Although he has started mobilizing support among the political elite in some states in the south, the 2011 political aspiration of former military President Ibrahim Babangida is yet to make impact in the north.

Already, some top Arewa elders are considering advising the gap-toothed general against a presidential bid that some see as a demonstration of opportunism and disloyalty to one of his closest friends.

Although officials of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) told The Nation that the body had not yet seen any need to formally discuss issues about any of the potential presidential aspirants, some respected elders working outside the forum believe that IBB should not be in the race.

Like all other former heads of state and ex-presidents of northern origin, General Babangida is one of the patrons of the ACF.

"Some respected elders including two elderly former ministers and a former newspaper publisher who are respected by top politicians in the region have been approached to discuss matters with IBB.

"It is amazing that even though he was aware that his very close friend who served him so loyally before and after the two of them became retired generals, wants to have a shot at the Presidency in 2011.

"There is an understanding that the retired general was called in to help stabilize Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and neutralize the cabal’s influence in government within the few months that he agreed to serve before going for the 2011 race.

"This retired general had been a pillar of support behind the scene for IBB and others. The elders may be asking IBB why he has to pre-empt his loyal friend and more or less, truncate his friend’s only chance to reach a position that IBB once held," a source in Kaduna stated.

Aside the June 12, 1993 election’s annulment baggage, some obstacles to the realization of IBB’s 2011 ambition may come from religious leaders; members of the Governors’ Forum; politicians who prefer the North-West geo-political zone to retain the Presidencyand former Vice President Abubakar Atiku’s political machine.

Other likely sources of complications for IBB’s 2011 political game-plan include personalities who remain averse to the idea of having another retired general who may turn out to dominate the political space like the way ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo did.

However, General Babangida may still count on some influential traditional rulers as potential supporters.

Within ACF, discussions of IBB’s political ambition have not attracted official attention yet.

Although ACF’s Secretary-General, Colonel Musa Shehu (rtd), declined to make further comments when contacted by our correspondent, he and other officials stated that the pan-Arewa body had not put any such matter on its agenda for discussion.

While the chairman of ACF’s Political Committee, Alhaji Mohammed Gusau, affirmed ACF’s commitment to decide on issues that will impact on Arewa people, ACF’s spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, pointed out that the body would prefer to give guidelines to the populace on what to look for in political aspirants, adding that ACF would not like to be drawn into any politician’s battles.

When contacted on the telephone, a spokesman of the IBB campaign organisation, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, insisted that all the stakeholders had been rallied to join the cause of the ex-president.

"Who is more credible than IBB in this contest from the north? In a democracy, we talk about the electorate, they are the people we have responsibility for," he added.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

arewa is a big joke

ikeyman00:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

arewa is a big joke

You think so

, watching with keen interest how things will play out.

The election was never IBB vs Gusau, Both of them are in the same league and this is what Arewa just does not get.

Jonathan made a mistake by giving Gusau national relevance with NSA appointment.

Gusau may be working for Gusau instead of for Nigeria.

IBB is a rubbish politician anyway. Why declare so early?
By June he would have fizzled out. We are already witnessing some of the last splutters.

abu

You think so

yes serious joke and self-minded individual criminals!

Gasau is more realitic than IBB (only thing is the recent haliburton allegations).

If Gasau doesnt support jonathan then Jonathan CANNOT win any election in Nigeria- simple truth
If Gasau decides to run for president with PDP - hes already won the presidency without rigging.

PDP will probably reject jonathan and if they do Gasau will be president and possibly Jonathan or Donald duke in 2015.
If Jonathan becomes president in 2011- it will cut the SS term short, cause he probably wont be voted in 2015 again for a full 8 yrs.

I mean if donald duke doesnt run in 2011 and gets the PDP ticket in 2015 who will everyone prefer
Jonathan (most likely has some dirt on him also) or Donald Duke? Donald duke of course

The SS cant have their cake and eat it to. either jonathan in 2011 with a 4 yrs term or 2015 full 8 yrs zoned to the SS (possibly donald duke)

and If Gasau runs for president with PDP his Vp will most likely be from the SW. as he spends alot of time in SW and is buddy buddy with SW political Elite or possibly the SS if Jonathan decides to run as VP again as he said on CNN and become official president for the SS Zone in 2015. Zoning has its pros and cons

Jonathan is plan A
Gasau is Plan B

Maybe they want to give him the Soludo treatment. Invite him to run and have some people "chop" our money he stole.

I wonder why we've become the major problem for ourself in  Nigeria, Why on earth should we consider Babagida a credible candidate for 2011. The person who basterdised the whole of the Political scene in Nigeria during his tenure, , Canceled the most credible election ever conducted in Nigeria, Destroyed the economy through a selfish agenda called SAP and trampled on human right to the extent to which it was considered a Nigerian way of doing things. It was during Babangida Militry era that Bribery in Nigeria became acceptable, This MAN IS A EVIL GENIUOUS LET US SAY NOO TO HIS AMBITION[/size][size=8pt][color=#990000][/color]


In my opinion why not give people like Donald Duke who has vissions, Ribadu,El-Rufai a chance and let us see aw thing will change, We are too engrosed in politics rather than Development and I still wonder what all the likes or save nigeria group and the rest are doin if we can be watching this Babangida eyeing this position and destroy the little we have developed so far in this Democracy

patani:

I wonder why we've become the major problem for ourself in  Nigeria, Why on earth should we consider Babagida a credible candidate for 2011. The person who basterdised the whole of the Political scene in Nigeria during his tenure, , Canceled the most credible election ever conducted in Nigeria, Destroyed the economy through a selfish agenda called SAP and trampled on human right to the extent to which it was considered a Nigerian way of doing things. It was during Babangida Militry era that Bribery in Nigeria became acceptable, This MAN IS A EVIL GENIUOUS LET US SAY NOO TO HIS AMBITION[/size][size=8pt][color=#990000][/color]


In my opinion why not give people like Donald Duke who has vissions, Ribadu,El-Rufai a chance and let us see aw thing will change, We are too engrosed in politics rather than Development and I still wonder what all the likes or save nigeria group and the rest are doin if we can be watching this Babangida eyeing this position and destroy the little we have developed so far in this Democracy

i love this==left to me i prefer some1 else to rule this country apart from those visionless past leaders like babangida,buhari and co, let's hv a fresh candidate, I think ribadu needs to be crowned the INEC boss so dat no rigging will be allowed

Beaf:

IBB is a rubbish politician anyway. Why declare so early?
By June he would have fizzled out. We are already witnessing some of the last splutters.

And you prefer those that will declare a month to the election. He can garner momentum from now or fizzle out-that is how it is suppose to be. Wait till 2 months to election n U start seeing d likes of Okotie and Utomie speaking English up and down from Lagos 2 Abuja. D truth is that we have rubbish opposition in this country of ours.

psychu:

And you prefer those that will declare a month to the election. He can garner momentum from now or fizzle out-that is how it is suppose to be. Wait till 2 months to election n U start seeing d likes of Okotie and Utomie speaking English up and down from Lagos 2 Abuja. D truth is that we have rubbish opposition in this country of ours.

Less desperate people than IBB will declare 5 or 6 months to the elections, he will fizzle out.
The political opposition is mostly made up of moneyed idealists and jobbers. Whenever we have honest electoral reform then the pragmatists and builders we desire will rise naturally. Right now the field is open only to political clowns like IBB.

Beaf:

Less desperate people than IBB will declare 5 or 6 months to the elections, he will fizzle out.
The political opposition is mostly made up of moneyed idealists and jobbers. Whenever we have honest electoral reform then the pragmatists and builders we desire will rise naturally. Right now the field is open only to political clowns like IBB.

That’s were u r getting it wrong. Desperation is the way to go with politicking. Who wants it the most. Let’s look @ Obama, he wouldn’t have been able to build up the momentum needed for the election if not 4 primaries. US knew Obama during the primaries. Since we do not have internal democracy in this part of the world, contestants should declare earlier enough in order to build momentum. As of the issue at hand, IBB has smart peeps writing his script- the kind of support he is getting from the south is what is surprising, Arewa will fall in line 4get them, believe me, Only PDP can stop IBB.

Ibb is nothing Gasau is the person who hold the key to anyone who is president.
So if Gasau decides to run, he will be president no doubt.

Gasau will most likely be president thats if he wants to be.

sjeezy8:

Ibb is nothing[b] Gasau is the person who hold the key to anyone who is presiden[/b]t.
So if Gasau decides to run, he will be president no doubt.

Gasau will most likely be president thats if he wants to be.

SUPER STORY! He holds no key Jare. Y didn't he unlock d presidential door in 2007. its common knowledge he is as sly as IBB buts it doesn't make him d kingmaker. He was Danjuma's boy in d army, worked with IBB n OBJ but none of them has a clue where his loyalty lies which is y de always want 2 keep him close.
All I know is that amidst all the political magomago anyone dat emerges as d PDP candidate will be president come 2011. Arewa ko Ohaneze ni

The Babangida years

By Tolu Ogunlesi
April 17, 2010 10:36PM

In his first New Year Day’s speech as military president, months after deposing the Buhari-Idiagbon government in a bloodless coup enthusiastically welcomed by Nigerians, Ibrahim Babangida declared: “I wish to reaffirm that this administration does not intend to stay in power a day longer than is required to lay the necessary institutional framework to bring about a better and more stable Nigeria.” Babangida’s bonhomie (its trademark an endearing gap-toothed smile) - in stark contrast to the stern, unsmiling façade of Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor - made it easy for him to be believed.
The distinction between the two regimes in fact ran much deeper than personality quirks. Babangida, in action, proved to be the complete antithesis of his predecessor. He threw open prison doors, setting free hundreds of 3rd republic politicians convicted and jailed by Buhari. He repealed the obnoxious Decree No. 4 of 1984 with which the Buhari regime had shackled the media. He promised to run “an open administration that is responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of all the people” - a departure from the high-handedness of the Buhari/Idiagbon era.
One of his first actions as military president was to allow Nigerians to decide, through public debates, whether to accept the $2.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan the Buhari government had been negotiating for.
After the terror of the Buhari years, Nigerians appeared to have found a statesman in military uniform.

Tough times that lasted
By 1985, Nigeria’s foreign debt had ballooned to $18 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 1980 (it would rise beyond $30 billion by the end of the 80s), and external reserves had dwindled to less than $2 billion. Oil prices had been in freefall for 3 years running, and in January 1986 they finally fell to less than $20 per barrel, a record low since the start of the decade.
To his credit Babangida made all the right noises about revamping the economy. In his Independence Day 1985 speech, barely two months old in office, he declared “a state of economic emergency for the next 15 months.” That speech went on to lay down a comprehensive plan for “economic reconstruction”.
This plan included a moratorium on new foreign debt, promotion of agriculture and industrial development, restriction of importation to “essential commodities”, financial sector reform and privatisation.

Populist leanings
IBB was a master of the populist move - ambitious government programs targeted at tackling poverty, and empowering rural dwellers. His government churned out program after program, in a bid to actualize his promises to run an inclusive, people-facing government. In 1986, Babangida launched the Mass Mobilization for Self Reliance, Social Justice, and Economic Recovery (MAMSER).
In 1987, the Directorate of Food and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI) was launched to promote agriculture and transform Nigeria’s rural landscape by providing modern infrastructure. Other Babangida creations include the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), Peoples Bank of Nigeria (PBN), National Board for Community Banks (NBCB), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), National Planning Commission (NPC), and the Urban Development Bank.
No other Nigerian government presided over such substantial expansion of government bureaucracy as the Babangida administration. In time, the fiscal prudence that Babangida espoused vanished: billions of naira were sunk into an endless transition programme, and in the early ‘90s, 12 billion dollars worth of windfall crude oil revenue (courtesy of the rise in the oil prices due to the Gulf War) could not be accounted for.
Mr. Babangida also came to perfect the art of dispensing patronage through political appointments (mostly targeted at leading members of the opposition) and a far-from-transparent allocation of lucrative oil blocks.

“A man whose words mean nothing”
Mr. Babangida’s contradictions eventually overwhelmed his reputation so that when, in May 1993, the activist and lawyer Gani Fawehinmi described him as “a man whose words mean nothing to him”, evidence of this littered his eight years in power.
Only months after vowing to run a “government by consultation with the people”, Mr. Babangida in 1986 surreptitiously - and unilaterally - took Nigeria, an avowed secular state, into full membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), a body which describes itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world.”
Mr. Babangida lamented the “large role played by the public sector in economic activity with hardly any concrete results to justify such a role.”Ironically, over the course of the next five years, he would go ahead to supervise an unprecedented expansion of government. And despite his deference to the wish of Nigerians to reject the IMF loan, Mr. Babangida went ahead to implement some of the Fund’s most drastic requirements - a devaluation of the naira, and removal of subsidies, chief of which were the petroleum subsidies.
Mr. Babangida promised Nigerians that the “belt-tightening” was sorely needed: the painful injection that would usher in vibrant economic health; the mandatory dark lining before a cloud of prosperity. Those reforms, which he christened “Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)”, came into effect in 1986, with a far-from-pleasant impact on Nigerians. Purchasing powers dwindled, inflation rose, and the obliteration of the middle class began. In 1989, SAP riots rocked the country, as Nigerians had finally had enough of economic reforms which silver lining they waited in vain for.

Greatest failings
Mr. Babangida’s greatest failings were however in two key areas: his human rights record, and his political transition programme. In December 1985, a group of soldiers, which included his close friend, Mamman Vatsa, were arrested on allegations of plotting to topple the 4-month old Babangida government. After Vatsa was convicted and sentenced to death, Mr. Babangida assured a delegation of distinguished writers (Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and J.P. Clark), which had come pleading for mercy, that he was “determined to do everything in my power to save (Vatsa).”
Hours later, Vatsa and the other alleged plotters were executed.
As opposition to Mr. Babangida’s rule grew, so did his intolerance for dissent, so that he routinely shut down or proscribed media houses; and harassed journalists, civil society and labour groups using the instruments of state (the State Security Service, Directorate of Military Intelligence and the Police).
In 1986, five students of the Ahmadu Bello University were murdered when mobile policemen invaded the campus to quell anti-IMF protests. He also promulgated a series of draconian decrees targeted at quelling all opposition, and on occasion did not hesitate to deport foreign critics (University lecturer Patrick Wilmot and journalist William Keeling).
In October 1986, frontline journalist Dele Giwa was murdered by a letter bomb in Lagos. Preliminary police investigations stated that senior officers of Mr. Babangida’s intelligence services, who had hounded Giwa in his final days, had questions to answer regarding Giwa’s death. The mystery of the Giwa assassination remains unsolved till date.

An interminable journey
A maddeningly convoluted transition programme, whose terminal date soon became a mirage - first 1990, then 1992, and then 1993 - is one of the most significant things Babangida will be remembered for.
Early on in his administration, Mr. Babangida inaugurated a “Political Bureau” to “kick off, as it were, the national debate on a viable future political ethos and structure for our dear country.”
The political bureau was soon followed by a Constituent Assembly, which in 1989 fashioned a new constitution for the country.
Also, in 1989, he created, by presidential fiat, two political parties, the Social Democratic Party and the National Republican Convention. Then in 1991, he released a controversial list of prominent politicians whom he said were banned from participating in the transition programme.
In October 1992, he cancelled the results of the parties’ presidential primaries, causing new primaries to be held in March 1993. And then in June 1993 he annulled the results of the presidential elections, presumed to have been won by billionaire businessman MKO Abiola.

This was the final straw.
By this time, Nigerians had finally had enough of his shenanigans, and violent protests forced him to “step aside” on August 27, 1993,“My colleagues and I are determined to change the course of history,” Mr. Babangida told Nigerians in his maiden speech as Head of State, on August 27, 1985.
By the time he reluctantly relinquished power exactly eight years later, he had achieved that goal, far more successfully than he, or anyone else, could ever have imagined.

Source: Next

Humn, politics.

sjeezy8:

Ibb is nothing Gasau is the person who hold the key to anyone who is president.
So if Gasau decides to run, he will be president no doubt.

Gasau will most likely be president thats if he wants to be.

Sometime you spew what is beyond the pale of your imagination. Anyway, this forum is a public delight where every goon is entitled to an opinion.

All hands must be on deck to stop IBB.

eros:

Rejecting him is not enough. . . . .Killing him will be a welcome development.

U don't have to go that low, Killing his political ambitions is enough to inject a deadly object into his system, As it's said b4, PDP can and will stop IBB.

i've been trying to rationalise this whole ibb saga. and behold i had an eureka moment.
i believe there are some 'folks' telling ibb that despite the fact that hell will have to freeze over twice before he can be elected, it was still possible. afterall obj was excavated from the dungeon to become president. but you'd expect ibb to know better, right? so this is my 2cents. IBB IS ABOUT TO BE SCAMMED. 419 sycophants on the rampage.


watch this space.

Nigerians don't go to polling booths as normal people go to elect the candidates of their choice,they go to the polling booths as bought effigies blindly electing the highest bidder.That is why ibb's case is alarming to concern citizens,he could easily become the presi-thief of the federal republic of nigeria,if given the chance to try at all.

redsun:

Nigerians don't go to polling booths as normal people go to elect the candidates of their choice,they go to the polling booths as bought effigies blindly electing the highest bidder.That is why ibb's case is alarming to concern citizens,he could easily become the presi-thief of the federal republic of nigeria,if given the chance to try at all.

where did you copy & paste this from? Please credit the source 'cos I know you can't even get your tenses right

Written below is my answer to IBB's ambition to rule Nigeria again. Happy Reading.


ALONG COMES AN IBB…

Along comes an IBB,
Once the gap toothed,
Grand commander of the Nigerian polity.
Who held sway as the number one citizen,
Before being shaken and tactically pushed aside later,
To become a spectator,
To the drama and chaos,
That befell the Nation,
In the hands of a skirt loving goggled general,
A now carrying white beard smooth operator,
A farmer turned “Kampe” president,
And under the twin rulership of a vulnerable man
and his devious wife, popularly known for
her cockroach infested kitchen cabinet.
And out of the blues,
With his assailants no more in sight,
And on his tail,
He springs out,
Like a rabbit from his hole in Minna,
And with the sympathy of some.
Declaring his ambiguous ambition,
Under a “ashy” cloud and panic stricken world.
Sending shivers and quakes,
Across the nation and beyond.
He’s set to dazzle and mesmerize the polity once again,
With the support of his chameleon but loyal lieutenants,
And another set of IBB boys,
But now in civilian clothes,
And the head of senate.
Either to cool or heighten the already tensed field,
With his dramatic ingenuity.
Typical of a Maradona,
But now with the deft moves,
And artistry of a Lionel Messi,
Acquired over the years on the sideline.
All seems like a smooth sailing for the general,
Without a Beko, Gani or Fela,
To breathe down his neck,
And a Falana busy chasing shadows with EFCC.
Others could be swerved,
By creating another juicy parastatal or position,
To keep a volatile Soyinka in check,
Or making an Atiku head of the United Nation, I guess,
And putting a radical Buhari as chairman of NNPC,
Or another PTF.
While the nation is kept under siege again,
With many of the opposition “lock down”
Or sent on exile.
But this time,
To either neighbouring Ghana or Cotonou,
No thanks to the volcanic ash,
Which might not permit any “juicy” trip abroad,
For any runaway critic.
As the general strides along,
To that hilly, slippery, rocky domain.
Maybe in search of some hidden secrets,
Or treasure tucked under the bunker.
But not like the one shattered in dodan,
During that infamous
“Coup de grace”
Along comes an IBB,
To rewrite history,
Or to save the Nation?
When a Jonathan is in power,
With all the luck in the world,
And with the support both at home and abroad.
There’d definitely be enough drama,
In Aso Rock.
As the race for the “vacant” throne intensifies,
And with a turai lurking around,
Reluctant to let go.
Even at the risk of her man’s life,
All because of a “name” tag?
And some bags of aso rice…

NB: Leave IBB to GOD. Let him be overstretching his luck.


Marvel Ck © April 2010
Email: marvelck@yahoo.com

;Dhaha,

I am Legal Practitioner and also an Author of many Books (Book Writer). I have devoted my time for the past 13 years in making constant research in the public and private libraries, newspapers and magazines, internet, among others, while look for solutions for Nigeria’s economic, political and social problems. Indeed, I have finally gotten solutions to my nation’s (Nigeria) economic, political problems as contained in my books thus: THE FOUNDATION FOR A NEW UNITED NIGERIA,GUARDIANSHIP OF NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY, REVIVAL OF NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC POWER,JUNE 12, 1993 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, THE FOCUS OF A VISIONARY LEADER IN NIGERIA, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA.
President Ibrahim Babangida is the redeemer of Nigerian democracy. He should come back to power by 2011 as the President of Nigeria and continue his good work for Nigeria. The truth is that the circumstances surrounding the conduct and cancellation of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election can never destroy great achievements made by President Ibrahim Babangida’s regime.
The Highlight of General Ibrahim Babangida’s achievements while in office has proved that his regime witnessed a whirlwind of activities, and more policy initiatives and fiscal measures than all other past regimes in the country. Some of his achievements include:
The establishment of new Universities and Polytechnics.
The movement of Federal Capital from Lagos to Abuja.
The reorganization of the Nigeria Police into seven Zonal Operation Areas.
The unemployment grant to States for agricultural programmes and vocational skills.
Establishment of Mass Mobilization for Self-Reliance Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER).
A 46-member Panel to review the 1979 Constitution.
The creation of Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Abia, Anambra, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Yobe and Taraba States and over 136 new Local Government Areas with take off grants.
Direct funding of Local Government Areas from the Federal Government to make them autonomous.
National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA).
National Orientation Agency (NOA) formerly known as the ‘‘Mass Mobilization for Self-Reliance Social Justice and Economic Recovery’’ (MAMSER).
National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
Federal Environment Protection Agency (FEPA).
Lagos Third Mainland Bridge.
Federal Urban Mass Transit programme.
The 1991 National Population Census (NPC).
National Women Commission.
The Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DIFRRI).
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
National Housing Fund.
Commission of the Onne Fertilizer Plant in Rivers State.
The 260 million dollars Petrol Chemical Plant in Kaduna.
Establishment of four (4) bodies in one day National Population Commission,
National Revenue Mobilization Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal.
NNPC Escravos- Lagos Gas Pipeline at Egbin,
National Electoral Commission (NPC).
Elesa Eleme Refinery in River State.
Children Trust Fund.
Resumed diplomatic relations with Israel
Central Bank Autonomy Decree,
Others were: NAFDAC; Ecomog; Reduction of import duties on newsprint, etc.
In fact, the list of achievements made by President Ibrahim Babangida’s regime is endless and it cannot be exhausted here (in this book), but more can be found in other books written by this Author entitled: “Guardianship of Nigerian Democracy”-foreword by President Ibrahim Babangida and also “The Foundation for a New United Nigeria”
08062723355, 08054161961 (parabarth@yahoo.co.uk)