Max Siollun, a historian renowned for his razor-sharp chronicling of Nigeria’s post-colonial history, has called out former military ruler Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) for lifting passages from his books without credit in the latter’s newly released A Journey In Service.

Siollun, whose works Soldiers of Fortune and Oil, Politics and Violence document Nigeria’s military past, minced no words in a personal blog post he made on Friday:

“There is also the sensitive issue of plagiarism. Some sections of Babangida’s book have passages that use eerily similar (or verbatim identical) wording to my books.

“I challenge anyone to read Babangida’s book and not conclude that Babangida’s ghostwriter used passages from my books Soldiers of Fortune and Oil, Politics, and Violence, without citing me as the source (e.g. the passages about the 1976 coup, the use of retroactive legislation during the 1976 coup trials, ‘friendly neutrality’ of senior officers during the 1975 coup, and those about Brigadiers Diya and Mamman appearing before the Political Bureau in 1985).

“All of them read like extracts from my books rather than original authorship. I am astonished that his ghostwriter copied my work so brazenly without attribution.”

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WHO IS MAX SIOLLUN AND WHAT ARE HIS WORKS?

Siollun’s call-out draws on material from two of his seminal works.

In Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria’s Military Coup Culture (1966–1976), published in 2009 by Algora Publishing, he wrote about Nigeria’s era of military coups, especially how oil wealth and internal power defined its politics in contemporary times.

In contrast, Soldiers of Fortune: Nigerian Politics from Buhari to Babangida (1983–1993) — released in 2013 by Cassava Republic Press — is a fast-paced narrative of Nigeria’s later military regimes. It revisits the controversial decisions that defined the Buhari and Babangida eras.

Siollun himself is best known for his research and narration of Nigeria’s postcolonial military history.

COPY-PASTE HISTORY?

FIJ obtained Siollun’s books and Babangida’s books and compared them. The result reveals that Siollun’s observations have merit. In comparison, there is not just an overlap in ideas, but entire passages mirror each other, sometimes word for word, other times shuffled.

One such instance was Siollun’s phrase friendly neutrality, which he used in Oil, Politics and Violence to describe the stance of senior officers during the 1975 coup. Babangida’s book employed the exact phrase in the same context, without attribution. Maybe a coincidence. Maybe not. But then the pattern continued.

Siollun’s Oil, Politics and Violence, Page 215, describes the military reshuffle after the failed 1976 coup:

“The Lagos Garrison Organisation was upgraded to a full division and became the 4th Infantry Division under the command of Brigadier M.I. Wushishi. Years later, Wushishi became the Chief of Army Staff. Murtala’s relative Brigadier Abbas Wali was recalled from London (where he was working as the military adviser at Nigeria’s High Commission) and appointed the new Adjutant General.”

Babangida’s A Journey In Service, Page 103, presents a near-identical sequence:

“To beef up security around the seat of government in Lagos, the Lagos Garrison was upgraded to the 4th Infantry Division under the command of Brigadier M. I. Wushishi.”

A mere rewording, but in the same order. Another near-exact replica came in the concluding part of Siollun’s Page 215:

“The intelligence failure that allowed the conspirators to plan and execute their plot without detection proved embarrassing and led to the creation of a new intelligence agency called the National Security Organisation (NSO) under Colonel Abdullahi Mohammed. Mohammed is regarded as the godfather of modern Nigerian military intelligence. The Inspector-General of police M.D. Yusuf lost jurisdiction over the ‘E’ department (Special Branch) of the police, which was incorporated into the NSO. Although Yusuf was blamed in some quarters for not detecting the plot, in fairness it should be recalled that he was dissuaded from taking pre-emptive action against the 1975 coup plot that brought the regime to power. The movement of the Special Branch away from the police weakened the police as it had to rely on an external agency for its intelligence.”

Babangida’s book presented the same historical moment with minimal alterations:

“But, by far, the most fundamental impact of the coup was that it led to lasting security changes in the country. The coup led to the establishment of the new National Security Organisation (NSO), headed by Colonel Abdullahi Muhammed. With the creation of the NSO, which catered essentially to military matters, the Police Force lost control of its jurisdiction over the Special Branch, the famous ‘F’ Department. That removal of the Special Branch from the Police Force may have weakened the Force. One of the first things I sought to do as President was to attempt to redress that anomaly.”

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IBB’S CONTROVERSIAL MEMOIR

The former dictator had published his memoir in February. As expected of a product of one of the most controversial Nigerian leaders, the book caused public debates. More so, because of its political confessions.

Babangida had admitted that M.K.O. Abiola won the annulled 1993 elections. He also distanced himself from the decision, throwing Sani Abacha under the bus. Additionally, Babangida denied involvement in the assassination of journalist Dele Giwa.