Once upon a time, there was a man named Olusegun Osoba. He was once the governor of a place called Ogun State. Olusegun told a very interesting story about another man, Ibrahim Babangida, who is often called IBB.
IBB used to be a military leader. In 1985, he took over from another military man named General Muhammadu Buhari. But IBB didn’t do this all by himself. He had help from people like Late Sani Abacha and Aliyu Gusau.
Olusegun Osoba said that IBB told him a secret. IBB said that when he was in power, he felt like he was being controlled by the people who helped him take over. These people told him what to do, and he had no choice but to listen to them.
Olusegun shared this story while talking to a newspaper called ThisDay. He remembered a time when he and some other journalists, like Felix Peter, met with IBB. They told IBB all the things they thought were wrong with his government.
IBB listened to them and then said, “I am like a prisoner to the people who put me in this position. If I don’t do what they want, they would remove me very quickly. There is no such thing as absolute power.”
Olusegun explained that even though they were living under a tough military rule, they always tried to tell the truth. When they wrote stories, they knew that the military leaders understood what they were saying and sometimes accepted their words.