IBB Authorised Statement On Buhari, Aide Disowns 2nd Letter ‘By Friends’

Kassim Afegbua, spokesman of Ex-Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (retd.) says he got authorization from his principal on the statement he issued earlier on Sunday.

Afegbua said this when he appeared on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television.

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In a statement issued on Sunday afternoon, Afegbua quoted IBB as advising President Muhammadu Buhari not to stand for re-election in 2019.

However, in another statement released and signed by IBB himself, the ex-military head of state, disowned Afegbua’s earlier statement saying the views in the previous statement were those of his spokesman.

But Afegbua said IBB called him after the second statement, telling him that the first one still stands.

“I have been doing this job for about 14 years now. And I have never issued a statement on behalf of the former head of state and he gave a rebuttal. I got authorisation and commitment from him before I issued the statement. It has been in process,” he said.

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“He has called me to say that the statement still stands.

“Of course, you know IBB is for everyone. People want to love him more than he loves himself. People want to appreciate him more than he appreciates himself. People want to play the role of IBB.

“So when the statement was released, some of his friends saw it and they felt we were trying to put the former president on a collision course with the president. So, they went and did a statement to deny that.

“But I have since spoken to him; he called me and said, that statement stands. The kernel of that statement should inform public discourse and not necessarily people personalising it as if it were to be against the sitting president.

“So, the statement stands and I have since communicated to all the media houses that they should respect that statement as coming from IBB. It did not emanate from my head. We sat down, we discussed and articulated them.

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“General Babangida wants a new side of leadership, from the younger generation of Nigerians who in his own views have the resourcefulness, the energy and capacity to manage governmental affairs.

“He is not personalizing his statement against the incumbent president. But he is saying, as a stakeholder and a concerned Nigerian, that he shares in the aspirations of the people.”

Babaginda had issued a statement on critical national issues one of which is asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek reelection.

He condemned farmers/herders clashes in the middle belt, Cattle rustling, armed robbery, Kidnapping, all forms of rising social vises in the country.

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