By Muyiwa Oyinlola
It is only the former military head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Retd. (IBB), that can chart the course of Northern voting direction in the forthcoming general elections, a chieftain of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, Mohammed Shitu, has said.
He made the disclosure in an interview in Abuja at the weekend, against the speculation making the rounds about whether or not the APC-led President Bola Tinubu would inherit the statutory 12 million votes the late President Muhammadu Buhari was believed to have always gannered in the North, ahead of the 2027 polls.
Shitu, a protégé of the former military president and former chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC,
stated that: “As far as we are concerned, the only man in the North today who can be ascribed as the leader of Nigeria, not only in the North, who can sit in the comfort of bedroom and call anyone from any part of Nigeria, and that person joyful to see him is ,former Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida”, Retd.
“There is no man in Nigeria today that has his followership. So, when people are saying there is vacuum in the leadership of the North, I ask, who created that leader in the first place?”
“Buhari was deliberately created by the Babangidas. That I know, and it’s another topic for another day.
Who created him politically? Who built his political followers? It’s Babangida. Let anyone challenge me. I know what I’m saying.
“I, therefore, urge whosoever wants Northern votes to go Minna and see the oracle of our time”.
Recall that Tinubu recently appointed Babangida’s son, Muhammed as Chairman Bank of Agriculture ,BoA, a development pundits believed was a move to warm himself into the former head of states heart ahead of the elections.
Shitu dismissed the appointment as a political calculation claiming Muhammed got the appointment on merit, and not a move for Tinubu to win Babangida’s heart.
According to him, “A father can be in Party ‘A’ while the son can be in Party ‘B’. I think Muhammed got this appointment on merit. He has done well for himself. He has established various businesses in the agricultural sector and other areas, and he succeeded”.
“And as a Nigerian, he’s eligible for appointment if he is consulted and he feels obliged to take it. He has his friends, he has his followers, he has his admirers. So, you can’t say it has any link with IBB. IBB is for Nigeria. He’s not for only his family”.
Shitu, a former presidential aspirant, also spoke about the life and time of Buhari, regretting that the late President failed to replicate the feat he achieved as military head of state between 1993 and 1985, when he was president between 2015 and 2023.
He stated that “The late President Muhammadu Buhari will be remembered for his steadfastness and doggedness. He was a thoroughbred soldier, very disciplined individual. This was reflected when he was military head of state and he gave us War Against Indiscipline ,WAI, and War Against Corruption. We have to credit him for this”.
While speaking about Buhari’s time as civilian president, he stated that, “For we Muslims, you don’t judge a dead man. He’s already dead, may Allah accept his soul. But overall, I would say he didn’t meet the yearnings, the expectations of Nigerians”.
“In fact, if he had died as General Buhari, and not as
President Buhari, Daura would not have been able accommodate the influx of the people that would be dropping there on a daily basis. But just eight years as civilian president exposed his weakness”.
Asked whether Buhari’s romance with politicians may have been the bane of his underperformance, he noted that “When you talk of politicians, remember that even as military head of state, he worked with civilians, politicians. Who were his permanent secretaries? Who were his ministers? They were all politicians. Talk of the likes of Ibrahim Gambari, who later became his chief of staff. Are they not politicians? They are”.
“But I want to believe that his ill health did not help him to be able to monitor. When he gave you assignment, he would leave you to your fate. That caused chaos”.
Shitu, who is also a farmer also spoke on other issues including the newly created Ministry of Livestock, describing it as a laudable feat that could end the incessant farmers/ herders clashes.
He, however, urged Tinubu to ensure its implementation as it is on paper.
“This was a proposal I took to the late President Muhammadu Buhari. I have it with me. I can be challenged, I will bring it out. He refused to implement it but luckily, the then Bayelsa State governor, Senator Seriake Dickson, called me and appointed me as chairman of Ranch Management Control in Bayelsa State, and we were able to put up ranches. And four years, there were no farmers/herders crisis in the state.
“You can verify the record from 2016 to 2020.
I will say that is a good start for President Tinubu but we are still watching it’s implementation. I believe that if well implemented, it will bring an end to farmers/ herders clashes”, he said.
