Only God knows how painful Maryam Babangida's death has been to her husband of 40 years, Ibrahim. From all indications, it must have been very painful. They had never been separated for four decades, living together through the good, tough and bad times. When Babangida annulled a free and fair election in 1993 and was given the boot, he found comfort in his wife. She was never known to have failed to render him unconditional love and support. Even when Babangida character as a ruthless dictator was in play, Maryam never spoke badly about anything her husband did. Contrarily, she used her husband's position to her greatest benefit.

How bad it must have been for Ibrahim to have spent the last few months like an ordinary human being attending to a sick wife in the United States? One of Nigeria's richest and most crowding-drawing leaders must have been humbled, going back and forth in an American hospital to care for a sick wife. Babangida was not ordinary. He had lots of money. He could have bought the hospital where his wife died and all the medical staff, if he wished, and shipped them to Minna. What went wrong? This did not happen, did it?

Nigerian leaders know when they leave the shores of Africa, they lose the air of importance accorded at home. Quite often, they drive their own cars and are treated with courtesy but with none of the 'rankadede' accompaniments in Nigeria. When they eat their snacks, they have to throw the wrap in the bin like everyone else. When they go to the post office, they have to wait in line as everyone else. When they get to the airport, they must obey the rules. It must have been very humbling for Ibrahim Babangida to have gone through the 'disrespect' of the American life while at the same time tendering to a seriously ill wife.

Ibrahim would have wished he didn't have to bring Maryam to the United States for treatment at some point during the treatment. I am qualified to paint a picture of Babangida's last few months in the United States. Not only do I live here, but my mother-in-law was treated around the same time Maryam was hospitalized in California for an identical medical condition Mrs. Babangida died of at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey. They are about the same age and my mother-in-law gave birth to my wife the same year Maryam got married. You could say they had a lot in common, except, perhaps, better life for richer women! My wife's mom is surviving. My wife and I had no problems whatsoever with meeting the conditions of the treatment, but I do know for a fact, it must have been difficult for a man of IBB's caliber to sit like a mere mortal in a US hospital.

I can imagine how the courteous nurses and doctors at the hospital talked to Babangida as if he was just another human being. "Can you please stand outside for a few minutes, Sir?" Can you move your legs there for a minute, Sir?” “Can you please come back at 7pm, Sir?" "What did you say you name was again, Sir – can you spell it?" "Is it true that you were an important government official in the Caribbean, Sir?" I can almost see how the medical center's security men made him wait before entry and the cleaners cast him a bad look for littering the floor. How Ibrahim Babangida must have been brought back to earth in the last few months of his wife's presence on earth.

First, the generosity of the American government in allowing Babangida - a man who had been refused entry for so long - to join his wife on compassionate grounds must be hailed. They could have said no to his visa application, even when America stood to benefit from the millions of dollars that would be spent on treatment and by IBB's crowd of sympathizers who visited and shopped in the process. Thank you, America.

The point here is that Mrs. Babangida's death reveals how money has its limits and what price we pay for not doing the right thing at the right time.

Ovarian cancer is not such a medical condition that Nigerian hospitals should not have been able to treat after almost 50 years of our independence. The human resources to provide the best medical services exist in Nigeria, but the material resources are lacking. We lack the resources because Nigerian leaders have refused to provide them, thinking selfishly that if they stole enough, they would travel abroad to get anything they required. Instead of developing the nation that has been good to them, they steal catastrophic amounts of the public funds and afford themselves exclusive and exotic expenses such as the overseas medical treatment that did not save Mrs. Babangida's life. Fortunately (yes, fortunately), Ibrahim is perhaps the best example of bad leadership that got Nigeria in such a state where even mid-level civil servants seek medical treatment abroad.

When my dad died four years ago in Nigeria, no explanation was given of what he died of. He had been treated at local clinics and a university teaching hospital. They never told us what medical condition he lost his life to. They simply didn't know. And we didn't bother to press them, knowing the hospitals lacked the diagnostic capacity to provide an intelligent answer. You only have to visit Nigerian hospitals to know how bad the situation is. A friend, who migrated to the United States two years ago, an unbelievable story of his eye surgery. He was left in pains for several days because there were no drugs, even though he was receiving treatment in a military hospital as a member of the Navy.

Babangida and his cohorts looted Nigeria. They turned hospitals to consulting clinics and universities to glorified high schools. They took their own children from the system and sent them to the best schools abroad. They took from many and gave to a few. Nigeria became what Tell Magazine described as 'Rich Men, Poor Nation." While less endowed nations were taking great strides, Nigeria became a nation whose progress can only be seen through Lekki, Victoria Island and Abuja, while focus is lost on the abject poverty in our villages, towns and cities.

While sending Maryam abroad has not saved her life, sending the children of the rich to school abroad has also resulted in an unintended consequence of international terrorism. Maryam and Farouk Mutallab have provided a weekend of deep reflection for Nigeria's rich.

Ibrahim and Maryam Babangida have no endowment at any Nigerian university. They did not contribute any money to any teaching hospital to cause any improvement or change. They did not build any hospital or local health center, neither did they put any money down to fight any major disease. Instead, they spent their money and time on frivolities.

The Babangida family did not use Maryam’s medical condition to attract attention to this disease that affects millions, as most sensible public figures do. Instead they lied to the end - telling Nigeria that all was well. No public statement was issued, even when the rumor mill was rife. The Maradona lied and hid in America as a common citizen.

The answer to our greatness is not in seeking solutions with stolen money outside of our shores, but in serving the people honestly and diligently.

Looking at it this way, Babangida could have contributed to the death of his wife: if Babangida had done something about the hospitals in Nigeria, the wife would probably have been tended to like a queen in Nigeria and her condition would have been correctly diagnosed and treated before it became terminal.

Againstbabangida.com wishes that Babangida will get over his loss through sober reflection, regret and a readiness for restitution. We will not join the gang of hypocrites and fail to tell him the truth. And this is the truth: We sympathize with Ibrahim Babangida on the death of his wife's, but our greatest sympathy goes to Nigerian women who suffer the same condition as Maryam but would never know what it is because they will not be correctly diagnosed by the medical system that Babangida bequeathed through corruption.

Chris Tunde Odediran, who practiced journalism at Guardian, Concord and Punch, is the founder of Againstbabangida.com and Citizens For Nigeria.





Source: SaharaReporter.com
Written by Chris Tunde Odediran
Monday, 28 December 2009 23:38

Interesting, but rather long write up.

Imeobong:

Only God knows how painful Maryam Babangida's death has been to her husband of 40 years, Ibrahim. From all indications, it must have been very painful. They had never been separated for four decades, living together through the good, tough and bad times. When Babangida annulled a free and fair election in 1993 and was given the boot, he found comfort in his wife. She was never known to have failed to render him unconditional love and support. Even when Babangida character as a ruthless dictator was in play, Maryam never spoke badly about anything her husband did. Contrarily, she used her husband's position to her greatest benefit.

How bad it must have been for Ibrahim to have spent the last few months like an ordinary human being attending to a sick wife in the United States? One of Nigeria's richest and most crowding-drawing leaders must have been humbled, going back and forth in an American hospital to care for a sick wife. Babangida was not ordinary. He had lots of money. He could have bought the hospital where his wife died and all the medical staff, if he wished, and shipped them to Minna. What went wrong? This did not happen, did it?

Nigerian leaders know when they leave the shores of Africa, they lose the air of importance accorded at home. Quite often, they drive their own cars and are treated with courtesy but with none of the 'rankadede' accompaniments in Nigeria. When they eat their snacks, they have to throw the wrap in the bin like everyone else. When they go to the post office, they have to wait in line as everyone else. When they get to the airport, they must obey the rules. It must have been very humbling for Ibrahim Babangida to have gone through the 'disrespect' of the American life while at the same time tendering to a seriously ill wife.

Ibrahim would have wished he didn't have to bring Maryam to the United States for treatment at some point during the treatment. I am qualified to paint a picture of Babangida's last few months in the United States. Not only do I live here, but my mother-in-law was treated around the same time Maryam was hospitalized in California for an identical medical condition Mrs. Babangida died of at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey. They are about the same age and my mother-in-law gave birth to my wife the same year Maryam got married. You could say they had a lot in common, except, perhaps, better life for richer women! My wife's mom is surviving. My wife and I had no problems whatsoever with meeting the conditions of the treatment, but I do know for a fact, it must have been difficult for a man of IBB's caliber to sit like a mere mortal in a US hospital.

I can imagine how the courteous nurses and doctors at the hospital talked to Babangida as if he was just another human being. "Can you please stand outside for a few minutes, Sir?" Can you move your legs there for a minute, Sir?” “Can you please come back at 7pm, Sir?" "What did you say you name was again, Sir – can you spell it?" "Is it true that you were an important government official in the Caribbean, Sir?" I can almost see how the medical center's security men made him wait before entry and the cleaners cast him a bad look for littering the floor. How Ibrahim Babangida must have been brought back to earth in the last few months of his wife's presence on earth.

First, the generosity of the American government in allowing Babangida - a man who had been refused entry for so long - to join his wife on compassionate grounds must be hailed. They could have said no to his visa application, even when America stood to benefit from the millions of dollars that would be spent on treatment and by IBB's crowd of sympathizers who visited and shopped in the process. Thank you, America.

The point here is that Mrs. Babangida's death reveals how money has its limits and what price we pay for not doing the right thing at the right time.

Ovarian cancer is not such a medical condition that Nigerian hospitals should not have been able to treat after almost 50 years of our independence. The human resources to provide the best medical services exist in Nigeria, but the material resources are lacking. We lack the resources because Nigerian leaders have refused to provide them, thinking selfishly that if they stole enough, they would travel abroad to get anything they required. Instead of developing the nation that has been good to them, they steal catastrophic amounts of the public funds and afford themselves exclusive and exotic expenses such as the overseas medical treatment that did not save Mrs. Babangida's life. Fortunately (yes, fortunately), Ibrahim is perhaps the best example of bad leadership that got Nigeria in such a state where even mid-level civil servants seek medical treatment abroad.

When my dad died four years ago in Nigeria, no explanation was given of what he died of. He had been treated at local clinics and a university teaching hospital. They never told us what medical condition he lost his life to. They simply didn't know. And we didn't bother to press them, knowing the hospitals lacked the diagnostic capacity to provide an intelligent answer. You only have to visit Nigerian hospitals to know how bad the situation is. A friend, who migrated to the United States two years ago, an unbelievable story of his eye surgery. He was left in pains for several days because there were no drugs, even though he was receiving treatment in a military hospital as a member of the Navy.

Babangida and his cohorts looted Nigeria. They turned hospitals to consulting clinics and universities to glorified high schools. They took their own children from the system and sent them to the best schools abroad. They took from many and gave to a few. Nigeria became what Tell Magazine described as 'Rich Men, Poor Nation." While less endowed nations were taking great strides, Nigeria became a nation whose progress can only be seen through Lekki, Victoria Island and Abuja, while focus is lost on the abject poverty in our villages, towns and cities.

While sending Maryam abroad has not saved her life, sending the children of the rich to school abroad has also resulted in an unintended consequence of international terrorism. Maryam and Farouk Mutallab have provided a weekend of deep reflection for Nigeria's rich.

Ibrahim and Maryam Babangida have no endowment at any Nigerian university. They did not contribute any money to any teaching hospital to cause any improvement or change. They did not build any hospital or local health center, neither did they put any money down to fight any major disease. Instead, they spent their money and time on frivolities.

The Babangida family did not use Maryam’s medical condition to attract attention to this disease that affects millions, as most sensible public figures do. Instead they lied to the end - telling Nigeria that all was well. No public statement was issued, even when the rumor mill was rife. The Maradona lied and hid in America as a common citizen.  

The answer to our greatness is not in seeking solutions with stolen money outside of our shores, but in serving the people honestly and diligently.  

Looking at it this way, Babangida could have contributed to the death of his wife: if Babangida had done something about the hospitals in Nigeria, the wife would probably have been tended to like a queen in Nigeria and her condition would have been correctly diagnosed and treated before it became terminal.
Againstbabangida.com wishes that Babangida will get over his loss through sober reflection, regret and a readiness for restitution. We will not join the gang of hypocrites and fail to tell him the truth. And this is the truth: We sympathize with Ibrahim Babangida on the death of his wife's, but our greatest sympathy goes to Nigerian women who suffer the same condition as Maryam but would never know what it is because they will not be correctly diagnosed by the medical system that Babangida bequeathed through corruption.

Chris Tunde Odediran, who practiced journalism at Guardian, Concord and Punch, is the founder of Againstbabangida.com and Citizens For Nigeria.





Source: SaharaReporter.com
Written by Chris Tunde Odediran
Monday, 28 December 2009 23:38

[/quote

This piece is well written. Unfortunately niether will IBB, and his cronies wil read it or take any heed or lesson from that loss.

This is exactly what YAR 'FAILURE and all the politicians and people around him and before him does. Basterdise our own health and educational system, and send themselves and their families on the country's monies to a foreign country.

Made the Lord's judgement come speedily on all of them. EVIL GENIUS

@Poster, isn't the Title of the thread misleading and dishonest then?

I thought he was going to show us how he 'did' it!

Kobojunkie:

@Poster, isn't the Title of the thread misleading and dishonest then?

"Ovarian cancer is not such a medical condition that Nigerian hospitals should not have been able to treat after almost 50 years of our independence. The human resources to provide the best medical services exist in Nigeria, but the material resources are lacking. We lack the resources because Nigerian leaders have refused to provide them, thinking selfishly that if they stole enough, they would travel abroad to get anything they required. Instead of developing the nation that has been good to them, they steal catastrophic amounts of the public funds and afford themselves exclusive and exotic expenses such as the overseas medical treatment that did not save Mrs. Babangida's life. Fortunately (yes, fortunately), Ibrahim is perhaps the best example of bad leadership that got Nigeria in such a state where even mid-level civil servants seek medical treatment abroad"

Seems the title was written in a way so as to attract more interest. I must confess, it worked, lol
Though a long heap of funky stuff

Imeobong:

"Ovarian cancer is not such a medical condition that Nigerian hospitals should not have been able to treat after almost 50 years of our independence. The human resources to provide the best medical services exist in Nigeria, but the material resources are lacking. We lack the resources because Nigerian leaders have refused to provide them, thinking selfishly that if they stole enough, they would travel abroad to get anything they required. Instead of developing the nation that has been good to them, they steal catastrophic amounts of the public funds and afford themselves exclusive and exotic expenses such as the overseas medical treatment that did not save Mrs. Babangida's life. Fortunately (yes, fortunately), Ibrahim is perhaps the best example of bad leadership that got Nigeria in such a state where even mid-level civil servants seek medical treatment abroad"

But all the above still does not change the fact that the topic of the thread remains misleading. He did not kill his wife, neither did he contribute to her death. She had access to the best healthcare in the world and even that did not save her. So, I don't understand why his not setting up medical centers in Nigeria means he killed his wife or had any hand in it.

Just a waste of my click

Just a waste of my click

u try sef. me cant be bothered.

Kobojunkie:



But all the above still does not change the fact that the topic of the thread remains misleading. He did not kill his wife, neither did he contribute to her death. She had access to the best healthcare in the world and even that did not save her. So, I don't understand why his not setting up medical centers in Nigeria means he killed his wife or had any hand in it.

You still did not get kobojunkie, look @ it this way, if 2% of the money he stole was put into developing the hospitals (or rather the health sector) in Nigeria, the cancer I believe would have been diagnosed earlier, and I believe it would not have resulted in her death, so by negleting the health sector in Nigeria for 9 years, he has a hand not only in his wife's death but also in millions of Nigerians that have been killed as a result of lack of quality heath care

Imeobong:

You still did not get kobojunkie, look @ it this way, if 2% of the moneyhe stole was put into developing the hospitals (or rather the health sector) in Nigeria, the cancer I believe would have been diagnosed earlier, and I believe it would not have result in her death, so by negleting the health sector in Nigeria for 9 years, he has a hand not only on his wifes death but also on millions of Nigerians that have been killed as a result of lack of quality heath care

I disagree with out on that. Even folks who live in advanced countries can be misdiagnosed. We have no information stating this is the ONLY time the IBB family has been abroad for treatment of any sort. Trying to argue now that the reason his wife died is because he did not develop Nigerian healthcare is just not right. As evil as this man and his family has been to the Nigerian people, we cannot go around making things up in hopes of scoring meaningless points against him please.

Not saying I hope she rests in peace, as I believe and pray this is the beginning of the End for the IBB clan and I hope 2010 will bring them more even more heartache, on the level they caused the Nigerian people. Just that it would be great if we dealt HONESTLY as humans.

Imeobong:

You still did not get kobojunkie, look @ it this way, if 2% of the money he stole was put into developing the hospitals (or rather the health sector) in Nigeria, the cancer I believe would have been diagnosed earlier, and I believe it would not have resulted in her death, so by negleting the health sector in Nigeria for 9 years, he has a hand not only in his wife's death but also in millions of Nigerians that have been killed as a result of lack of quality heath care

absolutely trash. hissis and walks away!

@ POSTER, HUN, LESSON FOR US ALL

Kobokunkie

I as much as I do not think it is right to rejoice over the death of a human being. I think the person that opened the thread did have a point. If these guys had raised our healthcare programme, there will av been no need junketting all over the world to get medical care. How many SA or Ghanaian leaders have gone abroad for treatment the way we do. The fact remains that if a man has left what he ought to do today undone, then if anything bad comes out of it then the person is liable for anything untoward that comes from it. Yar Adua is costing us a whole lot of tax-payers money being in Saudi Arabia or wherever he is and someone is telling me that our leaders are not responsible for avoidable deaths going on here. Nigeria has one of the highest rate of avoidable deaths in the whole earth plane

Everyone has a right to hold an opinion but I think we should also allow other people to air their views. If you do not want to read, please move on to another thread. Nairaland has got a whole lot of threads to read from. Let's call a spade a spade, these our leaders are causing us a whole lot of hardship

Kudos to the opener of the thread for whetting our appetite with such a nice piece.

God Bless Nigeria

keeeem:

Kobokunkie

I as much as I do not think it is right to rejoice over the death of a human being. I think the person that opened the thread did have a point. If these guys had raised our healthcare programme, there will av been no need junketting all over the world to get medical care. How many SA or Ghanaian leaders have gone abroad for treatment the way we do. The fact remains that if a man has left what he ought to do today undone, then if anything bad comes out of it then the person is liable for anything untoward that comes from it. Yar Adua is costing us a whole lot of tax-payers money being in Saudi Arabia or wherever he is and someone is telling me that our leaders are not responsible for avoidable deaths going on here. Nigeria has one of the highest rate of avoidable deaths in the whole earth plane

Everyone has a right to hold an opinion but I think we should also allow other people to air their views. If you do not want to read, please move on to another thread. Nairaland has got a whole lot of threads to read from. Let's call a spade a spade, these our leaders are causing us a whole lot of hardship

Kudos to the opener of the thread for whetting our appetite with such a nice piece.

God Bless Nigeria

Yes, ooo!!!!Thank you my brother,

edwin101:

absolutely trash. hissis and walks away!

you better do and do it fast,

right - righter - rightest, wrong - wronger - wrongest.
@ poster,
this is the rightest thread that i have seen on nairaland with the wrongest topic in the world.

question - how did ibb kill his wife?
answer - my wife's mother was sick and my wife was born the same day ibb's wife was married. immediately, the cleaners ask him to shift his legs sir, while the doctor told him to wait outside sir.
even while he was a dictector, the wife stood by him when all friends must have deserted him.
question - i mean how ibb killed the wife?
answer - ok, the wife was very sick and he had to fly her to new jersey and my wife's mother was in the same hospital with the same sickness which means, she is likely to die soon but my wife and i are doing our best to pay all the bills. even babangida was surposed to build hospital in nigeria but he never did so my inlaw is feeling better now.

my concern here now is with this kind of long and irrelevant/unrelated thread topic, one embecile here in nigeria in the name of a godfather will invite this poster tomorrow to be the gov of his state and that state will be moving front and back till the end of the 8 yrs.

If you want to see the write up in the right light, you will, hypocrisy, over sabi or I too sabi aside.

On that note, do good or the right thing and it shall be well with you and all that has got to do with you, saying it succinctly.

Do otherwise then : .

It is certain they must have been visiting local hospital that kept on diagnosing malaria since that is the best they (hospital) can detect.

The state and manner of equipment which they lied was purchased and installed isn't doing them good too.

If not for the benefit of our **** money and the availability of good med-care in other countrie that pride themselves in health care which resulted in the late and final discovery of the cause of illness.

I would have said KARMA is a bitch!!!

@ OP I concur with you.

@ the Over Sabi(s) : I didn't write that for you to understand.