Former Military Presi-dent, Ibrahim Babangida, has chided the presidency for describing the statement he made in a political forum recently in Abuja as treasonable and said that whatever he said was within the context of the events in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Fielding questions from newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday, Babangida said he believed President Goodluck Jonathan was misquoted when he described his statement as treasonable and remarked that what he said was never in line with what could be described as treasonable.
Fielding questions from newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday, Babangida said he believed President Goodluck Jonathan was misquoted when he described his statement as treasonable and remarked that what he said was never in line with what could be described as treasonable.
The former Military President said, “I was not disappointed for one reason. I want to believe that the President was misquoted because of the use of the word, ‘treason.’ I have been in the military for 32 years and I was a head of state for 8 years.”
Babangida said he knew what treason means, insisting that President Jonathan did not describe that statement as treasonable in the sense as it was understood by Nigerians and reiterated that Jonathan might have been misquoted.
The former President said he set up panels to try treason cases while he was Head of State and he knew what treason meant.
“I know what treason means and I’m sure the President didn’t say the treason the way you guys portrayed it in the media. I tried treason cases about three times when I was in service. I know what treason is. I’ve been in the service, I know what treason is. I have been in the military, I know what treason is. So, I want to believe he was misquoted. “
Babangida therefore stated that what he said and what former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said was within the context of the ruling party.
“The only thing I will add; what I said, what Atiku said are within the context of PDP, period. It does not touch Nigeria at all. This is a very small portion,” he said.
He reinforced his earlier position that he was not going to cross to another party to contest the presidential election.
“Are you going to cross carpet to another political party to actualise your presidential ambition?” the journalist asked him and he replied: “The answer is no.”
Babangida, speaking as the chairman of a National Stakeholder Conference organised by the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) in Abuja last Wednesday, warmed that if PDP jettisoned zoning the move would spell doom for the party.
He said: “Jettisoning this arrangement, regardless of the excuse that is being bandied around, endangers not only the prospects of orderly transition in the country, but also its progress towards evolving into a single individual nation.”
“Any attempt to disrupt this arrangement therefore portends ominous prospects to the electoral fortunes of the party, but more seriously endangers political transition in the nation,” he said.
Also speaking at the same occasion, Atiku quoted Frantz Fanon by saying: “those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable”.
Source:Thisday
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