The road to Aso Rock does not go through Minna Category: Opinion Published on Tuesday, 30 December 2014 05:00 Written by Abu Najakku danbellojikanyari@yahoo Hits: 3773 View Comments On Sunday, a pro-Jonathan news-paper led with a screaming but amusing headline: IBB Endorses Jonathan. It followed President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the Minna home of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd) on Satur-day, 27th December, 2014. At the end of the visit, Babangida reportedly told the media: “What I will say is simple: The President means well for this country and he is working well for this country. Anybody who means well for this country should support the President to make sure that Nigeria survives as a united country.” Following the news report, we exchanged text messages with a bitter pro-Buhari friend who used harsh words to describe what he considered Babangida’s insufferable support for the president. He said Babangida is against the presidential quest of Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and is openly backing Dr Goodluck Jonathan. My flustered friend wondered which interest of Babangida would be served by the Jonathan presidency for another four years and I referred him to the “President...is working well for this country” quote of Jonathan’s host. By now, my friend had put in a call and he burst out with a loud laughter at another mention of “the President means well...and is working well for this country.” I reminded the fellow that in 2011, Buhari carried Niger State and told him he will win it by an even wider margin in 2014. In the end, I felt happy that my friend was able to overcome his sour mood. He had summarised the matter himself: The whole contest is between those (like Ibrahim Babangida) who think that the “President means well.....and is working well for this country” and those who believe that Jonathan’s entire presidency is a disaster and has imperilled the survival of Nigeria “as a united country.” In any case, I couldn’t help but pity those politicians scrambling for Babangida’s endorsement for the simple fact that his endorsement has no plus point. To begin with, Babangida and his visitor are two of a kind: The “I will never fail you”, “I will give you fresh air”, all sound like “we will bequeath an economically viable, politically stable and socially virile country” continuously mouthed by Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida beginning from 27th August, 1985 to 1993. If Babangida delivered, Jonathan will deliver. Regrettably, instead of the democratically elected government he promised, Babangida ended his misadventure in government by hoisting one Earnest Shonekan at the head of some nebulous interim national government. In 2007, Babangida was warming up to succeed General Olusegun Obasanjo at the Aso Villa but the latter refused to cooperate with him. On 15th September, 2010, Babangida journeyed to the Eagle square to declare a presidential ambition, it came to nought. In 2011, he failed to get selected as the North’s consensus candidate that would face Jonathan in the PDP presidential primaries. What is the worth of a man beaten by Atiku Abubakar in the race to emerge as the consensus candidate, not of Nigeria, but just a region of it? Here is Babangida’s current political worth: A few months ago, his son, Muhammed was warming up to contest the governorship of Niger State on the platform of the family’s political party of choice, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But after surveying the treacherous terrain, the young man noiselessly withdrew. This is no battlefield for the use of “incisive military skill” to get your hands on a state governor’s office. The Babangida family cannot afford to have Muhammed defeated in an election, but even more terrifying is the mountain of mud that will be thrown up by opponents. If Babangida cannot secure the governorship of his home state for his son, not even the PDP ticket, then I leave you to imagine how his endorsement can help Dr Jonathan. The “I’m trained to dominate my environment” has turned out to be mere bluster. But again, Babangida and Goodluck Jonathan have a common enemy in Muhammadu Buhari. The GMB presidency may want to inquire into an insalubrious past and this is scary. Unfortunately, for his opponents, Buhari has never looked this good for the presidency. The formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and in particular the alliance with the leading South West politicians has put GMB within the reach of Aso Villa and this creates mortal fear in the likes of Babangida. With the acidic anti-Nigeria rhetoric spewing from the mouths of Jonathan’s kinsmen, with escalating ethnic and religious tension among our hitherto tranquil communities, with continuing massacre of Nigerians in the North East, with systematic and unending oil theft, well-known darkness in our homes and factories, missing money and an economy returning to the woods, with a floundering ruling party, it’s hard to believe Babangida that President Goodluck Jonathan “ means well ....and is working well for this country.” In the meantime, GMB has thrown up a few challenges. In his inexorable march to Aso Villa in 2015, he has disclosed that since the end of his military service courses abroad, he has not operated a foreign account; is this something Babangida and Jonathan can also say? With regards to their evil description of him as an ethnic champion or religious bigot, GMB says and I quote: “Those who don’t want the progress of our people have spent fortunes over the years to raise silly propaganda about me. I have been around for some years and have challenged them to bring out one person I ever discriminated against based on faith but they are yet to take up the challenge. They should continue to tell lies about me just as I will I will continue to tell the truth about them.” They love their oil wells, they can keep them; GMB loves Nigeria, he’ll have it!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 19:07:34 +0000
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