IBB replies Jonathan : You can't change goal post at the middle of the game

Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has said that the attempted justification of the abandonment of zoning, as being done by supporters of President Goodluck, amounts to “crass opportunism, ‘long-throatism,’ gullibility, and bad-spiritedness.”

He said that moral burden and weight of history would come to bear on those concerned.
In a statement issued yesterday on his behalf by Prince Kassim Afegbua,

director, media and communications, IBB 2011 Presidential Campaign Organisation, Babangida said that President Jonathan and others in government are occupying public offices, at present, because of zoning. He said that if they choose to abandon zoning, after benefiting from it, “they have their conscience to battle with.”

The retired General, who is also a presidential aspirant, expressed disappointment that President Jonathan and his aides are only interested in justifying the abandonment of an established agreement instead of making effort to change the fortunes of the country.


He said that the Federal Government should have been worried about the poor state of the economy, as being reported by foreign agencies, adding: “It is not an accident of history that all foreign agencies are dishing out unpleasant statistics about Nigeria’s declining economic rating. For any patriot, it is enough food for thought than this display of unintelligence and crass ignorance by recruits in the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation.”
Babangida accused the spokesman of Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sully Abu, of disrespecting elders over what he said about the letter he wrote to the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo requesting that the party kept faith with zoning.

He said that the attempt by Abu to interpret the judgment of the Abuja High Court on zoning stood logic on its head, adding: “The verdict and pronouncement of the learned judge is not only instructive but also one that opens new grounds in legal appreciation, but lickspittle of Sully Abu’s ilk can decide to give their unintelligent interpretation to suit their undeserving ambition against the run of time, logic, reason, common sense, fairness, and fair play.”
The former military president said he would not stop making efforts to ensure that Nigerians’ votes count in elections, while promising to continue offering his services, with the view to promoting stability and good governance.

The statement reads: “It is unfortunate and pathetically disturbing that in this era of flourishing democracy, which guarantees the right to free expression, some persons masquerading under the guise of spokespersons, could still exhibit such a pathological ignorance about issues that are factorising the polity of our dear country. In their bid to impress their paymasters and get some crumbs from our collective patrimony, they betray all senses of protocol to use languages that easily expose them as men of little minds. Otherwise, there would not have been any rationale for the misplaced anger of Sully Abu, trying effortlessly and disingenuously to misinterpret the letter written by His Excellency, General Ibrahim Babangida, to the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, clearly addressed to him and not to the campaign organisation of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

“His asymmetrical effusions underscored the very reason why the Babangida Campaign Organisation observed that the country is daily plunging into darkness, with decaying moral values, lack of respect for elders, and lack of positive and capacity-driven leadership that needs urgent attention of serious-minded persons. The failing economy with refurbished statistics, presents to Nigerians home and abroad, a very gloomy picture that requires strength of character, courage and vision on the part of the leader to help address these obvious misnomers that are

“We find it interesting that Sully Abu could attempt to interpret the judgment of the Abuja High Court, in isolation, to suit the bulbous ego of his paymasters, and in such a manner that tends to stand logic on its head. The verdict and pronouncement of the learned judge is not only instructive but also one that opens new grounds in legal appreciation, but lickspittle of Sully Abu’s ilk can decide to give their unintelligent interpretation to suit their undeserving ambition against the run of time, logic, reason, common sense, fairness, and fair play.

“If President Goodluck Jonathan truly wants to provide purposeful leadership, a recruit such as Sully Abu is surely a bad product. Individuals, who could not, in any stretch of imagination, offer creative and innovative leadership in a manner that would drive their enterprise to success, cannot, in similar fashion, be made to midwife leadership at a higher spectrum. With advice from Sully Abu, we can now understand why President Jonathan is generally being accused of lacking good and recreative advisers, reason why the country is presently undergoing stress and fluctuations.

“A serious minded campaign organisation would attempt to seek support from a wide array of individuals to get some level of mass endorsement and not recourse to raining abusive phrases and unintelligent innuendos to create panic in the system. Even though Nigerians are aware that leadership recruitment process in the country has become so baleful and ridiculous, to the extent that votes no longer count, we will not rest on our oars and allow this unimaginable recklessness to continue to permeate our body politic. We will, in the spirit of nationalistic patriotism, continue to offer services that would help to promote stability and sense in governance. All the persons and offices that Sully Abu now graciously work for today were and are products from the same zoning arrangement they now bitterly despise. From the office of the president to the smallest office in the land within the PDP, zoning was applied in order to encourage and promote sense of belongingness in every member.

“If they are now trying to remove the ladder with which they climbed to the leadership rostrum, they have their consciences to battle with. They alone carry the moral burden and the weight of history would come to bear on them. It amounts to crass opportunism, ‘long-throatism,’ gullibility, and bad-spiritedness for anyone to attempt to shift the goal post at the middle of the game. Rather than show desperation to upturn the logic of the judgment of the Abuja Court, the like of Sully Abu should show desperation to rescue the country from its present parlous state. It is not an accident of history that all foreign agencies are dishing out unpleasant statistics about Nigeria’s declining economic rating. For any patriot, it is enough food for thought than this display of unintelligence and crass ignorance by recruits in the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation.”