- Afegbua says the statement was misunderstood by Nigerians and the press
- Afegbua said the reactions that the message generated were totally misplaced and unnecessary
- The spokesman, in his personal opinion, however said that the president should go home and manage the rest of his life in 2019
Kassim Afegbua, the spokesman to former Nigerian military leader Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), has denied that his principal said President Buhari should not run in 2019.
According to an interview with Afegbua which was published by Vanguard on Sunday, February 25, he said Nigerians totally misunderstood the message that IBB tried to pass across in the statement.
“…Some Nigerians like to form an opinion over a book without reading the book. When that statement was issued, the headlines in the social media were misleading. There were headlines that did not capture the message of that statement. ‘IBB has given red card to Buhari’, ‘IBB says Buhari should not contest’, no.
“As far as we are concerned, President Buhari has not told anybody that he is going for second term. So on the basis of that, we cannot begin to guess whether he is going to contest or not, no. We issued a statement saying that Nigerians should cooperate with the current President for him to end his tenure in 2019, that is, when the present mandate will terminate.
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“Now, we say that in the interest of moving forward, IBB was the author of new breed politics, he said new hands, new generation leadership should be encouraged to come and take over the leadership of this country through democratic process. And that there is insecurity everywhere and that, even as we were offering the advice, Buhari had a right to vote and be voted for.
“There was actually no room for the kind of tempers that it generated but for the fact that people will not apply little patient to go through statements, they will just read headlines and form an opinion.”
Despite saying this, Afegbua maintained that in his personal opinion, President Buhari should not run in 2019 because of his age among other things.
According to the spokesman, he would give President Buhari the same advice he gave IBB some years back when he quite partisan politics – go and continue with your life.
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If President Buhari should choose to run, Afegbua says he won’t support him.
“If President Buhari is my father, I will graciously advise him. I will say, ‘Daddy, it is time to go home and manage the rest of your life. It is time to leave the stage where people will be abusing you’. I will not bring out my dad to be so vilified if I were to be his son.
So it is not about changing policies, it is about the fact that this is the age of retirement, this is the age of having more time for yourself and family than committing to public service. When General Babangida clocked 70, I was one of those who prevailed on him to quit partisan politics. I told him, ‘Sir, now you are 70, I do not want any journalist to push you here and there’. We prepared a statement for him; at a public event in Abuja, he announced his retirement from partisan politics.
“My mind is made up on what I desire for myself in 2019. I have made it clear that I won´t be supporting President Buhari if he chooses to seek re-election. If the party chooses another person, I will support him; if not, I will withhold my vote.”
NAIJ.com had previously reported that Afegbua expressed regret over the fact that Nigerians were deprived of the opportunity to absorb IBB’s letter to President Muhammadu Buhari as a result of the ensuing controversy following the release of the statement.
Afegbua recollected his invitation by the Police Force after he released IBB’s statement; stating that he only obliged the summon because he is a law-abiding citizen.
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Source: Naija.ng