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ANPP rejects IBB for 2007
presidency
�Why he should return to power
� Shagaya
By Greg
Ogbong-Oshotse
Europe
and North America
Editor
(London)
Chuks Ehirim,
(Abuja)
and Ayo Jones (Lagos)
Three
years to the next general election and despite his well known ambition to
return to Aso Rock, former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida is still
searching for a political party to realise his tall
dream.
There are
formidable power blocs against his quest in the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), of which he is a member, and now, he has hit a stone wall in the
All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) where he recently tested the waters for
solace.
The ANPP
says Babangida is not a member of the party and would not contest the 2007
Presidency on its platform.
Its board
of trustees� Chairman Augustus Aikhomu made the clarification at the
weekend when he fielded questions from newsmen on the outcome of the
party�s caucus meeting.
It came
with a tinge of irony: Aikhomu was Babangida�s second in command when he
was Head of State.
Yet,
there is a cluster of associates, cronies and hangers-on around the
wealthy general who keep urging him to take back the mantle of leadership
he relinquished in his famous �stepping aside� tactics in August 1993,
after eight years in the saddle; thanks to the successful coup de
tat he had
staged in August 1985 to oust the Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon
junta.
Interestingly,
Buhari himself wants to be Head of State again, albeit a democratically
elected President under the banner of the ANPP. (Idiagbon is
dead).
One of
those edging on Babangida is John Shagaya, a retire General who served as
Internal Affairs Minister under him.
Expressing
his own views and those of other cronies, he said the �unrelenting calls� from some democratic bodies and
pressure groups for Babangida
to complete �certain innovations he introduced into governance� during his
dictatorship �may soon force
him� to join the fray
for the Villa.
Shagaya,
a confidant of Babangida, said the man has not formally indicated his
interest in the race, but disclosed in an interview that the consensus by
such bodies as the Democratic Mandate Group (DMG) and others is that there
is an urgent need for him to return and complete the job he started, �for
the good of the nation�.
That
point is probably well made. The knotty bit is for him to find a political
party big enough to actualise the plan. For one, Babangida is up against
Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the PDP as well as former Lagos State
Military Administrator Buba Marwa.
Besides
the obstacle posed by the ambition of Buhari in the ANPP, Aikhomu, one of
the most influential men in that party has dismissed the possibility of
Babangida clinching its Presidential ticket, at least for now, saying:
``The issue of Ibrahim Babangida should be put to rest. He is a bonafide
member of the PDP and will not be vying for the Presidency on our
ticket�.
He said
although he has a personal relationship with Babangida ``he is not a
member of our great party�.
It is
also well known that there is no love lost between Buhari and Babangida,
which makes rather tough for one to concede the ANPP ticket to the other,
even if Babangida were to sign up to the party.
Aikhomu
spoke on other issues in the party as well. He assured its members that
the crisis within has been resolved, thanked them for their ``patience and
resilience'', and advised them to stop bickering in the press or risk
sanctions.
He
solicited the understanding of the media against fuelling the
leadership tussle, saying:
``The press has had enough field day on this crisis�.
The
caucus meeting was attended by the governors of Sokoto, Yobe,
Zamfara, Kebbi, Borno States
and the deputy governor of
Kano State.
Jigawa
State Governor Saminu Turaki was
not present, as he was said to be out of the country, and was
not represented.
Curiously,
Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni, factional leader of the party has rebelled against the
order Aikhomu and the
governors gave that each of the parties to the crisis should desist from
issuing public statements that tend to widen the gulf instead of bringing
solution to the party�s problem.
Reacting
to the decision reached at the meeting, which recognised Don Etiebet as ANPP leader, Useni in a statement on Monday
insisted that Etiebet remains suspended from the
party.
He
claimed that only Aikhomu attended the meeting, other members of the Board
of Trustees did not. He added that the national executive committee of the
ANPP would meet soon to address issues raised at the said meeting. �I wish
to state that our party�s NEC will soon meet and address issues raised at
the said meeting and decide on the way forward. For ease of understanding,
we wish to reconfirm that the decision of NEC on 9th September suspending
Chief Don Etiebet from office as national chairman still stands�, said
Useni.
Despite
the obstacles in Babangida�s way, an undaunted Shagaya pressed home his
point in an interview in London.
Said he:
�I think we want him to come out �. Having watched the arms of governance
since August 1993 to date and especially with some of the innovations he
put in place, I believe he still has some uncompleted jobs for this
nation. That is why the pressure comes to me and I ask him to accept and
return to the governance of Nigeria�.
Shagaya, author of Governance in
Nigeria, a book
which attempts to correct misconceptions about the Babangida era,
confirmed that the prevailing
view, at the re-presentation of the book in London, was that there is a
need for continuity in the interest of Nigeria.
�Yes,
there has been talk of continuity. At the re-presentation on Saturday,
they said that the IBB government started a revolution in Nigeria and
there�s need to continue that revolution�.
He
explained that political turmoil which has dogged successive
administrations, from the
brief Ernest Shonekan era to the current one of President Olusegun
Obasanjo, has not allowed for beneficial governance, and stressed that
there would be worthwhile changes particularly in the political and
economic spheres �when Babangida returns to power�.
While
commending Obasanjo for the reforms he has introduced in the last five years,
Shagaya was quick to add that after the two terms permitted by the
Constitution, the viable option would be for Babangida to come back
because �some of us also believe that if that seat is to be filled by
the right round peg in the
right round hole, IBB fits in��.
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