A former military head of State of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida, has debunked claims that he and his allies ganged up against Buhari.
Babangida was the military leader responsible for ousting Buhari way back in 1985 and he has been accused of joining forces with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and General Theophilus Danjuma to discredit Buhari and make him fail.
Speaking in an interview with the Crest, an online newspaper, Babangida stated that these accusations were merely media fantasy and that he had no such ambitions.
“What gang-up? That is a media creation. It is media perception. It is easier for the media to add things up and conclude. I think what has happened is that after General Danjuma said what he said [about the alleged genocide in his home state of Taraba and the need for his people to defend themselves because the military had failed to protect them], after President Obasanjo released his letter, and perhaps, after my release too, the media simply added things up and came to the conclusion that there is a gang-up. There is no gang-up. It is media perception,” he said.
He also chimed in on the current exodus taking place in the APC as he called it political dexterity.
Babangida said: “If people left the APC to form R-APC [Reformed All Progressives Congress], they must have a solid reason or reasons for doing that. If 12 senators got to a point where they felt their continued stay in APC was not working and decided to leave, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Similarly, if the other two senators felt that their stay in APC was no longer worth their while and decided to join the ADC [African Democratic Congress], they have not committed any crime.
“I think the development is good for democracy. Democracy is about choices; it is about the freedom to choose. In the democratic system that we practise, you can always disagree if you feel what you see in the system does not agree with your expectation.”