• Actress takes to Instagram to announce wedding with military chief
History shapes men but very few men shape history. The few that do affect rare traits characteristic of giants of men, like Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. Inherent in the retired General are character, order, and meaning; the traits of exceptional men.
There is no gainsaying IBB is a political force, a symbol of change exemplary of the world that he lived in his youth. But despite the passage of time, IBB’s name and character remain immune to the ravages of time that renders passé, abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness. In the former military president, they epitomise a shifting but continuing validity.
This perhaps explains Ummi Ibrahim Zeezee’s fascination with IBB. In IBB, the Hausa actress has discovered the beat that makes her heart skip. It reverberates in the pulse of the former military General. And in his eyes, Ummi has found shiny little stars. As the stars brighten the skies, IBB imbues Ummi’s world with glitter. Little wonder she loves him with all her heart.
There is no gainsaying Ummi has found purpose and romance in her love for IBB and she would pay no worship to garish lust. The Hausa actress and Nollywood star is set to marry the former military ruler, if her latest Instagram post is anything to go by.
The actress claimed that she has been in a relationship with him since 2013, when she granted an interview stating that IBB loved her and that she loved him too. She had earlier hinted on Facebook that the 75-year-old former military ruler was planning to marry her but that there were things to be sorted out first.
Ummi posted a photo mix of herself and the Minna, Niger State born ex-ruler.
She however, took the message down less than an hour after posting it, suggesting that she was not permitted to make the announcement yet.
Some are of the opinion that she is merely fantasizing about a relationship with IBB.
Babangida, a native of the Gwari ethnic group, married Maryam (née King), his first wife on September 6, 1969. Together they had four children: Mohammed, Aminu, Aishat, and Halima. However, Maryam died from complications of ovarian cancer on December 27, 2009, leaving Babangida alone in the world.
Predictably, IBB was heartbroken over Mariam’s sad demise and despite speculations that he would take another wife, the ex-military dictator refused to remarry. Even in the face of temptation, IBB remained resolute, nursing the wounds inflicted in his soul by the tragic death of his heartthrob, Mariam. Sources close to Babangida revealed that it would be impossible for any woman to take the place of late Mariam in his heart.
Ummi vs late Mariam Babangida
Speculations abound over Ummi’s capacity to measure up to late Mariam in the estimation and life of IBB. While the jury is out on her ability to win the unhesitant love of IBB and earn a place in his life, the pressure is on Ummi to prove herself worthy of the retired General’s loyalty and affection.
There is no gainsaying late Mariam was a force of nature. As first lady, she launched many programmes to improve the life of women. The “Maryam Phenomenon” became a celebrity and “an icon of beauty, fashion and style”, a position she retained after her husband’s exit from power.
Born Maryam King in 1948 in Asaba (present-day Delta State), she attended her parents were Hajiya Asabe Halima Mohammed from the present Niger State, a Hausa, and Leonard Nwanonye Okogwu from Asaba, an Igbo. On September 6, 1969, shortly before her 21st birthday, she married IBB who was a Nigerian army Major at the period.
They had four children comprising two boys, Mohammed and Aminu, and two girls, Aisha and Halima. After her husband became Chief of Army Staff in 1983, Maryam became President of the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA). She was active in this role, launching schools, clinics, women’s training centres and child day care centres.
She also established a glamorous persona. Talking about the opening of the seven-day Better Life Fair in 1990, one journalist said “She was like a Roman empress on a throne, regal and resplendent in a stone-studded flowing outfit that defied description.” Women responded to her as a role model, and her appeal lasted long after her husband fell from power.
On December 27, 2009, Mariam died of ovarian cancer at 61 in Los Angeles, California. Her husband was at her side as she died. The president of the Nigerian Senate at the period, David Mark, reportedly broke down in tears upon hearing the news. The Times of Nigeria reported on her death identifying her as “one of the greatest women in Africa.”
Such is the force of life that late Mariam symbolised. Can Ummi ever measure up to her?
