HE has survived the murky waters of Nigeria’s power game, including bloody military coups and counter-putsches since the 1970s. And as the waters get murkier towards the 2011 presidential polls in which he plans to participate, he may have unwittingly let us in on his staying power in mines field of Nigerian power play. The African steeped in the wise sayings of his or her forebears would readily recall one in this instance, to wit: “The yam mould of yesteryears scalds still the dipper’s hands”
And so 24 years after the gruesome murder of Editor-in-Chief, Newswatch Magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa, when he led a military junta and 17 years after he annulled the widely acclaimed June 12 1993 Presidential Election, former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, yesterday announced that he would no longer take questions on these two epochal events that have continued to dog his renewed bid for the Presidency in the 2011 polls.
Consequently, Babangida has banned Nigeria and foreign journalists from asking him any questions relating to the June12, 1993, presidential election as well as Giwa’s murder, among others.
Also, Babangida has said that the continued detention of former Chief Security Aide of Late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha; major Hamza Al Mustapha was unfair and he should be released forthwith.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Gusau, Zamfara State, shortly after paying a condolence visits to the state Deputy Governor, Muktar Ahmad Anka, over the death of his wife, late Hajiya Aisha Muktar Anka, the former military president told reporters that no question should be posed to him in five areas.
Although, Babangida did not mention all the five no-go areas, he stated that he would not respond to any question asked on June 12, the Dele Giwa issue and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning controversy.
His words: “Before you start asking me question, I want to tell you my rules. I have five no-questions-areas, so, don’t ask me anything related to such areas: one, the issue of June 12 election; another is anything about Dele Giwa, zoning and so on.”
But when the reporters insisted on asking him about the zoning, Babangida said Nigerian democracy cannot continue without respecting the regional system of the country, stressing that the country had over 250 different ethnic groups across, and that as such zoning was imperative for peace and harmony to continue among these ethnic units.
He added: “Zoning has been in existence since the Second R epublic. Shagari was nominated as president from the northern region while Alex Ekwueme was elected to be the vice president from the eastern region of the country. “The intention then was immediately Shagari concluded his tenure Alex could have been the next president of the country. So it is not a new thing to maintain the zoning formula.”
Babangida, who spoke yesterday on Voice of Ameriaca (VOA) Hausa service, monitored in Kaduna, lamented on Al-Mustapha's detention ordeal saying, "It happened after I left office, but I know him, I have worked with him and I believe and I have said, they have not been fair to him.”
He added: “To leave him in detention for the past 12 years is unfair. I am among those calling on the government to release him. This is because what crime he might have committed has not been revealed for the past 12 years. Then there is no justice if he is not released. I am among those pleading and I hope he will be released. I am begging this government to release him.”
