Kassim Afegbua who appeared as
a guest on Channels Television
Programme Sunday Politics said
as a professional who has been on
the job for 13 years, he has never
gotten a rebuttal after releasing a statement on behalf of the
former president. “I have been doing this job for 13
years now. I have never issued a
statement on behalf of General
Babangida and it gets a rebuttal. “I extracted a commitment from
him (Babangida) before I issued
that statement. The former
military president authorised the
statement I issued. I didn’t just
put out the statement on my own,” he said. The Former Military President on Sunday, January 4 distanced himself from the statement credited to him and signed by his media aide, Mr Kassim Afegbua. Babaginda in his rebuttal said the
views expressed in the statement
are not his views but that of the
writer. Afegbua in the interview on
Politics Today, however, said that
the former President’s ‘friends’
and ‘supporters’ who loved him
more than he loves himself felt
the first statement pitched the former President against the
President Muhammadu Buhari. “You know, IBB is for everyone, so
people want to love him more
than he loves himself, people
want to appreciate him more
than he appreciates himself,
people want to play the role of IBB. “So, when the statement came on
board, and when some of his
friends saw the twist and how
the social media sensationalise it,
they felt we were trying to put
the former president on a collision course with the
President. So, to that extent, they
went and did a statement to deny
that.” Afegbua said further that
Babangida in a telephone
conversation assured that the
statement stands and that it is
not a figment of his imagination
but a communication that emanates from Babangida. “But I have since spoken to him;
he called me and said, that
statement stands. The kernel of
that statement should inform
public discourse and not
necessarily people personalising it as if it were to be against the
sitting president. “So, the statement stands and I
have since communicated to all
the media houses that they
should respect that statement as
coming from IBB. It did not
emanate from my head. We sat down, we discussed and
articulated them and we put
them into perspective,” he said. According to Afegbua, the issues
raised by General Babangida
should be discussed and not
neglected as he wants a new side
of leadership, from the younger
generation of Nigerians who in his own views have the
resourcefulness, the energy and
capacity to manage governmental
affairs. “Nigerians can begin to
interrogate the issues he raised
in that statement. IBB started
politics since 1990 and so, if he is
saying we should go back to the
politics of early 90’s, it is corresponding with his line of
thoughts. So, I wouldn’t know why
someone will think that I will go
and generate a statement
without authority from him.” Clearing the air on the statement
further, the spokesperson
explained that General
Babangida is not personalising his
statement against the incumbent
President, “but he is saying, as a stakeholder and a concerned
Nigerian, that he shares in the
aspirations of the people.”

Nice one. I saw the programme myself, Live.

KASSIM you don enter nigeria politics one chance, just go and explain your self to the nigeria police. because you are wanted for impersonation.