Olayiwola Matthew
Former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) is set to launch his long-awaited autobiography.
The memoir titled: ‘A Journey In Service’, will be released on February 20, 2025, at the event billed for the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
The development is coming 32 years after IBB left office.
While in office, he was popular with the Monika “evil genius” and “Maradona”.
Explaining the nicknames, IBB said they were manufactured by the media because of his “deft political moves”.
“That’s the very good thing about the Nigerian media and Nigerian people, you have to anticipate them.
“If you anticipate them then you live well with them. They call me ‘evil genius’, I marvel at that. The contradiction, you can’t be evil and then a genius”.
“The definition of Maradona I got from the media is because of deft political moves. That’s the way the media described it.”, he had said.
He stepped aside in August 1993 for the late Ernest Shonekan as the chairman of the Interim Government.
Late General Sanni Abacha would, however, topple the government before he died in office in 1998.
Although IBB granted interviews to local and international media since leaving office, he has somehow found a way around some of these contentious issues that happened during his rule.
About seven years ago, he had expressed doubts about writing an autobiography, saying he was uncertain if Nigerians would “want to read about a dictator”.
He added that the public had a wrong impression of him, citing his role in the June 12 crisis, and some of the policies he unfurled between 1985 to 1993 as head of a junta.
However, he has made a U-Turn and authored the book.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will lead former Nigerian leaders and their counterparts in other parts of Africa to grace the much awaited autobiography.
According to an invite dispatched to dignitaries this week, the board of trustees of the IBB Presidential Library Foundation said the book launch will take place alongside fundraising for a presidential library.
The organisers said the event would be chaired by a former president; Olusegun Obasanjo, with President Bola Tinubu as the special guest of honour.
The keynote address would be delivered by the former president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo while former vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo would review the autobiography.
Other guests billed to attend include ex-presidents Muhammadu Buhari, Yakubu Gowon, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Goodluck Jonathan.
A former Minister of Defence; Theophilus Danjuma and Chairman of BUA Group; Abdul Samad Rabiu, were named as Chief Launchers.