IBB: I won’t drop presidential bid

 

IBB

By HENRY UMORU

Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, yesterday, said he is in the 2011 presidential race to make a statement, vowing he would not drop the ambition to return to power.

Babangida, while denying that he was under pressure from former President Olusegun Obasanjo to step down for President Goodluck Jonathan in the race, said his meeting, last week, with Obasanjo and the discussions centred round    issues of common interest and shared mutual respect for each other, not about zoning.

According to him, the meeting was also not the reason he stayed away from the rally planned for him in Ibadan,  adding that the rally was to open a campaign office for him in the Oyo State capital.

A statement signed by his media aide, Kaseem Afegbua, read:  “We have read series of media reports in the dailies saying that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was wooing former President General Ibrahim Babangida for President Jonathan.

“To state the obvious, there is nothing near the truth in the report because the meeting between Former Presidents Chief Obasanjo and General Babangida had nothing to do with 2011, zoning of the presidency or support for the rumored ambition of the President, Chief Goodluck Jonathan. The two former presidents have always exhibited mutual respect for each other irrespective of their different political leanings and ideologies.

“To the best of our knowledge, the incumbent President has not told Nigerians that he was interested in the 2011 Presidential race even though some of his political associates and friends have been on the streets drumming support for him. Till date, it is on record that only General Ibrahim Babangida, GCFR, has signified intention to run for the office of President under the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP.

“The meeting between the two former Presidents was not a political meeting as being reported. It was a social meeting which was not the first of its kind in recent times, as both of them enjoy mutual and positive relationship. It should be noted that General IBB as a former President has free access to the President, Chief Goodluck Jonathan and does not require a middle man to interface between him and the President.

“General Babangida’s belief in the zoning principle was borne out of his vast experience in the management of the country and understanding of the intricate logic and history of the Nigerian nation as a process that could easily help to stabilize the polity to provoke development and growth”.