Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has condemned producers of a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP sponsored documentary which he said, denigrated the personality of the All Progressives candidate presidential candidate and former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Babangida, fondly called IBB, lamented that the documentary not only cast aspersion oh Buhari, but tended to bring to disrepute the reputation of other former heads of state including himself, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Abdulsalami Abubakar, and the Late Gen Sani Abacha.
Making reference to a television documentary aired on Tuesday night on a private television network to project President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the presidential election, Babangida noted that the president’s campaigners at the same time poured calumny on some of the country’s former military rulers.
Babangida took strong exception to what he described as the negative imputations put on the integrity and services to the nation by Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, himself; Ibrahim Babangida, late Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and T.Y Danjuma.
Averring that the sponsors of the documentary which he termed a hate campaign were either intellectually bankrupt or suffering from memory loss; or a combination of both, Babangida referred to his leading role in the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“For record purposes, and without sounding immodest, the idea of a PDP that has now become the “largest party in Africa” started in my home, here in Minna. With the support of my fellow colleagues, we prepared the way for this democratic process that has now led us to where we are presently. We built the democratic infrastructure and architecture.
“Those who are parading themselves as democrats today, all participated in military governments. As a deliberate principle of remaining unsung, or blowing my own trumpet, I have elected over the years to maintain dignified silence on so many issues concerning Nigeria while I cultivate my access to each sitting President to pass across my advice in whatever form.
“It is on record and this is incontrovertible that the government I ran paraded some of the best brains this country can be proud of. I still remain eternally grateful to those wonderful brains who participated in our government to fashion a new roadmap for re-engineering the country. Some of our policies have remained unsurpassed till date and most of what the country enjoys today was a creation of the military.
“From primary healthcare to good roads, DFRRI, Better Life for Rural Women, housing, river basin authorities, MAMSER, new airports, agricultural development and other economic infrastructure, to mention but a few, were platforms where our interventions were felt. We achieved that much with very slim resources. If we had the several billions of dollars that are flying around today, we would have turned Nigeria to the Dubai of Africa.