The family of the late General Mamman Vatsa has said that the autobiography of Military President Ibrahim Babangida, which was presented to the public last week, was full of deceit and only fit as a reference material for felons.
Politico Gazette reports that Vatsa and Babangida, both Niger State indigenes, were childhood friends and confidants. Babangida, as the then military head of state, killed Vatsa over an allegation of a coup plot that he aimed to attempt to topple his government in 1986.
A Supreme Military Tribunal found Vatsa and other co-conspirators guilty of the coup plot and sentenced him to death by firing squad, a sentence which Vatsa challenged and appealed against.
However, prior to the ruling on the appeal, the Babangida junta had ordered Vatsa’s execution by firing squad.
The Vatsa family reacted to a claim in Babangida’s autobiography that the killing of the late Vatsa was justified because there was enough evidence implicating him in the coup and his death was to ensure the national stability of the country.
The spokesperson of the family who was a former commissioner for Information Culture and Tourism in Niger State, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa, while addressing newsmen, reacted to Babangida’s claims in the book, which has continued to generate controversy.
The younger Vatsa described Babangida as a man who has lost out in the affairs of honour over the many lies contained in the autobiography.
According to Jonathan Vatsa, he decided not to react until he had read the book, noting that the book was full of deceits and distorted facts. Vatsa insisted that Babangida’s book could not serve as a reference material for the young and upcoming generations.
“It’s a collection of distorted facts called book written by a man without identity which cannot serve as a reference book for the younger generation but a good reference book for criminal-minded people,” he said.
Vatsa, who was also a former Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress was almost drawn to tears while addressing the media in Minna, as he explained that ordinarily, the Vatsa family wouldn’t have joined issues with a man whom, he said, “changed his identity just to belong to a certain ethnic group in the country,” stressing further that, “but since Babangida has refused to allow the late General Vatsa to rest in peace after killing him, we will let him know that even in death, late General Vatsa was a more honorable man because he had an identity and came from a home.”
Vatsa said Babangida admitted in his book that he changed the name Badamosi to Babangida so that people would know he was from the north, saying “Where did he get the name Badamosi from in the first place, because northerners do not bear the name Badamosi. That name is synonymous with people from the South-west.
A man who denied his tribe and identity is not fit to live.”
He further pointed out that the many lies in Babangida’s book was clear evidence that “he is not the genius the Nigerian media created for him, rather, “a Lilly-livered” General for annulling the June 12 election and failing to retire the late General Sani Abacha over fear of being killed by the Abacha loyalists in the Army as he claimed in his book.
“How can he lie that it was Abacha who annulled the June 12 election if he was in control as the Head of State? He equally admitted that the military was heavily politicised, and because of that, he couldn’t retire Abacha for fear of being killed by Abacha loyalists in the Army,” he said.
Vatsa maintained that those who advised Babangida to write what he termed “the bunch of lies and blackmails called autobiography” had further dented his already battered image, adding that “it was better for him to have kept quiet than dishing out the chunks of lies and deceit far from the truth about yourself as a human being.
“Unfortunately, the man he accused of annulling the June 12 election and all the actors in the June 12 controversy are no more today to tell their own side of the story and that is why no serious-minded individual should take the book seriously.
“This is the man that had earlier said he would not write any book because according to him, there are people he cannot resist abusing and that he wouldn’t want to hurt their children and grandchildren but what has he done now, this is lack of emotional stability.
“Even in death, Babangida has refused to allow late General Vatsa and his family to rest in peace. He is still troubling the dead man and his entire family. Well, people have seen the end of our brother, but Babangida doesn’t know how he will end.
“Our joy is that the reactions of Nigerians after the so-called book presentation show that the killing of the late General Vatsa was done out of envy, malice, and hatred. It was a case of a man with a root and identity versus someone who has no root and a second name.”
The Niger State APC Chieftain while expressing regrets at the cream of personalities that gathered for the book lunch, pointed out that the country called Nigeria was a huge joke, “a country where people who call themselves leaders act before they think. No reasonable Nigerian who is benefiting from the current democratic system, which Abiola struggled and eventually died for, should have donated towards this revelation of evil done to Nigeria and Nigerians called an autobiography.
“This has further confirmed why some Nigerians in their opinions believe that this country is not worth dying for. If not, how can we as a people gather to celebrate the evil done to a nation by an individual?” Vatsa queried.
