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The National Association of Ogun State Students, NAOSS, has slammed the former Nigerian Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd), for admitting that the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola won the June 12, 1993, presidential election—over 31 years later.

The student body equally condemned the accolades being showered on Babangida by some Nigerians and the donation of N16 billion during the official launch of his memoir, A Journey in Service, last week in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

NAOSS, in a statement signed on Monday by its National President, Kehinde Thomas, in Abeokuta, described the admittance by the former Head of State that an illustrious son of Ogun actually won the annulled presidential poll over three decades ago as “not only an act of cowardice but confessing to the obvious.”

Thomas, who expressed disappointment at the retired general for blaming the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, for single-handedly annulling the freest and fairest presidential election in the annals of the country, wondered why it took Babangida many years to come clean on the matter.

According to him, taking responsibility for plunging Nigeria into a dark era and for the shedding of the blood of innocent Nigerians who protested the annulment does not atone for the sins and injustice committed by the military junta of IBB.

Thomas stressed that General Babangida (rtd.), as the head of government at the time, should have toed the path of honor by standing against the injustice perpetrated against the person of the late M.K.O. Abiola and the entire people of Southwest Nigeria, rather than pulling the wool over the eyes of Nigerians.

He pointed out that the memoir was nothing but another layer of lies to cover the truth and a failure to address some issues shrouded in darkness.

While declaring that Ogun State students under the auspices of NAOSS would not buy into the “latter-day confession of a Maradona,” he said other atrocities carried out under the former military Head of State should also have been acknowledged by him.

Thomas, however, berated Nigerians who donated huge amounts of money and poured encomiums on IBB during the launch of the memoir, saying their actions betrayed the sacrifice and supreme price paid by the winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential poll.

The NAOSS National President further faulted the memoir for failing to shed light on the gruesome murder of renowned investigative journalist Dele Giwa, among other alleged state-sponsored crimes under the leadership of IBB.

“As students who are indigenes of Ogun State under the umbrella of NAOSS, we want to express our disappointment and deep resentment at the accolades that greeted the launch of the memoir of the former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd.). That IBB acknowledged that an illustrious son of our dear state, the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola, won the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election does not absolve him of the wrong and injustice meted out to the winner and the entire Southwest.

“One wonders what kept an acclaimed combatant soldier, military tank specialist, and general from speaking up for over three decades before finally taking responsibility for what happened back then. Why is he only now blaming the late General Sani Abacha for standing stoutly against the declaration of Abiola as the winner of the poll? He had ample opportunity to set the record straight while Abacha was still alive. His confession now reeks of nothing but cowardice.

“To us, that memoir did not shed light on any gray areas; rather, it confirmed what people have come to know over the years. Apart from the issue of June 12, 1993, why did IBB fail to tell us who murdered Dele Giwa, an investigative journalist who was killed with a letter bomb? What of other atrocities carried out by his foot soldiers?

“However, it is appalling and disheartening to see that the book launch grossed nothing less than N16 billion, while some prominent Nigerians eulogized and poured encomiums on IBB at the event. Such actions, no doubt, betrayed the sacrifice and supreme price paid by that great Nigerian and proud son of Ogun. We are very sure that the late M.K.O. Abiola would be turning in his grave if he could see that IBB, who was a harbinger of the darkest era in the annals of Nigeria, is today being celebrated as a hero,” the statement added.