Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has stated that the memoir recently released by former military president Ibrahim Babangida does not tell the full story of events surrounding the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Kalu, who represents Abia North in the Senate, made the remark while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
He argued that Babangida’s revelations in his newly published 420-page autobiography, A Journey in Service: An Autobiography of Ibrahim Babangida, were incomplete and called for a second book to provide further details.
“On Babangida’s book, I think Nigerians are very unfair to Babangida because he came out on his own,” Kalu said.
“When I say the story is not complete, I wanted President Babangida to write more of the stories because the stories have not finished. There is more to the story. There are officers who told Babangida, ‘You cannot hand over to this man.’”
He insisted that Babangida’s disclosure that MKO Abiola won the annulled election was significant but did not capture all the key players involved.
He urged Babangida to document additional perspectives, particularly the roles of other military officers in the crisis that followed the annulment.
“There should be a second part of the book because if you mention only one name or two, it is not complete. More military people that were there should talk about this,” Kalu stated.
He also highlighted the dangers Babangida faced at the time, saying his abrupt resignation was a sign of internal pressure.
“Babangida himself was in danger throughout those periods. If you remember the way he left power, you will know something was wrong,” Kalu said.
Kalu further pointed out that Babangida had touched on sensitive historical issues, including the 1966 coup, which some had wrongly attributed solely to the Igbo ethnic group.
“In his book, Babangida disclosed that the 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup, a sin which people have held against the Igbos for many years,” he noted.
The senator urged Babangida to be more open about past events to set the record straight.
“They should go all hog and tell Nigerians the truth. Babangida should write a second book,” he said.