General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the former military head of state, has revealed that his holier-than-thou rhetoric was one of the factors that led to his leadership in toppling General Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State in 1985.

In his latest book, “A JOURNEY IN SERVICE – An Autobiography,” Babangida, widely known as IBB, accused Buhari of spying on his calls for a variety of reasons.

Babangida served as Buhari’s Chief of Army Staff. Buhari had overthrown Shehu Shagari’s civilian administration in a coup on December 31, 1983.

He said in the book that he was also unhappy with the administration because of Buhari’s policies and management style.
Babangida said that Buhari and Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, his then-deputy, monopolized authority and exalted themselves above the rest of the military.

The book read,

After the military coup that replaced the civilian government of Shehu Shagari with a military regime led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida assumed the role of Chief of Army Staff.
“However, he became increasingly dissatisfied with the Buhari government’s policies and leadership style, which he believed were detrimental to the nation’s progress. This dissatisfaction eventually led to its ouster in 1985, and he took office as the military president.

According to Babangida, a change in leadership was now required since tension had been rising since the beginning of the year that Buhari was deposed.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.