Former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida has taken a swipe at Nigerians for the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s failure to consult him on important national issues.
He said that the current administration distances itself from him because it does not want to suffer the consequences of the wrong perception Nigerians have about him.
He stated this in an interview with Daily Trust TV while responding to a question on whether the Buhari administration seeks his opinion on national issues.
Read Also: 2023 presidency: Dele Momodu denies endorsing Tinubu
Asked how much the present administration consulted him, Babangida said, “Not much and they are right for not because the Nigerian society, I know the Nigerian psyche, they will accuse the government for talking to me on anything and they wouldn’t like to be accused, so the best thing keep him at distance.”
Asked if it was not wrong for the government not to be able to benefit from his wealth of experience ruling the country, the ex-Nigerian leader said, “The good thing about Nigerians, I happen to know them reasonably well. They assess you based on a wrong perception, most of the time.
“If you say Babangida is a thief, the first thing Nigerian will do is to believe it and he doesn’t care whether you are going to explain or something. He believes what somebody else said, he doesn’t have facts, he will not accept even your own explanation, his reason is if you say he is a thief, he says yes, yesterday I saw him in a Mercedes, I saw him in a good car therefore he is a thief. They have a shallow thinking all the time.”
Asked if he’s retired from partisan politics like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he said, “Yes I have; not involved in politics but still interested in what is happening in politics because this is my country I don’t have any other country, I have to take interest in what is going on.”