Ibrahim Babangida: Difference between revisions

==Presidency==

===Coup===

He came into power in a military coup promising to bring to an end the human rights abuses perpetuated by Buhari's government, and to hand over power to a civilian government by 1990.Eventually,he perpetuated one of the worst human right abuses and lots of unresolved political assassinations.

Babangida (unilaterally, without consultation with other bodies) upgraded Nigeria's role in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Islamic_Cooperation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]), from an observer status to full-fledged membership. After public outcry and denial by Babangida, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nanzip_Shagaya John Shagaya] panel was instituted to determine Nigeria's status in the OIC, subsequently confirming membership and making a recommendation for withdrawal from the body. Commodore Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe, the first Chief of General Staff in General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida's regime andBabangida's second-in command, was 'dropped' by Babangida. Ukiwe had been opposed to the registration of Nigeria, a secular country, in the OIC.

===1990 coup attempt===

On April 22, 1990, Babangida's government was almost toppled by a coup attempt led by Major [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Orkar Gideon Orkar]. Babangida was at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodan_Barracks Dodan Barracks], the military headquarters and presidential residence, when they were attacked and occupied by the rebel troops, but managed to escape by a back route. During the brief interlude during which Orkar and his collaborators controlled radio transmitters in Lagos, they broadcast a vehement critique of Babangida's government, accusing it of widespread corruption and autocratic tendencies, and they also expelled the five northernmost and predominantly Hausa-Fulani Nigerian states from the union, accusing them of seeking to perpetuate their rule at the expense of the predominantly Christian peoples of Nigeria's middle-belt citing, in particular, the political neutralization of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langtang_Mafia Langtang Mafia].

The Oputa Panel Report would conclude that: "On General Ibrahim Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Col. A. K. Togun are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be re-opened for further investigation in the public interest."

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