President Muhammadu Buhari has had another blow dealt to his second-term ambitions as another of his contemporaries, the man who overthrew his government in 1984, Ibrahim Badamosi Babagida (IBB) released a statement yesterday asking him not to contest for a second term.
IBB is adding his voice to the clamour to end the 2019 re-election ambition of President Buhari, even as the former leader recommended a shift for the younger generation to take power in 2019.
Buhari is 75 this year, and if he wins a second term in office, will be almost 80 by the time he is ready to retire. This will make him one of the oldest presidents on the continent, in a country with a largely youthful population. The median age of the country’s population is currently estimated at 17.9 years, four times below President Buhari’s current age.
“In the fullness of our present realities, we need to cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May 29, 2019, and collectively prepare the way for new generation leaders to assume the mantle of leadership of the country,” according to a press statement to President Buhari issued Sunday by Ibrahim Babangida, signed on his behalf by Kassim Afegbua, media spokesman.
“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,” the statement read further.
He noted that time had come for the country restructure, saying “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.”
He argued that the nation needs new approach to reenergize the polity stressing that, “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 realised in building and sustaining national cohesion and consensus.”
IBB in the statement also decried the incessant killings going on in parts of the country following the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers, which have spilled so much blood and displaced thousands of people. He said that if Nigeria fails to arrest these conflicts, then the peace and stability of the country could be threatened.
“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.”
The IBB statement came days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo released a statement to President Buhari, detailing his failures and advising him not to seek re-election in 2019. Obasanjo had since launched a Coalition for Nigeria Movement aimed at giving a new direction to Nigeria.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
