27th August and General Ibrahim Babangida

In a few days, it will be another 27th August, forty-one years after then Major-General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida led the coup d'etat that toppled the Major-General Muhammadu Buhari/Major-General Tunde Idiagbon military government. He was the Chief of Army Staff. His age was forty-four years. As for me, I was aged forty-one and very much an idealistic young man. I am now eighty-two years old. If the IBB coup had failed, I would have been part of the collateral damage. I would have been roped in. The penalty and price would almost certainly have been premature death for all those who were in any way connected with Babangida. His Royal Majesty Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, was then Colonel Dotun Gbadebo, Principal Staff Officer to Major-General Tunde Idiagbon. He did not mince words when he and his entourage sat at the table next to the King's College versus St Gregory's College table at the Lagos Motor Boat Club last Friday. When Babangida struck on 27th August 1985, it was a palace coup code-named 'Operation Midnight March'. The Buhari/Idiagbon regime was generally perceived as being too rigid, draconian and intolerant of dissent. It also coincided with economic hardship due to IMF/World Bank-recommended austerity measures. Added to these were detentions without trial and a clampdown on the press through the instrumentality of Decree 4 and censorship. There was also internal dissatisfaction within the military top hierarchy. General Ibrahim Babangida announced himself as President and Commander-in-Chief. The nomenclature was no longer 'Head of State'. He promised a transition to civilian rule and a 'more humane' government. He later set up 'the Armed Forces Ruling Council' with Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe as the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters – effectively the number two in the hierarchy. It bears repeating that it was Brigadier Olaseinde Ishola Williams (ex-King's College, Lagos), who was in charge of TRADOC (Training and Doctrine) based in Minna, Niger State, who called me to convey the invitation from his boss, Major-General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief of Army Staff. I was to deliver an address at the Chief of Army Staff Conference in Minna. Actually, I was out of the country. I had just arrived in London en route to the United States of America. Ishola would not take no for an answer. We were at the same primary school – Lagos Government School, Okesuna. The Training and Doctrine Command, TRADOC, is the Nigerian Army's think tank and training headquarters. Headquartered in Minna, Niger State, it was established in 1981 under Major General Geoffrey Ejiga to serve as the intellectual and instructional centre of the Army. Related News TRADOC was modelled after the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. Its job is to shape how the Army fights, trains, and thinks. It develops doctrine, designs training curricula, evaluates force structures, and supervises all 18 Nigerian Army schools, depots, and the Command College. Before the Nigerian Army Resource Centre was created in 2015, TRADOC also acted as the army's senior liaison with universities and research institutions. Beyond training, TRADOC is the custodian of Army doctrine. It studies past operations, from counter-insurgency in the Northeast to peacekeeping abroad, and turns those lessons into new manuals and tactics. It also runs key military exercises like Exercise Mugun Bugu and conducts the Senior Staff Course Qualifying Examination that determines which officers attend higher staff colleges. Though some officers jokingly call postings to Minna 'Siberia', TRADOC has produced some of the Army's top leaders. Both General Lucky Irabor and General Ibrahim Attahiru served there as Commander and Deputy Commander before becoming Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff, respectively. If the Army is the body, TRADOC is the brain and the classroom. It ensures the Nigerian Army doesn't just fight today's wars but learns, adapts, and prepares for tomorrow's. On 27th August 2026, those of us who were around during the military era will converge at RH England at Aynho Park, Aynho, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX17 3BQ Oxford, England, to reflect on what we witnessed and preview my book: 'GENIUS VERSUS UNFORCED ERRORS'. Nigeria, and indeed Africa, is blessed with extraordinary talent. From boardrooms to barracks, classrooms to marketplaces, we have men and women who deserve the title 'genius' — breakthrough ideas, bold leadership, and solutions that can change the trajectory of a nation. 'Yet, too often, progress is derailed not by lack of ideas or capacity, but by avoidable mistakes. In sports, these are called unforced errors — points lost not because the opponent was better, but because we fumbled. Bashorun J.K. Randle, in Genius vs Unforced Errors, argues that Nigeria's greatest constraint is not a deficit of genius. It is our tolerance for unforced errors in governance, business, institutions, and personal conduct. The book draws a distinction between two forces shaping our national destiny: ● Genius: The capacity to innovate, lead, build, and solve complex problems. It is seen in our entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, and public servants who deliver results against all odds. ● Unforced Errors: Self-inflicted setbacks. Policy somersaults, corruption, indiscipline, poor succession planning, ego-driven leadership, and the failure to execute simple things well. The thesis is simple: We do not need more genius to develop. We need fewer unforced errors to allow the genius we already have to thrive. Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date Open In Whatsapp