ADEREMI'S NOTEBOOK

IBB for President?

AllAfrica.com interviewed Alex Akinyele, a former minster who believes Ibrahim B. Babangida (IBB) should run for President. IBB headed a military government from 1985 until August 1993. The interview confirms some of the problems Nigeria is still facing in the very short term, only ex-military men will run the country for sometime. When Akinyele was asked about Obasanjo’s performance to date, he had this to say:

If an ordinary civilian was president, the military could have come out of their barracks about four times, because there were times when the government did things which the military would not have favored.

I agree with him on the fact that corruption is at an all time high in Nigeria with privatisation issues going on in Nigeria, however I found his comment on IBB and corruption astonishing.to say the least. (please bear in mind that he was the sport minister during IBB’s regime)

Babangida as a person is not corrupt. Corruption has come to stay with us in Nigeria for quite a long while. Babangida was not the one who introduced corruption to Nigeria.

I can’t help but feel he is suggesting that all Nigerians are corrupt, inherently IBB must be corrupt. I mean there is nothing wrong with that right. It is already in the blood.

Again he does speaks some true words:

Nobody could have given Nigeria political stability outside President Obasanjo. But after political stability, we need economic stability. We need social stability.
…
Ours is not the politics of philosophy or ideology. It’s “from where does Akinyele come?” After that, it’s “what is his religion?” These are the things that destroy political leadership in Nigeria. Some people in Nigeria now say that the Yoruba man who does not support Obasanjo is a fool. He is a traitor. That is the nature of our politics. Until we can get that out of the way, we cannot get the best for Nigeria.

I can only agree.

Tags: Nigeria, Yoruba, elections

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