Osoba: IBB told me he was hostage to those who helped him overthrow Buhari

Olusegun Osoba, a former governor of Ogun state, says Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), an ex-head of state, told him that he was hostage to those who helped him overthrow Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor.

Babangida overthrew Buhari as a military leader in 1985.

The likes of the late Sani Abacha, Aliyu Gusau, and Gado Nasko, among others, reportedly played key roles in the coup that ousted Buhari.

In an interview with THISDAY, Osoba said as a journalist, he and some of his colleagues had confronted IBB to tell him many things that his regime was getting wrong at the time.

The former governor said Babangida told them that he had no choice but to listen to his fellow coupists.

“You see, even under the military, I always tell you people that you should praise us that we were able to produce papers that were still sellable under military dictatorship,” Osoba said.

“You people operate under a civilian government. You don’t know what it was. The truth is that those military people knew that in-house. I will tell them the home truth.

“I remember one incident when Felix Peter, myself, and one or two other people met Babangida when he was military president.

“We bluntly told him a lot of things that were wrong with him and his government.

“It was so devastating that Gen. Babangida said, ‘Let me tell you boys, I am hostage to those who staged the coup and those who put me here.

“And if I didn’t listen to what they wanted, they would get me out in seconds. And that there are no absolute powers.”

Osoba said Babangida appreciated the feedback and promised to present their concerns to his “mentors and promoters”.

“So, you see, behind closed doors, we told them the home truth. So when we wrote stories, they already knew that we had told them the truth. And then tolerated us,” he added.