Former President Muhammadu Buhari has not forgiven General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) for throwing him out of office in August 1985, it will take a divine intervention for the feud between the duo to be settled, according to Jonathan Vatsa, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Vatsa made the revelation following the absence of Buhari during the launch of Gen Babangida book ‘A Journey in Service’ last week in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Buhari’s conspicuous absence at the elaborate ceremony attended by Nigeria’s former leaders including Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Goodluck Jonathan, and incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has kept many tongues wagging on why Buhari shunned the event.
According to Vatsa, Buhari is still very angry that Babangida ousted him from power 40 years ago, in a bloodless coup that saw Babangida swept to power, while Buhari and his then Deputy, Tunde Idiagbon were immediately retired from the Armed Forces.
Recall that Babangida claimed in his book that Buhari military regime was ousted from power because it had become unpopular within the military hierarchy and Nigerians at large.
Babandida also claimed that his position as the Chief of Army Staff under the Buhari regime was threatened after he disagreed with many unfriendly policies of the regime, including some obnoxious decrees passed by it.
It was based on these and others problems associated with the regime that some top military generals decided that time was up for Buhari , these officers planned the coup and installed Babangida as military head of state.
Vatsa said Buhari is still nursing that grudge that he was pushed out of power, and has decided not to have anything to do with his former Chief of Army Staff.
He added that Niger state, where Babangida hails from also suffered from the confidence crisis between the two former leaders, citing Buhari’s decision not to execute major development projects in the state while he was civilian president between 2015 and 2023.
Vatsa: “The whole world knows that Niger State was made a scapegoat by former President Buhari because of IBB. For eight years, he did not pay any serious official visit to the state, and no single federal project was executed there.
“The Baro Port project, which recently generated political heat in the state, was abandoned by Buhari, along with several federal road projects.”
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