There have been several reports, stories and insinuations about how the Ibrahim Babangida-led officers toppled the Muhammadu Buhari military government in 1985. Now, there is a refreshing perspective to it. This is coming in a new biography titled Muhammadu Buhari: The Black Pharaoh, written by Adebayo Adeolu. The 228-page book details how Babangida, according to the author, mobilised officers across military formations, how the late MKO Abiola allegedly funded the coup and what the Plan B was in case it failed.
In Chapter 11 of the book published by Kraft Books Limited, titled ‘Buhari Betrayed’, Adeolu, who is also the author of The Evolution of Politics vis Excellence in Leadership, among other works, notes that the coup could hardly have been if Buhari had granted a wish by another top officer, Domkat Bali, to be the Chief of Army Staff. Adeolu writes that all IBB needed was the position as a strategic plane from where he was able to connect the heads of other strategic divisions. Although Sanni Abacha would later play a prominent role in the Babangida’s government and the aftermath, the writer avers, he (Abacha) was a convert in the scheme of the coup, rather than being an initiator.
On Abiola’s connection, the book claims that the winner of the June 12 presidential election had cause to begrudge the short-lived Buhari regime. According to Adeolu, the government had seized the newsprint he imported for his newspapers, despite the fact that it was the government that said organisations or people who needed such, without depending on foreign exchange from government, could do so (import). He thus lends support to some other accounts that MKO was the financier of the coup.
Adeolu writes on Page 74: “Babangida had used his position as the Chief of Army Staff to execute the coup. He toured the army formations under the pretext of doing his job. However, he agreed to the coup on certain point of support, getting the mysterious General Sani Abacha to agree to his plot. He knew that without Abacha, the coup would fail. Abacha was friends to both Buhari and Babangida but Babangida was closer and had used the arrogance of Idiagbon as a way to convince Abacha.
“Despite the military men’s involvement, there were also civilians who put in funds. Chief MKO Abiola put in funds and was said to have put his private jet on standby in case the coup failed, so as to allow Babangida escape to exile. Abiola had also gone to Abeokuta so that if the coup failed, he would escape through Idi Iroko border. He had a stake as his Newsprint was seized by the Buhari government.”
Unfortunately, Abiola is no more alive to react to this, while the writer does not indicate whether or not there have been contrary views on his (MKO) said involvement.
Beyond the alleged IBB-Abiola connection, however, Muhammadu Buhari: The Black Pharaoh navigates other areas of the President’s and country’s lives. These include Buhari’s childhood and family life, and other historical events in the national life, including those that define the present Buhari/All Progressives Congress administration. The titles of some of the chapters readily suggest these: Buhari’s Sojourn in the Army and his Rise (Chapter 20), The Power Play that Triggered the 1966 Coup (3), Muhammadu Buhari Becomes Strategically Positioned (4), Marriage and Exploits after War Service to Nigeria (5), Aisha Ushers New Dawn (12) and Buhari Forms CPC (14), The Bola Tinubu Factor (15).
Some of the chapters bordering on Buhari’s current exploits include 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, dwelling on economic and socio-political issues. For instance, Adeolu is as current as capturing issues around the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu. He, in many parts of the book, presents Buhari as a man of destiny and an achiever whether now or then.
On Page 37, the author highlights his achievements when he was the Minister of Petroleum Resources: “During his tenure as the petroleum minister, he built pipelines connecting the Bonny Terminal to Port Harcourt. He signed contracts to set up the refineries in Kaduna and Warri, with pipeline links to the Escravos Terminal in Delta. He also built 24 petroleum depots in different areas. Buhari’s relationship with OPEC was special as he was able to influence what he wanted by assisting to generate revenues that would benefit Nigeria and their people.” Perhaps it is such a feat that makes Buhari’s critics to argue that he ought to have doubled it in the present situation.
In all, the biography is an important one because it deepens insight about Muhammadu Buhari the man: the man with cult following especially in the North; the man whose name is synonymous with discipline (although other people raise questions about this impression); and, perhaps most importantly, one who, like Olusegun Obasanjo, has had the opportunity to direct the destiny of the nation twice.
Adeolu’s book is so down to earth that it reveals the role Buhari played in the coup that sacked Yakubu Gowon. It is so down to earth that it claims it was Babangida who asked Dimka to escape after it had become clear that the coup in which Murtala Muhammed was assassinated had failed – but only for IBB to be accommodated instead of being court-martialled (Pg 35).
The work, again, not only gives a comprehensive account of the educational and business details of the President’s wife, Aisha Buhari, it also reveals what killed the Buhari’s first son from his first wife, Safinatu: sickle cell complications. This is how important Muhammadu Buhari: The Black Pharaoh appears to be. It is a book that will be useful in the constructing and deconstructing Buhari, and in critically analysing Nigeria – the military politics and battles as well as counter-battles to emancipate the country.
One good point the writer scores has to do with the tone of the narration, which is moderate. Unlike some writers who get carried away when writing biographies, to the point of turning themselves into mere public relations pipes for the subjects, Adeolu is able to maintain some intellectual distance from the personality involved, although discerning minds will still know that the book he wrote is a positive for the President. The writer’s facts cannot be 100 per cent correct since history itself is sometimes made to be an ass especially in a complex and unpredictable society as Nigeria; yet he as much as possible substantiates his claims, so that it will require other facts to disprove his position in most of the areas he touches. It is also important to note that his accounts have depths in many of the chapters.
The quality of production of Muhammadu Buhari: The Black Pharaoh is very good. The cover is elegant, print and font are intimate, just as the book showcases inspiring photographs of the President, capturing strategic areas of his iconic life.
The book does not suffer much from editing and proofreading either. This means that those sensitive to quality language control will not find it disappointing. This, however, does not mean that there are no few areas the writer and publishers should improve upon in subsequent editions. For instance, on page 81, the writer describes the June 12 election as a ‘water shed’, but watershed is one word. While the use of commas in some of the parenthetical sentences should also be standardised, what we have as ‘grassroot support’ on page 78 should be ‘grassroots support’.
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But why does Adeolu see Buhari as the black Pharaoh? This answer is what he seeks to establish in the final chapter of the book. The author, who seems to have soft spot for the Egyptian legendary ruler, recalls that when Buhari first ruled as a military man, he wielded the kind of power synonymous with Pharaoh’s. He indeed wished he (Buhari) had the same power in the current era as he (Adeolu) believes that a lot of great things the President would have loved to summarily achieve are being frustrated by democratic bureaucracy.
Secondly, he likens the way Buhari trusts and dedicates power to his aides to how Pharaoh ruled, just as he suspects that the President’s physique is the type that a DNA may trace to the Egyptian soil. Perhaps the chapter is Adeolu’s smart way of serenading the subject.
