Nigeria, Feb. 24 -- It was a gathering of Nigeria's creme de la creme in Abuja last week, on Thursday, 20 February, when the country's former dictator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd.), launched his controversial autobiography, A Journey in Service. He also used the occasion to raise funds for a so-called presidential library. That event has since provoked public interest in the Babangida era, which spanned eight years, from 27 August 1985 to 27 August 1993.

The 420-page memoir chronicles, among other issues, his account of the criminal and destructive annulment of the 12 June, 1993 presidential election (popularly referred to as June 12), won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, and the assassination of the Editor-in-Chie...