is to get them out of that place alive, the operative word is alive, you can order a full scale military operation and you could get them all killed which would defeat the objective.
Recently, the president came out with a proposal for $1 billion loan to fight insurgency, but there have been criticisms from many quarters about the loan. What is your take on this?
To me, it is not an issue, there is a process and we haven’t gone through the process yet, so why do Nigerians kill themselves arguing about things that have not happened?
But to be forewarned is to be forearmed. If no noise is being made about this, the loan would be collected and this could affect the future of the upcoming generations?
So you make the noise, maybe the government would sit down and say ‘okay, the people don’t want it so we would not take it’ but would find another way of doing it. That is how government operates.
Talking about the issue of security in the country, from the answer you gave, you seem to be saying that we should rule out military option in the rescue of these Chibok girls.
No, no, no, when I said military option, I don’t believe we should get in there as if we are fighting a war; so you have to get the military ready, the police, the intelligence assets. Somebody has to rescue them and maybe if the military is best equipped for this, it would be okay but you will not tell them to go and flush them out.
Foreign assistance to rescue the girls, what do you think of that move? Is it alright? What impact do you think that will make? Secondly, do you support the idea that government should go into negotiation with Boko Haram?
Well, you go into negotiation with people you know, people you identify, people you see, so (in the Chibok girls case), who do you negotiate with? That is the problem. Who? Surely, I don’t believe government should call (Boko Haram leader) Shekau to sit on the table and talk. So who do you talk to? Nobody! If there are identified persons who, for one reason or the other everybody knows they are fighting, they should come out openly, say this is what they want. To be fair to the Federal Government, who do they talk to? Tomorrow, if they come out to say ‘this is the leadership, this is the structure, this is our grievances, this is what we want’, they can sit down and talk, but so far, it hasn’t happened.
What the foreign help is doing, they are not going to rescue the girls. It is the Nigerian military or the Nigerian authorities that would eventually do that job. But to do that job well, they need lesson, information, exact location where the girls are. Perhaps we don’t have the facilities to do this and this is why the Americans say they will help us by flying out there, ‘we would give you the information and you use that information to carry out your operations’. So what they are doing is assisting with some assets which we don’t have and which is normal because it happened in the past when the British went to Falklands .
What about the threats of the insurgents on the social media. Some months ago, the social media was awash with threats from this group that they were going to attack prominent leaders of the North and we took it with levity. But some weeks ago, a former Head of State, General Buhari, was attacked. Also, your name was mentioned as one of the leaders they will attack. Is it not a source of concern for you people who have led this country and are still working to keep this country together? There are also threats to capture states in the North-Central.
I heard it too. I think the whole objective as I earlier told you was to put the fear of Boko Haram into the people like the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom. That is the only tactic they have to use, but I am saying it would not work; all we need is to support the military, the armed forces, the government in what they are doing. They don’t have the people’s support and this is why I challenge those who are shouting their voice hoarse to go back to the creeks or the forest. This insurgency would stop, it has to stop because Boko Haram cannot survive.
And on a lighter note, at 73, what makes you tick. Also, three years ago, you told us you were planning to remarry but you are yet to do that. Have you changed your mind?
Yes, I said I was going to remarry. That is a statement of fact. I may still do so. There is still time for it.
What is your take on the possibility that the Chibok girls are being used as suicide bombers considering the fact that some young girls were used to detonate bombs, and should the girls not be released, is the country not sitting on a keg of gunpowder? Secondly, how do you feel about Nigeria considering the fact that you were among those who fought for this nation?
If God would ask me where do I want to come back to in the next world, I would tell Him I would come back here. Come back to Nigeria, come back to Minna. The question on the Chibok girls, I think if we should allow the government, the security agencies to handle it, we may have a headway, but if you politize it, in either religious politizing or social, then it becomes a difficult thing to do. We all agree that it is a Nigerian problem, so we should allow the Nigerian authorities to solve it. I see on the television, a lot of security experts, a lot of people who talk; I don’t blame them, they don’t have the experiences in handling the case, but government is in a better position to appreciate the level of commitment to get them back. They have the military, they have the police, they have the intelligence sources, they have the contacts and so on. All we need to do is to encourage them to work it out and I know it will.
From the experiences we had in the past, three years, we fought a war; at the end of the day, common sense prevailed and we won. I think we would do the same in this case. The continued stay of the Chibok girls with the insurgents is a continued source of concern to the people. I think every Nigerian, irrespective of who, should be concerned because they are Nigerians and they deserve the right to be protected, they deserve the right to life and we should put our heads together to help the girls. I don’t believe they are the people used for suicide bombing. I want to believe that those involved must have been indoctrinated for a long period, a year or two and so we just have to find out what happened..
No comments:
Post a Comment