Some Nigerians who suffered injustice under the General Ibrahim Babangida’s (retd.) regime have called for his prosecution.
In separate interviews with Sunday TheNigerian, the survivors and family members of some victims recounted their ordeals during the administration of Babangida and called for his trial in court.
In his autobiography, ‘A Journey of Service’, launched on February 20, 2025, the former military ruler gave a personal account of his regime, which began on August 27, 1985 and lasted till August 26, 1993.
While his government was noted for heavy crackdown on opposition, Nigerians rose against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election won by late Moshood Abiola.
In a series of riots that broke out after the controversial decision, no fewer than 100 Nigerians were reportedly killed by security agents.
Although Babangida has not been directly linked to the death by parcel bomb of investigative journalist, Dele Giwa, on October 19, 1986, the victim was said to have been assassinated by the state.
The regime also shut down many media houses, including Newswatch Magazine, The Guardian, and TheNigerian Newspapers. TheNigerian Newspapers, in particular, had been outspoken in its criticism of the corruption, human rights violations and mismanagement of funds by Babangida.
He also sanctioned some executions, including the killing of his childhood friend, General Mamman Vatsa.
Many pro-democracy and human rights activists, journalists and lawyers, including Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Alao-Aka-Bashorun, Femi Falana, SAN, Femi Aborisade, Debo Adeniran, Kunle Ajibade, were also incarcerated for protesting the June 12 annulment.
Some of the survivors said the ex-general did not deserve the funfair that heralded the launch of his book.
The President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Adeniran, said Babangida should be punished for his crimes.
He stated that IBB’s confession did not exonerate him from the crimes.
“I was detained during the early days of the June 12 protests alongside Chima Ubani, Ebun Adegoruwa, and other comrades by Babangida. We were protesting in Ikeja when they arrested us and took us to Area F. We were remanded in prison by the Magistrate’s Court, Flower Garden, in Ebute Meta, Lagos.
“The June 12 annulment was like a coup d’état. He rebelled against the state and committed crimes against humanity. A lot of people were killed, imprisoned, and sent into exile. People also died mysteriously, such as Dele Giwa, Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane, and many others, as a result of the fallout of the annulment.
“Babangida has a lot to say, which he has not said. He caused a lot of disharmony among the people. He should be prosecuted,” he stated.
Commenting on the ex-general’s book, Aborisade said Babangida should be in prison for the rest of his life.
The pro-democracy activist, who spoke to Sunday TheNigerian, said the former head of state was not sincere in his regrets, adding that he damaged the country.
He said, “IBB is a tyrannical villain who should be tried for annulling the democratic electoral choice of the Nigerian people in the June 12 presidential election. IBB sheds crocodile tears. He is insincere in his so-called regrets. He has done incalculable damage to societal development.”
Aborisade maintained that the June 12 annulment was a disservice to Nigerians, as it had caused untold deaths and bloodshed.
“Nigerians should reject IBB and all the evil that his regime represents. The annulment of the June 12 presidential election remains a monumental disservice to Nigerian society. The struggle against the annulment has caused untold bloodshed, deaths, maiming, killings, and brutalisation.
“It is unfortunate that people like IBB, who ought to be socially ostracised for the monumental setback their regimes represent for society, are being celebrated by a segment of the media. He deserves to be put on trial. He deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life.”
Recounting his ordeal under Babangida’s regime, Falana said the ex-general detained him and other students for speaking up against his government.
He said Babangida deliberately killed Vatsa, contrary to the claim that the late soldier was involved in a coup.
“I was left in detention. Late Yinka Odumakin and others were expelled from the universities in Ife and Nsukka. Some students were taken to a tribunal, and I defended them.
“The law Babangida used to kill Vatsa was created while Vatsa was in detention. It was plain murder. Contrary to what he said, he issued 15 decrees to justify the annulment (of June 12), not Abacha. He claimed that Abacha was planning a coup against him and that he did not kill him, but he killed Vatsa,” he said.
In her comments, Bashorun’s daughter, Morayo Brown, a TV personality, said Babangida deserved to be prosecuted for annulling the June 12 election.
She disclosed that her father made efforts to ensure that Babangida faced justice for his crimes before his death.
Brown queried President Bola Tinubu’s merriment with a man that tormented her father.
In a post on Instagram with Babangida and her father’s picture, Brown said, “My father warned Nigerians about this man (Babangida). My father did everything in his power to get this man to pay for his sins, but nothing happened.
“Men of valour fought with their voices, pens, and influence, yet Babangida reigned like a fearless hurricane, bulldozing all that was in his path. Many were murdered, my father was thrown in jail several times by the military led by this man for speaking against him and finally had to go into self-exile. Dad snuck out through Cotonou to get to the US.
“Today, he says he takes responsibility, and we all should just accept and move on? Mr President, I have the highest regard for you, but don’t you think Babangida should be prosecuted for the crime of annulling the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, which eventually led to the death of many innocent people?”
“I saw how you all laughed at the book launch. I’m sorry, nothing there seemed comical to me. Mr President supported my father till he died. You know the pains and the struggles, yet you laugh at the table of our tormentor?”
A former student leader during the June 12 struggle, Omoyele Sowore, also called for the prosecution and imprisonment of Babangida for truncating Nigeria’s democracy.
“Conman, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) killed students, killed Dele Giwa, killed Mamman Vasta, killed Gideon Orkar, killed a generation of young army officers in a plane crash so they won’t reach their prime, now he’s blabbing about the quest for a younger generation to lead. A hater of democracy, a murderer, a thief and dissembler who should be in prison but here we are with one of these blockheads just running his mouth and getting undue airtime! #RevolutionNow,” he wrote on Facebook.
The younger brother of late Vatsa, Jonathan, had on Friday asked IBB to make restitution for everything he took from the country the wrong way.
Jonathan insisted that the killing of his brother was unjust.
“He (Babangida) owes Nigerians an apology on so many issues. And it’s not only an apology he owes Nigerians. He should equally summon the courage not only to apologise, but to also make restitution. Everything that he has taken from Nigerians that was not in the right way, he should return,” he added.
Abacha’s grandson knocks Babangida
The grandson of late General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s former military ruler, Raees Abacha, has knocked ex-dictator, General Babangida, describing him as a betrayer and a coward.
Raees, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said if the lifespan of the two former military rulers were reversed, Abacha would never forgive Babangida’s “treacherous” behaviour.
Raees, in the post titled, ‘My grandfather saved the life of a coward’, said anyone who believed Babangida’s claims in his book was only “following the author towards damnation”.
He faulted Babangida for blaming the annulment of the June 12 elections on Abacha.
Raees said, “If the lifespans of these two consequential figures were reversed, this treachery would never be discharged (forgiven) by General Abacha.
“In one breath, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida claims the June 12 elections were annulled by ‘Abacha-led forces’ without his knowledge, calling General Sani Abacha his “biggest headache” whom he felt paralysed by.
“Yet Babangida proceeds to announce the annulment and retains the same General Abacha who allegedly annulled the June 12 elections without his (Babangida’s) consent in Shonekan’s transitional government, describing General Abacha, as June 12 election annulment enforcer-in-chief.”
Dismissing Babangida’s claim of Abacha being his biggest headache, Raees said his grandfather protected the former junta leader’s reputation.
He stressed, “General Babangida’s biggest headache has never been General Abacha, whom numerously protected his life and reputation, but his mind and its creations which earned him the title, ‘Evil Genius.’”
Babangida’s account of 1966 coup sparks controversies
Meanwhile, Babangida’s claim that the failed 1966 coup was not driven by ethnic objectives has generated controversy among many netizens.
The infamous revolt occurred on January 15, 1966, when the Nigerian government was overthrown by a coup led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu and four other junior officers, who eventually failed to take power.
The other coup plotters, three of whom were of Igbo extraction, were Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Chris Anuforo, Major Don Okafor, and Major Adewale Ademoyega.
In excerpts from his autobiography, Babangida recounted the events that led to the 1966 military coup, which had long been labelled an Igbo coup.
In Chapter 3, titled, ‘A Young Officer and a Gentleman’, the former military leader explained that Nzeogwu was only “Igbo” in name, noting that he was born and raised in Kaduna State, and his immigrant parents were from Okpanam in today’s Delta State.
On page 39, Babangida noted that Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa and was as ‘Hausa’ as anyone else, adding that he and his original team probably thought they could turn things around for the better in the country through the coup.
“That said, it was heinously callous for Nzeogwu to have murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello and his wife, Hafsatu, because not only were they eminently adored by many, but also because they were said not to have put up a fight.
“From that moment, the putsch was infiltrated by ‘outsiders’ to its supposed original intention, and it took on an unmistakably ethnic colouration, compounded by the fact that there were no related coup activities in the Eastern Region.
“It should, however, be borne in mind that some senior officers of Igbo extraction were also victims of the January coup. For instance, my erstwhile commander at the Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna, Lt-Col. Arthur Chinyelu Unegbe, was brutally gunned down by his own ‘brother,’ Major Chris Anuforo, in the presence of his pregnant wife at his 7 Point Road residence in Apapa, for merely being ‘a threat to the revolution,’” Babangida said.
He further explained that while some non-Igbo officers, like Major Ademoyega, Captain Ganiyu Adeleke, and Lieutenants Fola Oyewole and Olafimihan, took part in the failed coup, an officer of Igbo extraction, Major John Obienu, crushed it.
Babangida added, “Those who argue that the original intention of the coup plotters was anything but ethnic refer to the fact that the initial purpose of the plotters was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo from prison immediately after the coup and make him the executive provisional president of Nigeria.
“The fact that these ‘Igbo’ officers would do this to a man not known to be a great ‘lover’ of the Igbo may have given the coup a different ethnic colouration. But, again, I may be wrong here since this view is speculative.”
Netizens react
The former military leader’s claims generated heated controversy among social media users, with some supporting them and others vehemently disagreeing.
Reacting on his X account on Saturday, a journalist, Oseni Rufai, wrote, “Babangida debunked the theory of an Igbo coup, which has been used to tarnish the Igbos all this while, and said (Yakubu) Gowon didn’t provide security for Igbo people in the North. Gowon must tell his own side of the story and respond to all these allegations. Like I said, he needs to write his own book.”
While expressing his admiration for Babangida for telling the truth about the 1966 coup, a Facebook user, Ugwu Oti, pointed out that the book will not heal the wounds caused by divisions in the country.
“For over 50 years, the media has suppressed this truth to suit the narrative that Igbo officers instigated the coup that led to the Biafra war. I feel so much pity for IBB, who has lived with these lies for years before coming out to state the truth,” he wrote.
“Nigeria should apologise to the Igbo as Ibrahim Babangida reveals to Nigerians in his book that the January 15, 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup. Millions of people, mostly Igbos, died because of this singular lie and have been condemned to live as third-class citizens ever since,” a Facebook user, Collins Iranian, wrote.
However, some netizens disagreed with the claims in the book, citing what they insist is a revision of history.
A former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, in an X post, listed the names of 21 victims of the coup who were non-Igbo.
This, he argued, indicated that the 1966 coup was later hijacked by those who had an ethnic agenda.
“The January 15, 1966 coup began as a nationalistic coup and ended as a purely tribalistic coup,” he wrote.
Also reacting to the autobiography, the Olukosi of Ilukosi-Ijesa, Oba Omotooyosi Akinleye, faulted the motives of the former military ruler, whom he described as a “tyrant” seeking to “solidify one of history’s unholy alliances between himself and his minions from the Igbo tribe.”
He wrote, “This mirrors their actions in 1993, when they undermined the will of the people during the election through a dubious ‘Jankara’ court order. Now, they are using false narratives to distort the truth about what was clearly an Igbo-led coup in January 1966, even invoking the name of our legend to support their claims.”
Another X user, Prof. Uwem Ekpo, wrote, “If Babangida was not among those who promoted the narrative of an ‘Igbo coup’ in January 1966, history still records that he participated, along with Murtala, Buhari, and Abacha, in the planning and execution of the counter-coup in July 1966.”
