Poor Judgement; Babangida's Theory on Guinea

I love psychiatry and it shows.It gives me a wider way of viewing things as against the parochial ways that I see people view things around me.That is what happened to me about 30minutes ago when on reaching home from church I browsed through a copy of this day magazine on Sunday that I bought on my way home.My usual practice is to browse the paper and then settle to read the whole paper through.However I had to immediately read a piece that is titled "IBB's Theory on Guinea".

Now IBB is the former military dictator who ruled Nigeria between 1985 and 1993.He was reputed to have organized the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria.But incidentally he also annulled the same election! Moreover, he came into power by staging a palace coup against the same military government in which he was the chief of Army Staff. In the course of his rule, he executed his childhood friend Mamman Vatsa for staging a coup against his government, because it is treason to stage a coup against a sitting government. One question I have always asked is this; Is the truth relative? Is right or wrong relative? Is there no right or wrong or does the concept of right or wrong depend on who is interpreting it? If a Mamman Vatsa was executed for conducting a coup, why is an Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida not executed for conducting a coup.Simple, he succeeded! However, let us face it, if I steal and was not caught but later found out it still makes me a thief.If I murder somebody and was not found out immediately and I was found out 5 years later, it still makes me a murderer. Babangida was a coup plotter,though he succeeded, that does not mean he is innocent. No, he was involved in treason and should be tried for treasonable felony. The sane goes for all that were involved in coup in the past, like Muhammad Buhari.

Why am I suddenly bringing up this line of thinking. It is because of what I read in the piece titled "IBB's Theory on Guinea".According to the article, Babangida says the military takeover in Guinea was a fitting and patriotic step to save a dangerous polarised country. Can you imagine? To Babangida's mind, the concept of right or wrong does not exist but anybody can leave his constitutional role and dabble into strange terrain all in the name of patriotism. He believes that a soldier that has the constitutional role of protecting the territorial integrity of a country can turn round and topple the government of the same country in the name of patriotism. He is inclined towards a master corrective role for the military on the political stage.He went against the constitution, got away with it and then canvasing that others should go against the law and the collective will of the people. The reason is very simple. His judgement was poor, was poor throughout his rule and still remains poor. He can openly say such folly because he was not tried for treason, and still enjoys the status of an ex-ruler being paid the tax payers' money and enjoying the highest honour of the land! If his government had been declared as illegal and an illegality by act of Parliament,he would have no audacity to make such outrageous pronouncement. At least, former president Olusegun Obasanjo received presidential pardon for a phantom coup before he could walk the streets freely and then went on to become a president.
So, for planning a coup, Babangida should be made to face the same treatment that he meted out to people who were caught planning a coup too. After all, Gideon Okar and co were also trying to save the country from the misrule of Babangida and his cohort who elevated corruption to an exalted position and institutionalized it.

So, judgement is an integral part of the mental state examination. It gives us an idea of the thinking of the individual. Over the years, Babangida as shown a lot of poor judgement, before, during and after government.Even in this days when military rule is widely condemned all over the world, he still maintains his poor judgement.One wonders why the Nigerian government will send such a person as representative in such an issue as the forceful takeover by the military in Guinea.