Daily Inspiration Quote by Ibrahim Babangida

Babangida’s line reads like a tidy defense of historical rigor, but it also functions as a bid to control the story while the storytellers are still alive. By insisting that historians “need the authority of facts supplied by living witnesses,” he elevates testimony into a kind of credentialing system: the closer you were to power, the more legitimate your version becomes. In a country like Nigeria, where coups, countercoups, and abrupt regime changes have repeatedly turned yesterday’s insiders into today’s suspects, that’s not an innocent methodological point. It’s a reminder that memory is a resource, and witnesses are political actors.

The phrasing is careful. “Authority of facts” fuses two things that don’t always sit neatly together: facts (which imply verification) and authority (which implies hierarchy). “Supplied” quietly frames witnesses as providers, not participants with motives, blind spots, or self-preserving edits. The subtext: if you want the “real” record, come to the people who were there, and by extension, come to us.

As a statesman and former military ruler, Babangida carries baggage: debates over accountability, secrecy, and who gets to narrate national turning points. The quote can be read as a preemptive legitimization of elite testimony, especially from those who held the levers of state. It’s also a subtle warning about the cost of historical distance: wait too long and you lose access, not just to details, but to the sanctioned version of events.