Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has denied any gang-up against President Muhammadu Buhari by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, General Theophilus Danjuma and himself.
General Babangida, who ruled Nigeria from August 27, 1985 to August 26, 1993, made the declaration on Tuesday at his Hilltop Mansion in Minna, the Niger State capital, in an interview with The Crest, an online newspaper, a part of which was released Friday night.
The former military president was asked to react to the soaring notion that some past heads of state and retired Generals have ganged up and mapped strategies to upstage President Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2019 general election.
“Gang up?” General Babangida asked. “What gang-up? That is a media creation. It is media perception. It is easier for the media to add things up and conclude. I think what has happened is that after General Danjuma said what he said [about the alleged genocide in his home state of Taraba and the need for his people to defend themselves because the military had failed to protect them], after President Obasanjo released his letter, and perhaps, after my release too, the media simply added things up and came to the conclusion that there is a gang-up. There is no gang-up. It is media perception,” Babangida said.
He also took a critical look at the gale of defections from the ruling APC to the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and declared that the development was great for Nigeria’s democracy.
After watching the coverage of the defection of 14 senators live on national television with the former president, The Crest said it asked him what he felt about the development and Babangida replied in four words: “This is political dexterity.”
Asked to expatiate, he declared: “I call it political dexterity because there are no better words to describe it. This is political dexterity and I don’t think anybody should have any problems with that. I have nothing against it. I think it is good for democracy. If it is good for democracy, then, it is good for Nigeria.
General Babangida, who ruled Nigeria from August 27, 1985 to August 26, 1993, made the declaration on Tuesday at his Hilltop Mansion in Minna, the Niger State capital, in an interview with The Crest, an online newspaper, a part of which was released Friday night.
The former military president was asked to react to the soaring notion that some past heads of state and retired Generals have ganged up and mapped strategies to upstage President Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2019 general election.
“Gang up?” General Babangida asked. “What gang-up? That is a media creation. It is media perception. It is easier for the media to add things up and conclude. I think what has happened is that after General Danjuma said what he said [about the alleged genocide in his home state of Taraba and the need for his people to defend themselves because the military had failed to protect them], after President Obasanjo released his letter, and perhaps, after my release too, the media simply added things up and came to the conclusion that there is a gang-up. There is no gang-up. It is media perception,” Babangida said.
He also took a critical look at the gale of defections from the ruling APC to the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and declared that the development was great for Nigeria’s democracy.
After watching the coverage of the defection of 14 senators live on national television with the former president, The Crest said it asked him what he felt about the development and Babangida replied in four words: “This is political dexterity.”
Asked to expatiate, he declared: “I call it political dexterity because there are no better words to describe it. This is political dexterity and I don’t think anybody should have any problems with that. I have nothing against it. I think it is good for democracy. If it is good for democracy, then, it is good for Nigeria.
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