IBB speaks: In statement tells Buhari not to run in 2019

John Adams, Minna

Former Military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, has joined former President Olusenjun Obasanjo in calling on President Mohammadu Buhari not to contest the 2019 general election, saying that Buhari’s ‘Change’ agenda has failed Nigerians.

The general said that the kind of leader Nigeria needs in 2019 and beyond is a new breed of leadership with the capacity to manage the country’s diversity and to jump-start the country on a different path.

General Babangida in a statement in Minna on Sunday titled “Towards National Rebirth” made available to newsmen however appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with the President to complete his term of office on May 29th, 2019, hoping that he would quit the stage and allow fresh ideas that can move the country forward.

“In the fullness of our present realities,” the statement reads, “we need to cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May 29th, 2019 and collectively prepare the way for new generation leaders to assume the mantle of leadership of the country.”

The general maintained that the call on Buhari to quit the stage in 2019 and allow fresh ideas had become necessary because according to him:

“When the ruling party campaigned with the change mantra, I had thought they would device new methods, provoke new initiatives and proffer new ways to addressing some of our developmental problems.

“It is short of saying enough of this analogue system. Let’s give way for digital leadership orientation with all the trappings of consultative, constructive, communicative, interactive and utility-driven approach where everyone has a role to play in the process of enthroning accountability and transparency in governance.

“By now, in line with her manifesto, one would have thought that the APC will give fillip to the idea of devolution of powers and tinker with processes that would strengthen and reform the various sectors of the economy”

Babangida said that he speaks from his prospective as a stakeholder, former president, concerned Nigerian and a patriot.

He pointed out that:

“While saying this also, I do not intend to deny President Buhari his inalienable right to vote and be voted for, but there comes a time in the life of a nation, when personal ambition should not override national interest.”

General Babangida insisted that it was time for the country to reinvent the wheel and tap into the resourcefulness of the younger generation, to stimulate their entrepreneurial spirit and create a conducive environment to grow the economy at every level.

The former Head of State said that in the past few months and weeks he played host to many concerned Nigerians who have continued to express legitimate and patriotic worry about the state of affairs in the country.

“Some of them have continued to agonize about the turn of events and expressly worried why we have not gotten our leadership compass right as a country with so much potential and opportunity for all. Some, out of frustration, have elected to interrogate the leadership question and wondered aloud why it has taken this long from independence till date to discover the right model on account of our peculiarities.”

Babangida further stated that Nigeria was at a major crossroads at this moment in its history, warning that “the choices we are going to make as a nation regarding the leadership question of this country and the vision for our political, economic and religious future will be largely determined by the nature or kind of change that we pursue, the kind of change that we need and the kind of change that we get.”

He said he was particularly delighted that Nigerians were becoming more and more conscious of their rights, and their ability to speak truth to power and question those elected to represent them without fear of arrest and harassment, adding that:

“These are part of the ennobling principles of representative democracy. As citizens in a democracy, it is our civic responsibility to demand accountability and transparency. Our elected leaders owe us that simple but remarkable accountability creed.”

On the growing insecurity across the country, especially regarding the activities of herdsmen, General Babangida said that there are doubts about the capacity of the current administration to handle these concerns that continue to threaten the country.

He expressed worry about the suicide bombings, kidnappings, armed banditry, ethnic clashes and other divisive activities that have caused serious fear and anxiety among Nigerians, stressing that:

“We need to bring different actors to the roundtable. Government must generate platform to interact and dialogue on the issues with a view to finding permanent solutions to the crises.

“The festering nature of this crisis is an inelegant testimony to the sharp divisions and polarizations that exist across the country. For example, this is not the first time herdsmen engage in pastoral nomadism but the anger in the land is suggestive of the absence of mutual love and togetherness that once defined our nationality.

“We must collectively rise up to the occasion and do something urgently to arrest this drift. If left unchecked, it portends danger to our collective existence as one nation bound by common destiny; and may snowball into another internecine warfare that would not be good for nation-building.”

According to him “from Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from Benue state to Rivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theatre of blood with cake of crimson”.

“The pogrom in Benue state has left me wondering if truly this is the same country some of us fought to keep together. I am alarmed by the amount of blood-letting across the land. Nigeria is now being described as a land where blood flows like river, where tears have refused to dry up.

“Almost on a daily basis, we are both mourning and grieving, and often times left helpless by the sophistication of crimes. The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated even though there has been commendable effort by government to maximally downgrade them.”

“Contemporary leadership has to be proactive and not reactive. It must factor in citizens’ participation. Its language of discourse must be persuasive not agitated and abusive. It must give room for confidence building. It must build consensus and form aggregate opinion on any issue to reflect the wishes of the people across the country. It must gauge the mood of the country at every point in time in order to send the right message. It must share in their aspirations and give them cause to have confidence in the system.

He concluded that:

“Modern leadership is not just about ‘fighting’ corruption, it is about plugging the leakages and building systems that will militate against corruption.”