Former military president, Ibrahim Babangida has reacted to media reports attributed to Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark in which the former information minister blamed Babangida and former president Olusegun Obasanjo of not doing enough to stop the killings being perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect in the North.

But reacting yesterday in a statement signed by his media aide, Kassim Afegbua, but personally signed by Babangida, the former military president accused Chief Edwin Clark of displaying ethnic mindset which would not help in solving the onerous challenge confronting the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Absolving himself of any complicity in the security debacle facing the nation, the retored General admonished the Ijaw leader to drop the toga of an ethnic champion, if he was really sincere about helping the embattled president to solve the menace of Boko Haram insurgency.



The statement reads:
[b]“The statement reportedly credited to Chief Edwin Clark on Friday, 3rd August, 2012 in several newspapers and online media to the effect that General IBB has a hand in Boko Haram, is the subject of this response. We are ashamed to state here that rather than coming up with plausible and efficacious solution[s] to the insecurity in the country, what the self-acclaimed elder statesman came up with was buck-passing, such odium and rancid outburst, to the extent of trying to accuse General Ibrahim Babangida on the Boko Haram menace.

We view this misguided and senseless statement in very bad taste and we take very strong exceptions to his drooling and implied conclusion.

For the purpose of putting the records straight, General Ibrahim Babangida, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), former President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and civil war hero, does not and will not have a hand in anything untoward against the unity and stability of the Nigerian State.

Having seen it all in life, and now enjoying his retirement in Minna, Niger State, General Ibrahim Babangida has paid his dues by serving his fatherland to the best of his ability at various times in the history of the country.

Having invested so much in the unity and stability of the country, to the extent of fighting in the civil war to keep the country together, it is out of place for anyone, least of all, an old man of Edwin Clark’s nomenclature, to input directly or indirectly that the great IBB should prove his innocence on the Boko Haram menace.

We want to believe that Chief Edwin Clark was quoted out of context, but if indeed he did say what was credited to him, we are forced to accept the conclusion that on account of his age, his senses have since departed him.

He needs our empathies and not sympathies. We have since known Chief Edwin Clark to be loose cannon in public discourse. He deserves our pity.

We were expecting Chief Edwin Clark to use the opportunity of his forum to advance solutions to the insecurity situation in the country with particular reference to the Boko Haram crisis. General Ibrahim Babangida has offered several approaches and methodologies to addressing the precarious situation both in public and private, and had stated without equivocation that dialogue would serve as a better tool than this militant approach which is not yielding appropriate result.

He had also stated that President Goodluck Jonathan should use some of the respected Muslim clerics in the North as middlemen to reach the members of Boko Haram and appeal for calm and understanding, in the interest of the unity and stability of the system.

Needless to state that Government is a huge institution with several options open to it. And the earlier we discard this old method of reactionary approach and adopt a proactive one, in handling sensitive situations such as the one under reference, the better it will be for the country.

With ethnic mindset of a Chief Edwin Clark, we can understand why the country appears fixated and why there has not been nationally accepted approach to combating this Boko Haram menace. Anyone who sees the Boko Haram menace as strictly a northern affair would be exhibiting crass ignorance about leadership in a multi-ethnic configuration like Nigeria[/b].

vb0mb: IBB should take a stand on the Boko haram issue.

Darui: This babangida sef....
Mocking someone as ethnic champion when you are clearly the vilest and the unrepentant sectionalist.


Condemn Boko haram in your most vehement 'big' English or forever hold your peace.

Darui: This babangida sef....
Mocking someone as ethnic champion when you are clearly the vilest and the unrepentant sectionalist.


Condemn Boko haram in your most vehement 'big' English or forever hold your peace.

honeric01:

LOL And when he does in big English, Jonathan would then tell Nigerians who the sponsors are?

waro: I hear say boko haram they sale shears. Na true?

hardywaltz: Well said Gen. IBB (Rtd), that Clark is an IdI0t. How many times did he (Clark) denounce Niger Delta Militants back then? He even gave refuge to Soboma George & Ateke Tom when Gov. Omehia chased them out of d creeks bcoz in his tribal mind Omehia is from Ikwerre & d duo were Ijaws.

ifihearam:

Thank you

ebamma: my name is clark i am blark i come from slark i love to blarb.