Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004.
IBB campaign intensifies in Abuja
Don Bassey
Correspondent, Abuja
Former military President, Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida, may have stepped up his campaign for the 2007 presidential elections
as his posters are now prominent on walls and billboards in Abuja, the Federal
capital Territory (FCT) and its environs.
Though he is yet to publicly declare his
ambition, a national executive committee member of “IBB Vision
2007” who led his colleagues at the weekend to distribute the posters
with the inscription: IBB: The Man for 2007, said they were acting on
Babangida’s instructions.
“We are here to distribute these
posters. 2007 is not as far away as non-politicians think. Everywhere in the
world, elections demand that you start early to sell your candidate. Though IBB
is not an obscured figure, we still have to sell the message that none of the
candidates aspiring to govern this country after Obasanjo has the credentials
that can match his. We are now in a new dispensation and Nigerians must believe
that IBB can also function in a democratic setting as he did in the
military,” the campaigner said.
He debunked claims that Babangida provided
the funds for the group’s activities, stating that, “Our group was
formed in 2001 as “IBB Vision 2003” but at IBB’s bidding, we
slowed down our activities as he told us he will not want to run against
Obasanjo.
“Immediately after the April
elections we met and re-strategised. We never discussed money in all our
meetings. All he tells us is that we should go and do our homework, as he was
ready to yield to the yearnings of Nigerians who want him to steer the country
to greatness once again. So, we are funding ourselves but with strong support
from his friends, especially governors and members of the National
Assembly.”
The Alhaji Ahmad Makama-led “IBB Vision 2007”
recently held a national delegates conference in Minna where Babangida
reportedly announced his readiness to run in 2007 after accepting to be the
grand patron of the group.
It also announced the appointment of former deputy senate
presidents, Haruna Abubakar and Albert Legogie, as some of its six zonal
coordinators.
