The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused former military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd), of attempting to exonerate himself from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election fiasco.

MURIC Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Sunday, said during his autobiography launch, Babangida, popularly known as IBB, did not appear sober and even went a step further to blame others for his regime’s actions.

“Former military head of state, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd), popularly called IBB, presented his memoir titled ‘A Journey In Service’ to the public at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on Thursday, 20th February, 2025.

“We of the Muslim Rights Concern hereby totally reject all attempts by the former military dictator to exonerate himself from the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election fiasco. The former dictator should stop blaming others for all that happened. We assert emphatically, unequivocally and categorically that the buck stops at IBB’s table. We reject his alibi.

“We hold IBB responsible for the failure of Nigeria to cultivate a sustainable, visionary and dignifying political culture having annulled the fairest, freest and most peaceful election in the history of Nigeria,” Akintola said.

He described the day IBB presented his memoir as a sad day for genuinely patriotic Nigerians “as it was the day Nigerian leaders decided to disappoint the masses by hero-worshipping a former dictator, a tyrant and a numero uno enemy of democracy”.

He said, “Nigeria was at the edge of the cliff when the duo of Buhari and Idiagbon came to rescue the nation from general indiscipline, corruption and avaricious greed. We were getting it right when IBB came from nowhere to topple that corrective administration. That was the beginning of our descent back to the abyss of pitch darkness.

“IBB incarcerated Buhari and refused to allow him to attend his mother’s funeral. The lives of many innocent Nigerians were wasted during the IBB-Abacha totalitarian military misadventure. Clement Akpangbo, Bagauda Kaltho, Justice Ikpeme, Alfred Rewane, etc were sent to the beyond. The streets of Lagos and Ibadan were filled with dead bodies.

“Yet the height of heartlessness and callousness was the assassination of the winner of that monumental election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) and the killing of his wife, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

“MURIC strongly condemns the public show of spite, chagrin and insensitivity at the Transcorp Hilton, venue of IBB’s book presentation. It was not only audacious. It was also outrageous, nauseating and provocative. Salt was added to injury. IBB is not sober,” he reiterated.

The MURIC boss said that Nigerian leaders have failed to learn the art of healing as they do not understand the people they are leading.

He said, “We are separated by a wide gulf. Arrogance and impunity are cancerous tumors which eat deep into the anatomy of love, unity, tolerance and forgiveness.

“This country has not been fully healed from the excruciating pains of June 12 and the criminal and cold-blooded killings of our first prime minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Chief S. L. Akintola former premier of the Western Region. Unfortunately all those killings were done by the Nigerian military.

“For the temerity manifested by IBB in displaying the original results of the June 12 election 32 years later and for publicly admitting that MKO won the historic election, the author of ‘A Journey In Service’ has certified Nigeria as the land where conscienceless power subjugates powerless conscience.

“This book is the height of impunity and the author is judicable. IBB has not demonstrated remorse. His book is indubitable exercise in the territory of high level treason,” he insisted.

He said it is regrettable that the principle of justice which Islam holds in high esteem have been bastardised by those who should know better.

“We give posthumous salutes to true heroes of democracy like Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti and Chief Alfred Rewane. We doff our hats to living heroes of the struggle like Prof. Wole Soyinka, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, current governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, Professor Sylvester Odion Akhaine, erstwhile secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), the arrowhead of the struggle against military rule, Shehu Sani, Comrade Okechukwu Ndiribe and leaders of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO),” Akintola said. (Daily Trust)