August 06, (THEWILL) – Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), says only a competent leader in the 60s’ age bracket should emerge as Nigeria’s President in 2023.
Famously tagged “IBB” and “Maradona,” the former Military President and Head of State between 1985 and 1993, has in this suggestion, technically ruled out two leading aspirants, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from the 2023 presidential race since they would be in their 70s by the next election.
Although IBB as Babangida is fondly called did not in any way mention their names, he suggested that individuals in their 60s should be the focus of Nigerians as presidential candidates in 2023.
By the next general election in 2023, Atiku, who is 75 this year, will be 77, while Tinubu, who marked his 68th in March, would have turned 70 years.
IBB, who will be 80 on August 17 this year, expressed confidence that the nation had been endowed with both human and natural resources.
He said there were a few individuals in their 60s that had the capacity to effectively run the country.
He spoke in an exclusive interview aired on the Arise News Friday morning and said, “I have started visualising a good Nigerian leader. That is, a person who travels across the country and has a friend virtually everywhere he travels to, and he knows at least one person that he can communicate with. That is a person, who is very versed in economics and is also a good politician, who should be able to talk to Nigerians and so on. I have seen one, or two or three of such persons already their sixties.”
Focusing on the state of the nation, IBB said one of the reasons Nigeria had refused to progress and achieve the dreams of the founding fathers was because Nigerians no longer believed in the future of their own country.
The former leader, who accused Nigerians of destroying their own country, identified bad leadership as a major reason for the nation’s socio-economic challenges.
Specifically on the importance of leadership in nation-building and where he thought the likes of Atiku and Tinubu no longer fit the bill, IBB said, “If you get a good leadership that links with the people and tries to talk with the people; not talking on top of the people, then we would be okay.”
He urged government officials and all politicians to always obey court orders, stressing that flouting court decisions should not be tolerated if democracy must be allowed to thrive.
