IBB tells Nigerians to vote Buhari out, reveals who he will support [Full statement]
Former military president, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, has asked
Nigerians to vote President Muhammadu Buhari out of office next year.
IBB, however, enjoined Nigerians to co-operate with Buhari until his tenure ends.
This was contained in a press statement released on Sunday by his spokesman, Kassim Afegbua.
Babangida said it was time to sacrifice “personal ambition” for
“national interest” and added that he will support a fresh breed of
leadership in the 2019 elections.
His statement comes a week after former president, Olusegun Obasanjo asked Buhari not to seek re-election.
FULL STATEMENT…
In the past few months and weeks, I have 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.
At 57, we are still a nation in search of the right leadership to
contend with the dynamics of a 21st century Nigeria. Having been
privileged to preside over this great country, interacted with all
categories of persons, dissected all shades of opinions, understudied
different ethnic groupings; I can rightfully conclude that our strength
lies in our diversity. But exploring and exploiting that diversity as a
huge potential has remained a hard nut to crack, not because we have not
made efforts, but building a consensus on any national issue often has
to go through the incinerator of those diverse ethnic configurations.
Opinions in Nigeria are not limited to the borders of the political
elite; in fact, every Nigerian no matter how young or old, has an
opinion on any national issue. And it is the function of discerning
leadership to understand these elemental undercurrents in the discharge
of state responsibilities.
WHERE WE ARE.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is at a major crossroads at
this moment in its history; 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. A lot depends on
our roles both as followers and leaders in our political undertakings.
As we proceed to find the right thesis that would resolve the
leadership question, we must bear in mind a formula that could engender
national development and the undiluted commitment of our leaders to a
resurgence of the moral and ethical foundations that brought us to where
we are as a pluralistic and multi-ethnic society. Nigeria, before now,
has been on the one hand our dear native land, where tribes and tongues
may differ but in brotherhood we stand, and on the other hand a nation
that continues to struggle with itself and in every way stumbling and
willful in its quest to become a modern state, starting from the first
republic till date.
With our huge investments in the African emancipation movements and
the various contributions that were made by our leadership to extricate
South Africa from colonial grip, Nigeria became the giant of Africa
during that period. But having gone through leadership failures, we no
longer possess the sobriety to claim that status. And we all are guilty.
We have experimented with Parliamentary and Presidential systems of
government amid military interregnum at various times of our national
history.
We have made some progress, but not good enough to situate us on the
pedestal we so desirously crave for. It is little wonder therefore that
we need to deliberately provoke systems and models that will put paid to
this recycling leadership experimentation to embrace new generational
leadership evolution with the essential attributes of responsive,
responsible and proactive leadership configuration to confront the
several challenges that we presently face. 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. I am
particularly enamored that Nigerians are becoming more and more
conscious of their rights; and their ability to speak truth to power and
interrogate those elected to represent them without fear of arrest and
harassment.
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. Whenever we criticize them,
it is not that we do not like their guts; it is just that as
stakeholders in the political economy of the country, we also carry
certain responsibilities.
In the past few months also, I have taken time to reflect on a number
of issues plaguing the country. I get frightened by their dimensions. I
get worried by their colourations. I get perplexed by their gory
themes. 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. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently, North-West of
Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable reason. 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.
I will professionally advise that the battle be taken to the inner
fortress of Sambisa Forest rather than responding to the insurgents’
ambushes from time to time.
THINKING ALOUD.
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.
This is the time for us to reinvent the will and tap into the
resourcefulness of the younger generation, stimulate their
entrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a conduce environment to grow
national economy both at the micro and macro levels.
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. Modern leadership is not just
about “fighting” corruption, it is about plugging the leakages and
building systems that will militate against corruption. Accountability
in leadership should flow from copious examples. It goes beyond mere
sloganeering.
My support for a new breed leadership derives from the understanding
that it will show a marked departure from recycled leadership to
creating new paradigms that will breathe fresh air into our present
polluted leadership actuality. 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.
We saw the future of Nigeria but lack of continuity in government and
of policies killed some of our intentions and initiatives. Even though
we did not provide answers to all the developmental challenges that
confronted us as at that time, we were not short of taking decisions
whenever the need arose.
GROWING INSECURITY ON OUR HANDS.
The unchecked activities of the herdsmen have continued to raise doubt
on the capacity of this government to handle with dispatch, security
concerns that continue to threaten our dear nation; suicide bombings,
kidnappings, armed banditry, ethnic clashes and other divisive
tendencies. 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. We have
to reorient the minds of the herdsmen or gun-men to embrace ranching as a
new and modern way to herd cattle. We also need to expand the capacity
of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the Navy and Air Force to
provide the necessary security for all. We need to catch up with modern
sophistication in crime detection and crime fighting.
Due to the peculiarity of our country, we must begin community
policing to close the gaps that presently exist in our policing system.
We cannot continue to use old methods and expect new results. We just
have to constructively engage the people from time to time through
platforms that would help them ventilate their opinions and viewpoints.
THE CHANGE MANTRA
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. 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.
Like I did state in my previous statement late last year, devolution of
power or restructuring is an idea whose time has come if we must be
honest with ourselves. We need to critically address the issue and take
informed positions based on the expectations of the people on how to
make the union work better.
Political parties should not exploit this as a decoy to woo voters
because election time is here. We need to begin the process of
restructuring both in the letter and spirit of it. For example, I still
cannot reconcile why my state government would not be allowed to fix the
Minna-Suleja road, simply because it is called Federal Government road,
or why state governments cannot run their own policing system to
support the Federal Police. We are still experiencing huge
infrastructural deficit across the country and one had thought the
APC-led Federal Government would behave differently from their
counterparts in previous administrations. I am hesitant to ask; where is
the promised change?
LOOKING AHEAD
At this point of our national history, we must take some rather useful
decisions that would lead to real development and promote peaceful
co-existence among all the nationalities. We must be unanimous in what
we desire for our country; new generation leadership, result-driven
leadership, sound political foundation, demonetization of our politics,
enhanced internal democracy, elimination of impunity in our politics,
inclusiveness in decision-making, and promotion of citizens’
participation in our democratic process.
The search for that new breed leadership must start now as we prepare
for 2019 election. I get worried when politicians visit to inform me
about their aspirations and what you hear in terms of budgetary
allocations for electoral contest does not cover voters’ education but
very ridiculous sub-heads.
A typical aspirant in Nigeria draws up budget to cover INEC, Police,
Army and men and officers of the Civil Defense, instead of talking of
voters’ education, mobilization and sensitization. Even where benchmarks
are set for electoral expenditure, monitoring and compliance are always
difficult to adhere to. We truly need to reform the political system.
And we must deliberately get fresh hands involved for improved
participation. We need new ways and new approaches in our political
order. We need a national rebirth. We need a rebranded Nigeria and
rebranded politics. It is not so much for the people, but for the
institutions that are put in place to promote our political engagements.
We must strengthen the one man one vote mantra.
It is often ridiculous for me when people use smaller countries in
our West Africa sub-region as handy references of how democracy should
be. It beggars our giant of Africa status. The next election in 2019
therefore presents us a unique opportunity to reinvent the will and
provoke fresh leadership that would immediately begin the process of
healing the wounds in the land and ensuring that the wishes and
aspirations of the people are realized in building and sustaining
national cohesion and consensus.
I pray the Almighty Allah grant us the gift of good life to witness
that glorious dawn in 2019. Amen. I have not written an open letter to
the President, I have just shared my thoughts with fellow compatriots on
the need to enthrone younger blood into the mainstream of our political
leadership starting from 2019.
