Babangida Shares His Experiences During Nigerian Civil War

Former Military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, has said his experience during the Nigerian Civil War was not a pleasant and palatable one.

Babangida, popularly known as IBB, said he fought with his classmates and colleagues, who were on the opposite side during the war, which made it sad.

The former Nigerian leader stated this in an interview with a radio station, Search FM, in Minna, the Niger State capital.

Babangida said the experience during the war was not comfortable but had to be done in order to unite the country.

He said: “It’s not a very nice experience I must say. First of all, you had people you went to school with, people you trained with, people who were your friends, suddenly as a result of the war, you find yourselves facing each other on opposite sides.

“It was not very comfortable but then, we had to do it. The purpose was to unite the country to keep it one not to break it. So that’s the uniquely sad aspect of a civil war and I pray, it never happens again.”

Speaking further, Babangida said if he hadn’t joined the military, he would have been a civil engineer, adding that one of his achievements was that he served the best he could.

He said: “Number one is that I served the country the best I could, it may not be to your satisfaction, but to the best that I could. I leave that to history to judge and I related fairly well with the people of the country.

“I had no problem with them and I got to know the country more as I was well travelled. I made friends all over the country and I thought that was one of the greatest achievments.”