The Super Eagles go to Morocco counted among the favourites for the tournament, though the team - and nation - is still recovering after a shock World Cup qualifying playoff defeat to DR Congo.
A gold medalist with Nigeria from the 1996 Olympics, Babangida spoke to Tribalfootball.com from his home in the Netherlands about his country's chances at AFCON and also how Eric Chelle and his players can recover from their World Cup heart-break in time to tackle the tournament head-on.
How important is a big AFCON performance for Nigeria after the World Cup qualifying failure?
I think that after the unfortunate experience of missing the FIFA World Cup back to back, it is still very painful to digest this reality.
However, the next target is the AFCON tournament, which can be used to redeem the image of Nigeria football. For NFF, the players and football stakeholders, all we have now is the AFCON. So, we have to do everything we can to win the tournament.
The tournament will not be easy, all the major African teams that qualified for the 2026 World Cup are also there, but the Super Eagles may surprise the world and go all the way.
I think the team can bring the Cup back to Nigeria after more than 12 years. I see Nigeria playing in the final, at least and anything can happen in cup final. Super Eagles played in the final of the last edition. The team lost to Cote d'Ivoire 2-1.
What can you tell us about what happened against DR Congo? What are your thoughts?
In that game, the Congolese were more organised than the Super Eagles. It was very disappointing watching the Super Eagles in that game. Congo controlled the game from second half and had more of ball possession.
Congo would have won the game within regulation time or at the extra time, but the game dragged into penalties where Nigeria eventually lost it and crashed out of the 2026 World Cup.
Congo meant business, were more determined, but that is football. The better team won.
How did Nigeria's football fans take to missing World Cup qualification?
From what I gathered here in Netherlands where I am currently, Nigerian fans all over the world are not happy at all that the Super Eagles missed out on the World Cup for the second time in a row.
We have so many Nigerians living in the United States, Europe and the ones back home that were waiting to support, cheer the Super Eagles in US. I watched online how some young Nigerians football fans were crying after the team lost the play-offs to Congo in Morocco.
The reality of missing the FIFA World Cup is very hard on the fans and I hope this AFCON will be great for Super Eagles and they will use it to cheer the fans that suffered heartbreak when the team lost to Congo.
How far would winning AFCON go to bringing the fans and players together again?
If the Super Eagles win the AFCON, I can boldly tell you that the team will be forgiven for the pain of losing the World Cup ticket and this will also send a message that the team only had a rough path during the World Cup qualifiers.
Winning the AFCON will bring the fans and the players together. It will send the message to the world that Nigeria is the best in Africa and we can use it as a springboard to start the processs of qualifying for the 2030 World Cup.
How important will be having a fully fit Victor Osimhen available for the tournament?
It is dangerous that it appears that the Super Eagles is built around Victor Osimhen. It was when Osimhen was removed in the beginning of the second half against Congo, that the team started to struggle. That is very bad.
The Super Eagles of my time was not built around one player. Many people have observed that Super Eagles is built around Osimhen. This is a problem that Eric Chelle must fix, if the team wants to win the AFCON. Chelle must impact this mentality to all the players, the attackers especially, that the team is not built around Osimhen. Any player given the nod to feature in any game must perform very well and play as a team.
We need a fully fit Osimhen, but we also need a fully mentally prepared players who knows that with or without Osimhen, Super Eagles can win. Morale should be high in the team whether Osimhen is there or not. Osimhen was absent in most of the games that the team failed to win during the World Cup qualifiers.
Super Eagles should not be in a mess, if Osimhen is injured. Chelle must address this issue because injury is part of the game. Osimhen's absent in any game should not be the end of the world for Super Eagles.
Who else do you expect to drive Nigeria's title push?
I think that the team must work together, that should drive the title ambition of the Super Eagles. One tree cannot make a forest. There are new players invited into the team, so there should be competition for shirts among the players and Chelle should feature players based on performance.
Any old player who is not in good in training should give way to a new player who did well. There should be no automatic shirt. Let every player merits appearance in any game based on performance. Super Eagles should be performance based for Chelle, if he wants to make history by winning the AFCON for Nigeria.
Osimhen, Boniface, Sadiq, Lookman and Chukwueze... is there a better group of attacking players in the world in terms of international football? Why can't they click?
Having Osimhen, Boniface, Sadiq, Lookman and Chukwueze appears to be very good on paper. If the midfielders are up to task, then these attackers will do well. I still remember the game against Congo, the midfield of Super Eagles was very poor and there was no supply of balls to the attackers from the second half.
Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi played to defend the team, instead of launching attacks from the midfield and the fullbacks did more defending than joining the attack in the game.
Super Eagles need a very strong midfield to bring out the best in the attackers.
I think new midfielders invited by Chelle can make the midfield very strong in the tournament. I am very happy with the invitation of these players and I think some of them will make the team and make Super Eagles stronger in the tournament.
Beyond Nigeria, who else do you see as AFCON contenders?
Most of the African teams going to 2026 World Cup looks strong to win the AFCON. You can see Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, although the Egyptians are in transition, Tunisia and even Congo that defeated Nigeria should not be ruled out.
When I look at Morocco, the team is a strong favourite to win AFCON. Morocco played at the semi-finals of the last FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the country played in the semi-final of the last Olympics in Paris. The U20 team of Morocco won the FIFA U20 World Cup few months ago in Chile.
The team defeated top footballing nations like Brazil and France to win the tournament. The football developmental plan of Morocco is working fine and everything is pointing to Atlas Lions of Morocco to win the AFCON as host of the tournament, but there is no AFCON tournament that I will not consider Nigeria as one of the favourites.
When you write off Super Eagles, that is when the team go all the way to shock you with good results. Despite the retirement of Williams Troost-Ekong, the captain, I still feel that the Super Eagles will come out very strong in the tournament.
Are there any young players you're looking forward to watching at the tournament?
Well, for now, you cannot say there are young players you want to see.
You have to see the final list of each participating team at the tournament. In the Super Eagles, I was excitedly looking forward to see Benjamin Fredricks, the young Super Eagles defender performed very well against Congo, sadly, he has been injured and is out of the tournament.