A criss-cross of reactions is kicking off on social media to the counsel from former president Ibrahim Babangida to current President Muhammadu Buhari not to run for a second term in office.
Ex-Military President, Ibrahim Babangida has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to go and not to seek re-election in 2019 to pave the way for a younger more purposeful leader for Africa’s largest economy.
Babangida who spoke two weeks after a similar rebuke by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, said he had recently played host to concerned Nigerians seeking a a better more assured path to the country’s future, noted that some of these Nigerians “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.”
Commenting on Twitter, one John Danfukani said:”Dr.Obj (Obasanjo) is not alone in his opposition to PMB’s 2019 mission. IBB (General Ibrahim Babangida) just offered a similar counsel today (Sunday). Expect dozens of political heavyweights in the days to come, to also oppose PMB’s 2019 project. PMB should be ready to reunite with his 150 cows in Daura on or b4 29/5/2019.
Muhammed Yahaya Abubakar, also commenting on Twitter says:”Nigerians are just impossible, so nobody can say anything about the president. When Aisha Buhari speaks you curse her. When OBJ speaks you call him all sorts of bad names and now that IBB speaks again, Its fire on the mountain.”
Commenting on the same platform, Olajire Kayode says :” Modern leadership is not just about “fighting” corruption. It is about plugging leakages and building systems that will militate against…”
Just Jude says: “IBB who didn’t want to leave power after 8yrs? Who annulled arguably Nigeria’s fairest and finest election to date? Who istitutionalised corruption? Maradona? These guys must think we have amnesia.”
Babangida had said in his counsel, “in 2019 and beyond, we should come to a national consensus that we need new breed leadership with requisite capacity to manage our diversities and jump-start a process of launching the country on the super highway of technology-driven leadership in line with the dynamics of modern governance. 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.”
The former military president who did not rebuke the man he swept from power in a coup in 1985, however, said, “my intervention in the governance process of Nigeria wasn’t an accident of history. Even as a military government, we had a clear-cut policy agenda on what we needed to achieve. We recruited some of the best brains and introduced policies that remain some of the best in our effort to re-engineer our polity and nation.”
He urged Buhari to simply focus on completing his first term and then leave the stage to allow a younger generation of leaders to take control of the affiars of the nation, saying, “the search for that new breed leadership must start now as we prepare for 2019 election.”
Babangida’s position is contained in a statement issued in Abuja Sunday through his media aide, Kassim Afegbua.
There is growing frustration and disaffection in the country as Africa’s largest economy fumbles on account of poor leadership with meant believing the hope for Nigeria now lies in the hand of a younger, better educated leadership.
According to Babangida, “in the fullness of our present realities, 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.
“While offering this advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former president, concerned Nigerian and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in our shared commitment to get this country running. 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,” Bababgida stated.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a recent statement advised President Buhari against re-contesting for the presidency in 2019.
