2019: "IBB not competent to advise Buhari"

The Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria says former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, lacks the moral right to advise President Muhammadu Buhari.


The group therefore called on Babangida to keep quiet and stay away from politics.

The National Coordinator of FONGON, Mr. Wole Badmus, said this during an interview with our correspondent shortly after a rally held in honour of Buhari in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said, “Everything happening now is characteristic of IBB. He was never a bold soldier. He has always been a chameleon, trying to wriggle himself out of anything that appears challenging. He is not a man of his word.

“How can he have the right to advise Buhari or make public comments? He lacks the moral right to comment on Nigerian democracy or politics because all he has ever done is try to destroy it. He annulled a free and fair election after spending eight years as a military President. He called himself President without winning any election.

“We can condone Obasanjo and his nuisance but not IBB. He doesn’t exist as far as we are concerned.”

While addressing hundreds of supporters at the Unity Fountain, Badmus said the fact that many perceived corrupt persons were against Buhari had shown that the President was on the right path.

Badmus said, “The recent spate of letter writing and memo writing is not an accident. We believe it is aimed at discouraging the President from running for a constitutionally-guaranteed second term which they are afraid will put Nigeria on an irreversible path of probity, prudence and progress.”

Badmus had earlier read a letter dated February 6, 2018 FONGON had written to Buhari wherein the group said those against the President’s re-election in 2019 were treasury looters.

FONGON stated,  “The looters, economic saboteurs and unpatriotic fellows are feeling the heat of Buhari administration’s fight against corruption. They are earnestly yearning for a return to the immediate unedifying past in which the national treasury became the piggy bank of a few.

“They also want to pave the way for the return of the same people who brought the country to where it was before you assumed office.

“Your Excellency, the recent spate of letter and memo writing is not an accident. We believe it is aimed at discouraging you from running for a constitutionally-guaranteed second term which they are afraid will put Nigeria on irreversible path of probity, prudence and progress.”