Gen. Ibrahim Babangida granted an exclusive interview where he spoke candidly about President Muhammadu Buhari. Read on…

Did it occur to you that Buhari, being a close friend of yours, night feel you stabbed him in the back?

It is natural he might feel the way you expressed it, but I think the situation was such that there was no way we could allow that sort of situation to continue.

At what point did you start disagreeing with Buhari? What were the serious issues of disagreement?

First of all, we had all accepted that whatever decisions we came upon were going to be collective, and I think to a certain extent, we succeeded. But as time rolled by, we had to disagree on a number of issues which were both of national and international interest. There were many concerted efforts to mend these areas, but there was the general opinion of insecurity and dissatisfaction even among the members of the SMC at the time. As the chief of army staff, quite a number of them who were my colleagues and even my juniors continued to come to me to talk about one thing or the other, I did quite a lot of talking to them, you know, just to make sure they were not seen to be opposed to the leader. But I think that could not continue for a long time – there had to be a breaking point. That point was the result of the cumulative effect of so many things that happened during that short period.

Was the issue of political detainees ever discussed in the defunct SMC?

Oh yes, we had a lot of discussions on this, almost daily, either in council or out of it. It is okay if somebody has committed an offence, but I think there is no moral reason to detain somebody for one year and eight months without preparing a formal charge against him. If there is a case and it is established, by all means the person should be tried and punished. If you can’t establish anything but you still suspect him, keep him under surveillance and ask him to report back regularly. I think it is wrong to believe that any Nigerian is potentially bad. I have heard people say the best way to deal with Nigerians is to apply repressive measures. I think it is a wrong concept. You cannot arrogate purity to yourself.

– Culled From Newswatch