{"id":11344,"date":"2019-02-10T20:34:13","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T20:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=5348"},"modified":"2019-02-10T20:34:13","modified_gmt":"2019-02-10T20:34:13","slug":"nigeria-is-at-major-crossroad-vote-buhari-out-as-nigerias-greatness-lies-in-our-diversity-ibrahim-badamosi-babangida-nigerias-former-military-president-bill-clinton-americas-42nd-presi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/nigeria-is-at-major-crossroad-vote-buhari-out-as-nigerias-greatness-lies-in-our-diversity-ibrahim-badamosi-babangida-nigerias-former-military-president-bill-clinton-americas-42nd-presi\/","title":{"rendered":"‘NIGERIA is at major crossroad, Vote BUHARI out as Nigeria’s greatness lies in our Diversity’-Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Nigeria’s former military president …Bill Clinton, America’s 42nd President set to arrive Nigeria February 12th, Ready to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar,ex-Vice president to Sign Peace Accord 10am following day * ‘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’ * ‘Nigeria is in search for new breed leadership that must start now as we prepare for 2019 election’ * ‘We need a rebranded Nigeria, National Rebirth and rebranded politics for the people’ * ‘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’ * ‘Time has come to sacrifice personal ambition for national interest and I will support a fresh breed of leadership in the 2019 elections’ * IBB FULL STATEMENT INSIDE BY AHMED MOHAMMED\/POLITICAL REPORTER & SEKI ABEKE\/DIPLOMATIC REPORTER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

‘NIGERIA\nis at major crossroad, Vote BUHARI out as Nigeria’s greatness lies in\nour Diversity’-Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida,\nNigeria’s former military president<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

…Bill\nClinton, America’s 42nd<\/sup> President set to arrive Nigeria\nFebruary 12th, Ready to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku\nAbubakar,ex-Vice president to Sign Peace Accord 10am following\nday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\n‘One would have thought that the APC will give fillip to the idea of\ndevolution of powers and tinker with processes that would strengthen\nand reform the various sectors of the economy’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\n‘Nigeria is in search for new breed leadership that must start now as\nwe prepare for 2019 election’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\n‘We need a rebranded Nigeria, National Rebirth and rebranded politics\nfor the people’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*\n‘It is often ridiculous for me when people use smaller countries in\nour West Africa sub-region as handy references of how democracy\nshould be. It beggars our giant of Africa status’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* ‘Time has\ncome to sacrifice personal\nambition for national interest and I will support a fresh breed of\nleadership in the 2019 elections’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* IBB FULL STATEMENT INSIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY AHMED MOHAMMED\/POLITICAL REPORTER & SEKI\nABEKE\/DIPLOMATIC REPORTER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AS NIGERIA 2019 ELECTION APPROACHES, former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, has reminded Nigerians on the need to make the right choice in the polling booth for themselves, their families and this generation by ensuring they (the masses) vote the right leaders in the helm of affairs. He enjoined Nigerians to co-operate with President Muhammadu Buhari till the end of his tenure, but should vote him out of office at the Presidential polls so that the nation may witness a new breed leadership that must start now. Also, Bill Clinton, America’s 42nd<\/sup> President is set to arrive Nigeria, willing to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar,ex-Vice president to Sign Peace Accord<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

This was\ncontained in a press statement released on Sunday by his spokesman,\nKassim Afegbua.where Babangida said it was time to sacrifice\n\u201cpersonal ambition\u201d for \u201cnational interest\u201d and added that he\nwill support a fresh breed of leadership in the 2019 elections.\n<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFULL\nSTATEMENT (unedited):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past few months and weeks, I have played host to many\nconcerned Nigerians who have continued to express legitimate and\npatriotic worry about the state of affairs in the country. Some of\nthem have continued to agonize about the turn of events and expressly\nworried why we have not gotten our leadership compass right as a\ncountry with so much potential and opportunity for all.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some, out of frustration, have elected to interrogate the\nleadership question and wondered aloud why it has taken this long\nfrom independence till date to discover the right model on account of\nour peculiarities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 57, we are still a nation in search of the right leadership\nto contend with the dynamics of a 21st century Nigeria. Having been\nprivileged to preside over this great country, interacted with all\ncategories of persons, dissected all shades of opinions, understudied\ndifferent ethnic groupings; I can rightfully conclude that our\nstrength lies in our diversity. But exploring and exploiting that\ndiversity as a huge potential has remained a hard nut to crack, not\nbecause we have not made efforts, but building a consensus on any\nnational issue often has to go through the incinerator of those\ndiverse ethnic configurations. Opinions in Nigeria are not limited to\nthe borders of the political elite; in fact, every Nigerian no matter\nhow young or old, has an opinion on any national issue. And it is the\nfunction of discerning leadership to understand these elemental\nundercurrents in the discharge of state responsibilities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHERE WE ARE.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria\nis at a major crossroads at this moment in its history; the choices\nwe are going to make as a nation regarding the leadership question of\nthis country and the vision for our political, economic and religious\nfuture will be largely determined by the nature or kind of change\nthat we pursue, the kind of change that we need and the kind of\nchange that we get. A lot depends on our roles both as followers and\nleaders in our political undertakings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we proceed to find the right thesis that would resolve the\nleadership question, we must bear in mind a formula that could\nengender national development and the undiluted commitment of our\nleaders to a resurgence of the moral and ethical foundations that\nbrought us to where we are as a pluralistic and multi-ethnic society.\nNigeria, before now, has been on the one hand our dear native land,\nwhere tribes and tongues may differ but in brotherhood we stand, and\non the other hand a nation that continues to struggle with itself and\nin every way stumbling and willful in its quest to become a modern\nstate, starting from the first republic till date.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With our huge investments in the African emancipation movements\nand the various contributions that were made by our leadership to\nextricate South Africa from colonial grip, Nigeria became the giant\nof Africa during that period. But having gone through leadership\nfailures, we no longer possess the sobriety to claim that status. And\nwe all are guilty. We have experimented with Parliamentary and\nPresidential systems of government amid military interregnum at\nvarious times of our national history.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have made some progress, but not good enough to situate us\non the pedestal we so desirously crave for. It is little wonder\ntherefore that we need to deliberately provoke systems and models\nthat will put paid to this recycling leadership experimentation to\nembrace new generational leadership evolution with the essential\nattributes of responsive, responsible and proactive leadership\nconfiguration to confront the several challenges that we presently\nface. In 2019 and beyond, we should come to a national consensus that\nwe need new breed leadership with requisite capacity to manage our\ndiversities and jump-start a process of launching the country on the\nsuper highway of technology-driven leadership in line with the\ndynamics of modern governance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is short of saying enough of this analogue system. Let\u2019s\ngive way for digital leadership orientation with all the trappings of\nconsultative, constructive, communicative, interactive and\nutility-driven approach where everyone has a role to play in the\nprocess of enthroning accountability and transparency in governance.\nI am particularly enamored that Nigerians are becoming more and more\nconscious of their rights; and their ability to speak truth to power\nand interrogate those elected to represent them without fear of\narrest and harassment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are part of the ennobling principles of\nrepresentative democracy. As citizens in a democracy, it is our civic\nresponsibility to demand accountability and transparency. Our elected\nleaders owe us that simple but remarkable<\/strong> accountability\ncreed. Whenever we criticize them, it is not that we do not like\ntheir guts; it is just that as stakeholders in the political economy\nof the country, we also carry certain responsibilities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\npast few months also, I have taken time to reflect on a number of\nissues plaguing the country. I get frightened by their dimensions. I\nget worried by their colourations. I get perplexed by their gory\nthemes. From Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from Benue state to\nRivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theater of blood\nwith cake of crimson. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently,\nNorth-West of Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable\nreason. The pogrom in Benue state has left me wondering if truly this\nis the same country some of us fought to keep together. I am alarmed\nby the amount of blood-letting across the land. Nigeria is now being\ndescribed as a land where blood flows like river, where tears have\nrefused to dry up. Almost on a daily basis, we are both mourning and\ngrieving, and often times left helpless by the sophistication of\ncrimes. The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated even though\nthere has been commendable effort by government to maximally\ndowngrade them.\nI\nwill professionally advise that the battle be taken to the inner\nfortress of Sambisa Forest rather than responding to the insurgents\u2019\nambushes from time to time. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fullness of our present realities, we need to cooperate\nwith President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May\n29th, 2019 and collectively prepare the way for new generation\nleaders to assume the mantle of leadership of the country. While\noffering this advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former president,\nconcerned Nigerian and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in\nour shared commitment to get this country running. While saying this\nalso, I do not intend to deny President Buhari his inalienable right\nto vote and be voted for, but there comes a time in the life of a\nnation, when personal ambition should not override national interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the time for us to reinvent the will and tap into the\nresourcefulness of the younger generation, stimulate their\nentrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a conduce environment to grow\nnational economy both at the micro and macro levels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary leadership has to be proactive and not reactive.\nIt must factor in citizens\u2019 participation. Its language of\ndiscourse must be persuasive not agitated and abusive. It must give\nroom for confidence building. It must build consensus and form\naggregate opinion on any issue to reflect the wishes of the people\nacross the country. It must gauge the mood of the country at every\npoint in time in order to send the right message. It must share in\ntheir aspirations and give them cause to have confidence in the\nsystem. Modern leadership is not just about \u201cfighting\u201d\ncorruption, it is about plugging the leakages and building systems\nthat will militate against corruption. Accountability in leadership\nshould flow from copious examples. It goes beyond mere sloganeering.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My support for a new breed leadership derives from the\nunderstanding that it will show a marked departure from recycled\nleadership to creating new paradigms that will breathe fresh air into\nour present polluted leadership actuality. My intervention in the\ngovernance process of Nigeria wasn\u2019t an accident of history. Even\nas a military government, we had a clear-cut policy agenda on what we\nneeded to achieve. We recruited some of the best brains and\nintroduced policies that remain some of the best in our effort to\nre-engineer our polity and nation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw the future of Nigeria but lack of continuity in\ngovernment and of policies killed some of our intentions and\ninitiatives. Even though we did not provide answers to all the\ndevelopmental challenges that confronted us as at that time, we were\nnot short of taking decisions whenever the need arose.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GROWING INSECURITY ON OUR HANDS.
The unchecked activities of\nthe herdsmen have continued to raise doubt on the capacity of this\ngovernment to handle with dispatch, security concerns that continue\nto threaten our dear nation; suicide bombings, kidnappings, armed\nbanditry, ethnic clashes and other divisive tendencies. We need to\nbring different actors to the roundtable.
Government must generate\nplatform to interact and dialogue on the issues with a view to\nfinding permanent solutions to the crises. The festering nature of\nthis crisis is an inelegant testimony to the sharp divisions and\npolarizations that exist across the country. For example, this is not\nthe first time herdsmen engage in pastoral nomadism but the anger in\nthe land is suggestive of the absence of mutual love and togetherness\nthat once defined our nationality. We must collectively rise up to\nthe occasion and do something urgently to arrest this drift.
If\nleft unchecked, it portends danger to our collective existence as one\nnation bound by common destiny; and may snowball into another\ninternecine warfare that would not be good for nation-building. We\nhave to reorient the minds of the herdsmen or gun-men to embrace\nranching as a new and modern way to herd cattle. We also need to\nexpand the capacity of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the Navy\nand Air Force to provide the necessary security for all. We need to\ncatch up with modern sophistication in crime detection and crime\nfighting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the peculiarity of our country, we must begin community\npolicing to close the gaps that presently exist in our policing\nsystem. We cannot continue to use old methods and expect new results.\nWe just have to constructively engage the people from time to time\nthrough platforms that would help them ventilate their opinions and\nviewpoints.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CHANGE MANTRA
When the ruling party campaigned with the\nchange mantra, I had thought they would device new methods, provoke\nnew initiatives and proffer new ways to addressing some of our\ndevelopmental problems. By now, in line with her manifesto, one would\nhave thought that the APC will give fillip to the idea of devolution\nof powers and tinker with processes that would strengthen and reform\nthe various sectors of the economy.
Like I did state in my\nprevious statement late last year, devolution of power or\nrestructuring is an idea whose time has come if we must be honest\nwith ourselves. We need to critically address the issue and take\ninformed positions based on the expectations of the people on how to\nmake the union work better.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political parties should not exploit this as a decoy to woo\nvoters because election time is here. We need to begin the process of\nrestructuring both in the letter and spirit of it. For example, I\nstill cannot reconcile why my state government would not be allowed\nto fix the Minna-Suleja road, simply because it is called Federal\nGovernment road, or why state governments cannot run their own\npolicing system to support the Federal Police. We are still\nexperiencing huge infrastructural deficit across the country and one\nhad thought the APC-led Federal Government would behave differently\nfrom their counterparts in previous administrations. I am hesitant to\nask; where is the promised change?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOOKING AHEAD
At this point of our national history, we must\ntake some rather useful decisions that would lead to real development\nand promote peaceful co-existence among all the nationalities. We\nmust be unanimous in what we desire for our country; new generation\nleadership, result-driven leadership, sound political foundation,\ndemonetization of our politics, enhanced internal democracy,\nelimination of impunity in our politics, inclusiveness in\ndecision-making, and promotion of citizens\u2019 participation in our\ndemocratic process.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The search for that new breed leadership must start now as we\nprepare for 2019 election. I get worried when politicians visit to\ninform me about their aspirations and what you hear in terms of\nbudgetary allocations for electoral contest does not cover voters\u2019\neducation but very ridiculous sub-heads.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A typical aspirant in Nigeria draws up budget to cover INEC,\nPolice, Army and men and officers of the Civil Defense, instead of\ntalking of voters\u2019 education, mobilization and sensitization. Even\nwhere benchmarks are set for electoral expenditure, monitoring and\ncompliance are always difficult to adhere to. We truly need to reform\nthe political system. And we must deliberately get fresh hands\ninvolved for improved participation. We need new ways and new\napproaches in our political order. We need a national rebirth. We\nneed a rebranded Nigeria and rebranded politics. It is not so much\nfor the people, but for the institutions that are put in place to\npromote our political engagements. We must strengthen the one man one\nvote mantra.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is often ridiculous for me when people use smaller countries\nin our West Africa sub-region as handy references of how democracy\nshould be. It beggars our giant of Africa status. The next election\nin 2019 therefore presents us a unique opportunity to reinvent the\nwill and provoke fresh leadership that would immediately begin the\nprocess of healing the wounds in the land and ensuring that the\nwishes and aspirations of the people are realized in building and\nsustaining national cohesion and consensus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pray the Almighty Allah grant us the gift of good life to\nwitness that glorious dawn in 2019. Amen. I have not written an open\nletter to the President, I have just shared my thoughts with fellow\ncompatriots on the need to enthrone younger blood into the mainstream\nof our political leadership starting from 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nBill Clinton, 42nd President of the United\nStates of America, and Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary General\nof the Commonwealth, will both deliver keynote addresses at the\nsigning of the National Peace Accord ahead of Nigeria\u2019s 2019\nballot.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nNational Peace Committee announced this in a statement issued on\nSunday in Abuja, signed by the Head of Secretariat, Fr. Atta\nBarkindo.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nstatement disclosed that the Committee, led by former Nigerian Head\nof State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has scheduled the 2nd signing\nof the National Peace Accord by 10 am on Wednesday, February 13, 2019\nat Abuja International Conference Centre.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident\nClinton would also hold meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari and\nformer Vice-President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar. As we move into\nNigeria\u2019s national elections, the threat of unrest has to be taken\nseriously.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth\nGuests of Honour enjoy enormous respect in Nigeria and beyond and we\nlook forward to his counsel and advice to help Nigeria navigate\nthrough what will hopefully be a peaceful and fair electoral cycle,\u201d\nthe statement said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nadded: \u201cThe National Peace Committee is grateful to the Kofi Annan\nFoundation for supporting this process, and, after 2015, again\nsupporting free and fair elections in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nNPC has engaged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),\nsecurity services, 91 registered parties, the media and civil society\norganisations. Considering some of the challenges faced, the\nCommittee organised the 1st signing of the National Peace Accord on\n11th December, 2018 to support peaceful campaigns and political\nrallies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis\nsigning is aimed towards committing stakeholders to accepting the\noutcome of the vote, as long as it is announced by INEC, the body\nempowered by law and is adjudged to be free, fair and credible.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#Additional\nreport by News Express <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘NIGERIA is at major crossroad, Vote BUHARI out as Nigeria’s greatness lies in our Diversity’-Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Nigeria’s former military president …Bill Clinton, America’s 42nd President set to arrive Nigeria February 12th, Ready to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar,ex-Vice president to Sign Peace Accord 10am following day * ‘One would have thought that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nigeria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}