From John Adams, Minna
Former Military President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (retd) has disassociated himself from a post on an X account which suggests that the former military ruler has endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance.
General Babangida, in a statement in Minna on Sunday by Alhaji Mahmoud Abdullahi for his Media Office, said that the dubious and fake X account, @General_Ibbro, which carries General Babangida’s picture, name, and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added effect, “does not belong to him, nor does the former President sanction any post appearing there”.
According to the statement: “Our attention has been drawn to a post on a parody account on X, formerly known as Twitter, which carries the handle @General_Ibbro, in which former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, GCFR, was supposed to have endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance.”
Babangida pointed out that the same fake X account had in the past, especially during the 2023 presidential elections, posted a blatant falsehood that the former President had endorsed a particular presidential candidate and his party, thereby causing public confusion and some embarrassment to the elder statesman.
“We have just learnt that it has posted a similarly fake statement where the former President was supposed to have said that, ‘Nigeria had the best years under military, democracy made things worst (sic) – IBB.’
“We want to state, unequivocally, that neither the Twitter or X account, which is essentially a parody or pretend account, nor the statement made therein, ever belonged to the retired General.”
The statement further added that General Babangida (rtd) believes that Nigeria’s democracy is resilient and has come to stay, adding that “we must do everything we can to safeguard the process.
“As a nation, we are currently facing a number of challenges, but the former president has always expressed the view that we will eventually overcome these challenges and come out a stronger, more progressive nation. The solution to our problems, as he had said previously, is ‘more’ democracy, not less.”
The statement maintained that General Babangida truly believes that the era of military intervention in Nigeria’s politics is long gone, saying that he is proud that the Nigerian military has stood firmly behind multiple democratic governments in this country since 1999, thus giving us the longest run of civilian administration since independence.
Babangida, in the statement, expressed regrets that the user of this unfortunate parody account, which was understood to be traditionally an account that imitates or at least mirrors the sentiments of the original Twitter or X account that it copies, has serially chosen to use the account to undermine democracy and spread stories capable of causing animosity.
“Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or Twitter remove or sanction this tiresome account, so we are again obliged to advise the general public to ignore any post from this account that purportedly claims to represent my opinion,” he added.