[5] The Babangida regime oversaw the establishment of a state security apparatus; survived two coup d'ètat attempts and the subsequent execution of Mamman Vatsa (1985) and Gideon Orkar (1990) alongside the trial of hundreds of soldiers.

[6] The regime also faced a series of ethnic and religious outbreaks related to the fallout of Babangida's decision to increase cooperation with the Muslim world and rise in extremist tendencies.

On the continent, his rule projected the country as a regional power with diplomatic successes including the Abuja Treaty and the military engagement of Nigerian troops in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The fall of Babangida and his regime was precipitated by the transition toward the Third Nigerian Republic and the subsequent militarization of politics in the 1993 presidential election which he annulled.

From January 1966 to April 1966, Babangida attended the Younger Officers Course at the Royal Armoured Centre in the United Kingdom – where he received instruction in gunnery and the Saladin armored car.

[12] Lieutenant Babangida was posted with the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron in Kaduna, and witnessed the events of the bloody coup d'état of 1966, which resulted in the assassination of Sir Ahmadu Bello.

In 1969, during a reconnaissance operation from Enugu to Umuahia, the battalion came under heavy enemy fire and Babangida was shot on the right side of his chest.

[17] In January 1970, Babangida was informed by his sectional commander General Theophilus Danjuma of the capitulation of the Biafran Army to the federal military government in Lagos, signaling the end of the war.

From August 1972 to June 1973, he attended the Advanced Armoured Officers Course at the United States Army Armor School.

From January 1977 to July 1977, he attended the Senior Officers Course at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji.

[20] He was the main figure behind the coup d'ètat of 1983 which led to the overthrow of the Second Republic, with financial backing from his close associate and businessman Moshood Abiola.

The whole affair carried out by Babangida as ringleader was planned at the highest levels of the army cultivating his strategic relationship with allies: Sani Abacha, Aliyu Gusau, Halilu Akilu, Mamman Vatsa, Gado Nasko, and younger officers from his days as an instructor in the military academy (graduates of the NDA's Regular Course 3), and gradually positioned his allies within the echelons of military hierarchy.

At midnight on 27 August 1985, the plot metamorphosed with four Majors: Sambo Dasuki, Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, Lawan Gwadabe, and Abdulmumini Aminu detailed to arrest the head of state.

[24] By daybreak, the conspirators had taken over the government and Babangida flew into Lagos from Minna where he was announced as the new commander-in-chief in a radio broadcast by General Sani Abacha.

[25] Babangida ruling by decree promulgated his official title as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and placed Muhammadu Buhari under house arrest in Benin until 1988.

In 1986, Babangida launched the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, to restructure the Nigerian economy.

On 27 August 1991, Babangida created nine more states: Abia, Enugu, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Osun, Kogi, Taraba, and Yobe.

Babangida's then second-in-command Commodore Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe, opposed the decision to join the Islamic organization and was removed as Chief of General Staff.

[31] Close to the end of his tenure, he paid a state visit to the queen of the United Kingdom making him the second Nigerian leader after Yakubu Gowon to do so.

He urged all Nigerians to join either of the parties, which the late Chief Bola Ige famously referred to as "two leper hands."

The 1992 parliamentary election went ahead as planned, with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) winning majorities in both houses of the National Assembly, but on 7 August 1992, the NEC annulled the first round of 1992 presidential primaries.

In January 1993, Babangida rejigged the ruling military junta – the AFRC – replacing it with the National Defence and Security Council, as the supreme decision-making organ of the regime.

Babangida is one of the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party alongside other prominent military generals such as Aliyu Mohammed Gusau.

[34][35] He said he was doing so "under the banner of the Nigerian people" and accused the country's political elite of fuelling Nigeria's current ethnic and religious violence.

[41] He is considered a foremost elder statesman, and has called for a generational shift in leadership to allow for a new crop of leaders to replace the 1966 military class.

[45] He is believed to secretly possess a multi-billion dollar fortune via successive ownership of stakes in a number of Nigerian companies.