Minna, Nigeria – Former Military President General Ibrahim Babangida has strongly refuted claims circulating on social media that he endorsed military rule as a preferable form of governance over democracy. In an official statement released by his media office, signed by Mahmud Abdullahi in Minna, Babangida reiterated his unwavering support for democratic governance and urged Nigerians to embrace and uphold its principles.
The statement was issued in response to a misleading post from a parody account on X (formerly Twitter) with the handle @General_Ibbro. This account falsely attributed statements to Babangida, suggesting he praised military rule’s virtues over democracy, causing public confusion and misrepresentation of his views.
“This dubious account carries our principal’s picture and name and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added effect, but it does not belong to him nor does the former President sanction any post appearing there,” the statement clarified.
In the past, this account had similarly posted false information during the presidential elections, claiming Babangida endorsed a specific presidential candidate and party, leading to significant public misunderstanding and embarrassment for the respected elder statesman.
“We have just learned that it has posted a similarly fake statement where the former President was supposed to have said that Nigeria had its best years under military rule and that democracy has worsened things,” the statement continued.
The media office emphasized that neither the parody account nor the statements it disseminated are associated with General Babangida.
“For the avoidance of doubt, General Babangida (rtd) believes that Nigeria’s democracy is resilient and has come to stay, and that we must do everything we can to safeguard the process,” the statement asserted.
General Babangida affirmed his belief that Nigeria’s democratic journey is a vital process that needs to be preserved and strengthened. He expressed confidence that the country would overcome its current challenges through democratic means and emerge as a more robust and progressive nation.
“As a nation, we are currently facing a number of challenges, but the former president has always expressed the view that we will eventually overcome these challenges and come out a stronger, more progressive nation. The solution to our problems, as he has said previously, is ‘more’ democracy, not less,” the statement emphasized.
Babangida reiterated his pride in Nigeria’s transition to democracy since 1999, highlighting the military’s role in supporting democratic governance without interference.
“General Babangida truly believes that the era of military intervention in Nigeria’s politics is long gone, and he has said how proud he is that the Nigerian military has stood firmly behind multiple democratic governments in this country since 1999, thus giving us the longest run of civilian administration since independence,” the statement read.
The former president criticized the actions of the parody account, which claims to mirror his sentiments but has consistently used its platform to undermine democracy and sow discord.
“The user of this unfortunate parody account, which we gather was traditionally supposed to be an account that imitates or at least mirrors the sentiments of the original Twitter or X account it copies, has serially chosen to use the account to undermine democracy and spread stories capable of causing animosity,” the statement added.
General Babangida lamented the challenges in getting the platform’s overseers to take action against the parody account but urged the public to disregard any content from it that falsely represents his opinions.
“Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or Twitter 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,” General Babangida declared.
The statement concluded by advising media practitioners and social media users to exercise discernment and diligence in verifying information before disseminating any messages attributed to former President Babangida across social media platforms.
