Minna-Former Military President General Ibrahim Babangida has distanced himself from a tweet that claimed he pushed the advantage of military dictatorship over democratic administration. General Babangida restated his commitment to democratic governance over military control in a statement from his Minna media office signed by Mahmud Abdullahi, and urged all Nigerians to not only accept it, but also ensure its success. The statement reads: "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 said to have endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance.
This bogus account includes our principal's photo and name, as well as the Federal Republic of Nigeria's coat of arms, but it does not belong to him, and the former President has not sanctioned any of the posts listed. "In the past, and most memorably during the presidential elections last year, it published a flagrant untruth that the former President had endorsed a specific presidential candidate and his party, causing public confusion and embarrassment for the Elder Statesman. "We have just discovered that it has posted a similar fake statement in which the former President was supposed to have stated that Nigeria had the best years under military rule, and that democracy made things worse."
We wish to make it clear that neither the Twitter or X account, which is effectively a parody or pretend account, nor the statement made inside ever belonged to the retired General. "For the avoidance of doubt, General Babangida (rtd) thinks that Nigeria's democracy is resilient and here to stay, and that we must do everything possible to protect the process. "As a nation, we are currently experiencing a number of challenges, but the past president has always voiced confidence that we can overcome these obstacles and emerge as a stronger, more progressive nation. The solution to our issues, as he has stated, is'more' democracy, not less.
General Babangida believes that the era of military intervention in Nigerian politics is over, and he has expressed his pride that the Nigerian military has stood firmly behind multiple democratic governments in this country since 1999, giving us the longest period of civilian administration since independence.
The user of this unfortunate parody account, which we understand was traditionally supposed to be an account that imitates or at least mirrors the sentiments of the original Twitter or X account that it copies, has repeatedly chosen to use the account to undermine democracy and spread stories that can cause animosity. "Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or twitter to remove or sanction this tiresome account, so we are again obliged to advise the general public to ignore any post from this account that purportedly claims to represent my opinion," Babangida stated.
The statement recommended media professionals and social media users to be more cautious in the future and to seek confirmation before spreading statements linked to former President Babangida on X on any social media platform.