SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI – SPECIAL EDITION!
It was one mid-morning early in 1991 that the NITEL land phone rang at the rented No. 1 Oremeji Street, modest Headquarters of Performing Musicians' Association of Nigeria (PMAN). In 1991, there were no cell phones.
The very busy PMAN headquarters was on the ground floor of one of six identical one - storey buildings in the part of Ikeja, Lagos, now famously known as Computer Village. This was not far from where Fela's African Shrine used to be on Pepple Street. I was handed the phone and told that the caller said he was calling from Dodan Barracks in Ikoyi, then seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
When I took the phone, the caller informed me that he was calling on behalf of President Ibrahim Babangida and that the President would like to see me. Wow! We agreed on a date and I assured the caller that I would be there.
Three and half years earlier, I had been elected President of PMAN. I was 29 years old, the youngest member of the large PMAN National Executive Council with members from across the country. I have never learnt to do a job half-heartedly. My attitude to the PMAN job, a job with no income, was a call to a national assignment deserving of all I had to give. I gave it all I had, 24 hours a day.
On the agreed date, I was at Dodan Barracks. I was not a minister or governor and expected to be kept waiting or told that the appointment had been cancelled. Nope! Right on time, I was ushered into the beautiful office of General Ibrahim Babangida, the great IBB, known across the land as Maradona! I had come close to him at a few official events and exchanged pleasantries but never had a one-on-one alone in a room, with him.
What surprised me was that the man was so smooth and so easy to get on with. There were no airs about him and none of the crudity or brashness most people associate with soldiers. We exchanged banter and I even queried some of his policies. He appeared not to take any offence and explained some of the choices he had to make.
The President had clearly followed my activities very closely and in details. He expressed admiration for my passion and commitment to the work I was doing and encouraged me not to relent. He said that he had received my letter inviting him to be Special Guest of Honour at the big Nigerian Music Awards (NMA), the nation's biggest entertainment event, scheduled for the National Theatre Lagos in about a week. According to him, he had planned to personally attend the event, but it was suddenly brought to his attention that there was an important military event at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji in Kaduna State holding on the same date at which, as Commander-in-Chief, he was expected to preside. He told me that in his position, it would be politically inappropriate for him to forego the event of his immediate constituency to be seen on national TV enjoying himself at the NMA. He said that he did not want to send me an apology and had invited me to personally explain his difficulty and talk with me on how best to address the situation.
I felt honoured by his thoughtfulness and said so. We agreed that he would send his most senior officer in the Army, at the time, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Sani Abacha, to represent him at the 1991 NMA. At the 1990 event, the President had been represented by his Vice, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu. We also agreed that he would host a reception for the award recipients at State House Marina, a few days after the event. General Babangida kept every promise he made to me.
I had the chance of a few one-on-one with IBB in his office at Aso Rock, Abuja when the government finally moved to Abuja. Of course, IBB honoured me with his impactful presence, that of Maryam, his beautiful wife and much of the movers and shakers of the government on March 9, 1992 at the unforgettable NMA held at the Hilton in Abuja for which I will ever remain grateful.
Through the joint interventions of his Minister of Information & Culture, Prince Tony Momoh and then Attorney – General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola, both of whom had become my allies, President Babangida had promulgated the Nigerian Copyright law and approved the setting up of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, two issues about which I had mounted unrelenting campaigns and sent the President several letters and which I strongly believe have aided to unlock Nigeria's creative endeavors.
I know that most people who get a chance to see the President go with a laundry list of personal favours they seek - jobs, contracts, land, oil wells, etc, etc. Despite my modest means, in my several meetings with IBB, I refused to ask for any personal favour and obtained none, not one "shi-shi"! It was my conviction that any personal take-aways would deny me the freedom to be critical of any step the government took that I was opposed to. My concentration was on the creative industry and how to position it for national development. To his credit, the President never asked me for anything except to do my job the best way I could, to the benefit of the Nigerian nation.
I learnt to admire and respect the man. I was also impressed with the quality of brilliant Nigerians he surrounded himself with and the fact that no reasonable person could easily clothe him with tribal or religious bigotry, the weakness of most of Nigeria's leadership. Some people even began to refer to me as a "Babangida Boy"!
Despite my admiration of the man, I was not unconscious of the fact that there were many in the country who were critical and suspicious of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and who believed he had what was commonly termed "hidden agenda".
On June 24, 1993, the dam broke in what I had considered a special relationship! My dear friend and lawyer, Caleb Ola Atolagbe had told me that irrespective of the assurances of the ever-smiling and hyperactive NEC chairman, Humphrey Nwosu, IBB would do everything to make sure that Abiola was not sworn in as President. I told him that he was talking rubbish. On June 24, 1993, I listened to IBB's very long and unwinding televised speech justifying the annulment of the June 12 election to which humungous national resources and expectations had been invested. Atolagbe was right and I was wrong. The speech shook me like very few things in my life. I practically had instant migraine. I could not understand how a man I so believed was a brilliant master tactician could have been part of the tragic decision that I was sure would traumatize Nigeria and Nigerians for a lifetime and even destroy his own legacy. Clearly, my guy who had Nigeria in his palms, had lost control.
It was the same Caleb Atolagbe that I briefed to file a case on my behalf at the Federal High Court against General Babangida and his government over the annulment of the June 12 elections. Of course, Nigeria became unmanageable. The falcon could no longer hear the falconer and I was advised by friends and family to quickly get out of the country which I did.
Several times, I have read David Hundeyin's recent documentary, "From Drug Lord to Presidential Candidate" and followed the many controversies and arguments generated by Hundeyin whom I have never met. I have also followed the reactions of the family of late M.K.O. Abiola. My understanding is that David Hundeyin is an investigative journalist and not the FBI, CIA, DSS, NFIU nor EFCC. He does not have the resources of government. He has however stated his findings with facts, locations and dates that a responsible Nigerian government ought to thoroughly investigate and make pronouncements on for the good of the nation.
My friends in the camp of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should indeed call for a full investigation to clear the name of their principal so that the accusations do not become one big life-long albatross round his neck and that of his family or a "good" reason to annul the February 25, 2023 Presidential elections. I also believe that there is too much concentration on winning elections and so little on winning the trust of the Nigerian people so as to properly govern them. In my humble opinion, to leave the critical matter to the social media bomb throwers or the talk shows on Channels and Arise TV, is a serious disservice to the Nigerian people and to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his family. Is David Hundeyin a hatchet man or a national hero? We ought to know.
Tinubu is alive to defend himself but there is the case of MKO Abiola whose election was alleged in Hundeyin's report to have been annulled by Gen Babangida upon significant pressure of Abiola's involvement in the illicit drug trade. I have several times re-read IBB's annulment speech of June 24, 1993. Nowhere is Abiola accused of involvement in the drug trade. I encourage serious Nigerians to take time and read the IBB speech. Anyone who wants to annul next year's Presidential election will find enough reasons there to do so. Nothing has changed. Vote buying is still going on. The courts are still making contradictory decisions. Abiola is dead but IBB is alive. What exactly happened? Why did IBB wait till the votes had been cast and counted and the winner of the elections known before annulling the elections? Was he trying to protect his friend? It is clear that the June 12 injury will not go away no matter what balm is rubbed on it. I believe that IBB owes us a duty to come clean with what happened, especially as we have been warned that we are on the throes of another June 12.
For the records, I have written here before that despite our different ethnic origins, M.K.O Abiola treated me like a cherished younger brother and spoke to me on many intimate issues. Indeed, I had a multiple entry visa to his Moshood Abiola Crescent home in Ikeja. Abiola was my benefactor. Most people remember the late MKO for his prodigious wealth, I remember him for his prodigious intellect. Abiola remembered everything and forgot nothing. He could outthink anybody at dizzying speed.
Late in 1992 before the party primaries, Chief Abiola had invited me to his home and we set out in his car for much of the day, driving through Lagos as he inspected different projects and we spoke. On two fronts, he expressed his apprehension about the coming election and his role in it. Firstly, he was emphatic that there were people who would go to any length to stop him from being President. Secondly, he said that he viewed most Africans as one family and the boarders across Africa as artificial divisions created by the white man. He said that he was not sure whether he would be comfortable with representing Nigeria in a dispute with a sister African nation.
My reaction was that considering the bridges he had built across the country, his boldness and foresight, and the trust people had in him, he would have let a lot of Nigerians down if he withdrew from the elections. I then asked him If he had spoken with IBB about the elections and if there would indeed be vacancy at Aso Rock Villa. He assured me that he had and had obtained a positive response. I knew that there was a warm friendship between MKO and IBB. When Abiola's first wife, Simbiat, passed on 10th November 1992, IBB abandoned everything in Abuja to personally come for the funeral in Lagos. I was there. When IBB hosted me and my colleagues at State House, Marina, MKO flew from Australia to be there and we had a great time.
Let me state clearly that I could never have been as close as I was to Abiola if I had any suspicion that he was anyhow associated with any illicit drug trade. For the late MKO, family and friends of both MKO and IBB and most importantly, the Nigerian people, IBB has one more important service to render. He needs to tell us the true reason why the June 12, 1993 election was annulled.
See you next week.
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