The family of the late General Mamman Vatsa has strongly criticized the autobiography of former Military President Ibrahim Babangida, which was unveiled last week, calling it full of falsehoods and only suitable as a reference for criminals.
Vatsa and Babangida, both from Niger State, were childhood friends and close associates.
However, in 1986, while serving as military head of state, Babangida ordered Vatsa’s execution over allegations of plotting a coup to overthrow his government.
A Supreme Military Tribunal convicted Vatsa and other alleged co-conspirators, sentencing him to death by firing squad.
Despite challenging the verdict and appealing the ruling, Babangida’s regime carried out the execution before a decision on the appeal was made.
The Vatsa family condemned Babangida’s claim in his book that the execution was justified due to sufficient evidence implicating Vatsa in the coup and that his death was necessary for national stability.
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Speaking to journalists, the family’s spokesperson, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa, a former Niger State Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism, dismissed Babangida’s assertions in the book, which has sparked widespread controversy.
Jonathan Vatsa accused Babangida of losing his integrity due to the numerous lies in the autobiography.
He stated that he deliberately withheld his reaction until reading the book and concluded that it was full of deception and distorted facts.
He maintained that Babangida’s account should not be regarded as a reliable source for future 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.
He recalled that the late General Vatsa had told the then Military tribunal that tried him that the day the Nigerian Army started insulting itself, others would join, so through this book, Babangida has insulted himself and others will join,” he submitted.
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