Former
Military leader, Gen Ibrahim Babangida has called on pro-Jonathan
campaign groups to desist from insulting the military in any of their
campaign documentaries. Gen Babangida gave the charge in a statement he
signed and released yesterday March 25th. Read statement below...
"In
clear attempts to whip up support for President Goodluck Jonathan,
certain persons, groups and individuals have embarked on several
campaigns of calumny against former military Heads of State and
presidents who have had the opportunity to govern this country. Of
particular reference is a one-hour documentary aired on Silverbird
Television on Tuesday night; 24th March, 2015 that deliberately impugned
the integrity of Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, my
humble self; Ibrahim Babangida, the late Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami
Abubakar, and T.Y. Danjuma; all of whom have had the privilege of
presiding over the affairs of this great country at various levels.
It is either that those promoting the hate documentary are
intellectually delinquent
or they suffer memory loss; or a combination
of both. I have my very strong reservations about the contents and
thematic focus of the said documentary. Apart from promoting hate
campaign which clearly undermines the modest contributions of these
former presidents, the commentaries in the documentary against the
former presidents leave a sour taste in the mouth. Nobody is stopping
anyone from campaigning for their preferred candidates contesting
various positions in the elections, but to do that at the expense of the
reputation, contributions, patriotism, loyalty and sacrifice of former
presidents to the Nigerian state is, to say the least, immature. The
military is at present combating the dreaded Boko Haram sect to restore
Nigeria’s territorial integrity. What law under a democracy forbids
retired military personnel from participating in politics and presenting
themselves for election? Over 90 per cent of American Presidents have
military background. Leadership training is better grounded in the
military than any other profession. And the military parades some of the
best brains in any country, including Nigeria. In fact, some of my
military students that I tutored have Doctorate Degrees. It is,
therefore, callous, wicked, out-of-sync, cynical and a show of crass
ignorance for anyone to undermine the military institution by embarking
on mudslinging campaigns against former presidents and leaders with
military background. While those campaigners are pointing their accusing
fingers at us, they forget to recall that the present Director-General
of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation is actually a retired
military officer. It is this form of demonisation and stigmatisation
that often compels us to exhibit
esprit de corps amongst
ourselves in support of our military institution and colleagues when the
stakes are high. As disciplined military officers, we are patriotic
Nigerians and must be treated with utmost respect and decorum. The
military is an institution that is so dear to my heart. It is an
institution that nurtured my growing up and my achievements in life. I
am not only sold to the military institution and by extension the
Nigerian state, I am betrothed to it. As a profession, retirees are
bound to participate in politics and democracy as an all-inclusive
process, same way that doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, and civil
servants get involved in it. It is the reason why I ventured into
politics in 2003 before I quit in 2010. It is the same reason why
General Obasanjo participated and got elected; and now General
Buhari. It is therefore very curious that promoters of President
Goodluck Jonathan’s aspiration would attempt to demonise and stigmatise
former military leaders and cast aspersions on them in order to malign
their reputation. This is very unfair. Fact is; the military fought a
civil war to keep this country together. What I suffer today is a
consequence of the injuries I sustained during the Nigeria Civil War. I
am not sure there is any patriotism that is more than that. Some of us
were prepared to die for the country.”he said in the statement
