Title: A Journey in service
Author: By Ibrahim B Babangida
Reviewer: Ozolua Uhakheme
Publisher: BookCraft
Pagination: 440
Year: 2025

Until Thursday February 20, there have been consistent demands by many Nigerians for former military leader, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd) to share his stories about his service years as a military leader. The demands are not only just and necessary but also expedient to set the records straight, particularly on the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, death of Dele Giwa, privatisation, IMF, SAP, among others.

But did the 440 page autobiography, A Journey in Service, published by BookCraft, do justice to Nigerians’ expectations in all of these matters?

Like an appetiser for the readers, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), a former military leader, writes the foreword to the book.  He highlights among others why Babangida’s book is important. “Given the monumental and historical changes that General Babangida presided over, it is only natural that many Nigerians of different generations would be eager to learn first-hand the motivations…and the reasons behind these far-reaching decisions, and events, some of which shook the nation to its very foundation.”

The five-part book comprising 13 chapters provides ample opportunities for the author to tell his stories. Expectedly, he provides in the book stories of his early years, which takes two chapters as Part One, followed by Part Two with early military career in chapters 3 and 4.

But of all the 13 chapters 7 are dedicated to Part Four of the book, which dwells on In the Saddle in Chapters 6 to 12, while

Part Five focuses on his retirement years.

Interestingly, IBB is not oblivious of the fact that in the estimation of most Nigerians of older generation, his stewardship will forever be defined by ‘June 12’ on which he expressed regrets. “If I have to do it all over again, I’d do it differently,” according to his account in the book.

Since he stepped aside as military president over three decades ago, he finds one of the joys and benefits of retirement in the luxury it provides for sober reflection and even remembering and assessing things past.

“These days, in my spare time, I contemplate more on what could have been in the growth trajectory of our country. Collectively, how could we have made things work better for our country?

“Was the problem a governance system or a governance style? Should we go back to the British-type parliamentary system of governance and jettison the American-type presidential system, which seems truly expensive?

“Or is it the case that a Western-type democratic system of government is unsuitable in a developing society like ours? And if so, should we in Africa and the third world be designing a system of government that’s best suited to our needs, driven, as it were, by the age-long African principle of consensus?

“Or is our problem simply that of leadership, as our renowned writer, Chinua Achebe, once said?” he ponders in Chapter 5 on Murtala Mohammed Years on Page 113 of the book.

But how well has IBB put these benefits of retirement into effective use of putting the records straight? Lots and lots to find out in the book.

A peep into A Journey in Service reveals some bulk passing, contradictions (when you recall his annulment speech to Nigerians after the annulment 32 years ago), attempt to buy time till when memories of the annulment would have faded, and when some assumed key opposition members in the Security Council are no more.

Again, his explanation that he was away in Katsina when the annulment of the June 12 election was announced by the Abacha forces appears begging the issue. Does being away in Katsina amount to temporary handover of authority to a junior officer not within the power structure to handle such a national assignment?

Now, here is his perception and what to expect as reactions from Nigerians: “For those in my generation and those immediately after us, especially the privileged few who have held positions of responsibility, the Nigerian journey is a labour of love, a privilege to serve our patrimony. Even after it ends, its aftermath and consequences remain with us sometimes for life. I embrace this fate with complete confidence and as a patriotic responsibility.

“Since we left office, the desire to share recollections of my national service days has persisted. Family members have been insistent in their polite reminders. Friends and compatriots have kept asking me to share my recollections.

“Associates and curious Nigerians have demanded that I tell ‘my side of the story. People have asked that I share the high points of my national journey to benefit posterity.

“I have granted the most media interviews of all former Nigerian leaders!

“This book may disappoint those whose eagerness for my memoirs is driven by curiosity about the more dramatic moments of our tenure. This is not a book about finding blame, inventing excuses or whitewashing known facts.

“I have no separate story to tell solely about the drama of state affairs under my watch. We live in a country where primarily uninformed commentators are often the final judges about events they know little about.