By Williams Anuku Abuja
Ibrahim Babangida, a former Nigerian military president has said his administration could be considered as that of saints when compared to the massive corruption going on within the country, contemporarily.
He also suggested that as the race for who occupies the seat of power in 2023 hits up, Nigeria’s next President should be of a vibrant personality, who should also be in his 60’s.
Babangida stated this during an interview with Arise Television in his home in Minna.
According to him, “Nigeria’s next President should be in his 60’s”.
Political pundits have argued that, with such a mindset, the former respected military leader has ruled out the two leading contenders; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and, former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who may likely be presented by the two leading parties of PDP and APC as their presidential candidates, respectively, come 2023.
These two political heavyweights would be in their 70s by the next election.
IBB said he had already envisaged about three or four people who might be qualified and, with the right qualities, to lead the country come 2023.
Babangida who was confident that the nation is endowed with both human and natural resources hinted at a few individuals, whom he said were in their 60s, who have the capacity to become President and could effectively run the country.
He accused the Nigerian people of creating and at the same time, destroying their own country while also identifying bad leadership as yet a major reason for the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria.
Talking about the presidential hopefuls he had in mind, IBB said they were persons in their 6os with contacts across the nation and who had been traversing the geo-political zones marketing their acceptability and capacity.
“I have started visualising a good Nigerian leader. That is, a person, who travels across the country and has a friend virtually everywhere he travels to and he knows at least one person that he can communicate with.
“That is a person, who is very versed in economics and is also a good politician, who should be able to talk to Nigerians and so on. I have seen one, or two or three of such persons already in his 60’s
Asked if the person could emerge victorious in the 2023 presidential election, the former military leader said “I believe so if we can get him.
Asked to make a comparison between his government at that time which was accused of being the most corrupt regime and now, the former military President said, comparing the level of corruption then and now, he would rate his tenure as that of “Saints”.
Reiterating his belief in the future of Nigeria and urging Nigerians to remain patriotic, Babangida, who claimed to be feeling good as he was about to turn 80 years, with gratitude to God for sparing his life, advised Nigerians to go for the person that has what it takes to transform the country when the time comes.
IBB served as Head of State between 1985 and 1993. Born in Niger State, he received military training in Nigeria, India, Great Britain, and the United States.
Babangida introduced economic policies such as the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which altered the course of the nation and liberalised the economy.
The interview which was aired in the morning of Friday 6th of August 2021 with Arise Television also had the former leader wonder how the media at that time called him an “Evil Genius” wondering how an Evil could be a genius.
