Perhaps my worst day ever was August 27, 1985, when the
military coup that ousted Major General Muhammadu Buhari from power was
announced. Major General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, then the Chief of Army
Staff, supplanted his boss in office, and held that position for eight years.
Buhari went into the valley of life, and stayed there for
many years. Even his marriage and home suffered terribly. But in 1989, he
picked up the pieces of marital life again, marrying pretty and winsome Aisha
from Adamawa State.
Also in 2003, the man from Daura, in Katsina State, took the
gauntlet by running for the county’s number one position, on platform of the
then All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). He ran again in 2007, in 2011, and also
in 2015. He finally won, and this time next week, he would be inaugurated as
President.
This Time Next Week. That is the title of a 1964 book by
Leslie Thomas, which I read well over 30 years ago. The book deals with the
escapades of some young boys growing up in an orphanage, and what a rib cracking
volume it is. I read it over and over again.
