Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida IBB has disowned X handle endorsing the virtues of military rule over democratic governance.
In a statement signed by Mamoud Abdullahi from his media office in Minna, he said that he found Nigeria’s Democracy resilient.
The statement said, “Our attention has been drawn to a post on a parody account on X, formerly known as Twitter, which carries the handle @General_Ibbro, in which former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, GCFR, was supposed to have endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance”.
“This dubious account carries our principal’s picture and name and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added effect, but it does not belong to him, nor does the former President sanction any post appearing there”.
The statement recalled that in the past, and more famously during the presidential elections last year, a blatant falsehood indicated that the former President had endorsed a particular presidential candidate and his party, causing public confusion and some embarrassment to the elder statesman.
“We have just learnt that it has posted a similarly fake statement where the former President was supposed to have said that, “Nigeria has the best years under the military, democracy made things worse (sic) – IBB.” the statement added.
He said, “We want to unequivocally state that neither the Twitter or X account, which is essentially a parody or pretend account, nor the statement made therein ever belonged to the retired General.
For the avoidance of doubt, General Babangida (rtd) believes that Nigeria’s democracy is resilient and has come to stay and that we must do everything we can to safeguard the process”.
Gen Babangida said that Nigerians face several challenges as a nation. Still, he has always believed we will eventually overcome these challenges and become a stronger and more progressive nation.
He said the solution to the problems is ” ‘more’ democracy, not less,” stating that the era of military intervention in Nigeria’s politics is long gone and that the Nigerian military has proudly supported multiple democratic governments since 1999.
He, therefore, said the user of the parody X account, which is traditionally supposed to be an account that imitates or at least mirrors the sentiments of the original Twitter or X account that it copies, is not for him. Therefore, he urged media practitioners and social media users to be more discerning and make the necessary efforts to get confirmation before sharing messages attributed to him.