By Ojo Peter, Ibadan
A Yoruba Diaspora Socio-cultural Organization, the Yoruba Global Council, (YGC), has taken a swipe at the former military leader, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), over his recent comments on the state of the nation.
Rising from a virtual General Meeting, the group admonished Nigerians to discountenance the advice of the retired maximum ruler, noting that IBB has no moral standing to speak into the future of Nigerians, having played major roles in pillaging the country to its current sorry state.
Rather, the group advocated for a true rebirth that will awaken all citizens to their civic responsibilities for a fruitful and enduring yields, just as it praised the Nigerian media for its roles in keeping the nation together.
YGC commended the Nigerian media industry for remaining steadfast in disseminating quality information, even in the face of sundry attempts to muzzle it, right from the time of military regime to date.
Speaking through its spokesman, Prof. Lere Amusan, the YGC said, “only in Nigeria would a man who annulled the most credible election ever held, killed so many innocent souls and opened wide the gate of corruption, feel uninhibited to speak into the future of a beleaguered nation, such as ours.”
According to him, “IBB exposed the nation to an all-time electoral fraud which today has grown to a full blown monster, besetting the socio-economic order of Nigeria, with the attendant dire consequences.”
The group described as an afterthought, all attempts by IBB to rewrite history in the interview granted a National Television station, stating that; “as a leader, under whose watch the ephocal June 12,1993 election was annulled, the death of the winner of the election in prison, alongside scores of other innocent Nigerians, IBB ought not to further insult our sensibilities but rather remain silent as he is being naturally rewarded by nature.”
The YGC said that rather than heeding the words of IBB, Nigerians should embark on a journey of self-discovery through a painstaking revisit of our culture and traditions that helped in shaping our lifestyles in the time past.
The group, which insisted that Nigeria’s current political situation stemmed from sundry societal malaise engendered by unbridled nonchalant attitude on the part of the populace, believed that a rebirth is necessary for the rejuvenation of the Country to all-time stability.
Amusan said the nation, particularly the Yoruba, should retrace its steps back to the track of discipline and charity, which were the fulcrums of the social order in time past.
He noted that the problem at hand is systemic and will take everybody’s efforts to lift the country and indeed the Yoruba to its pride of place.
“We take exceptions to a person of IBB’s stuff, dictating into the future of our country. Nigeria is one country where we allow all manners of characters to plot their gimmicks into our future without a challenge”, the group said, adding that Babangida is a principal actor in the shoddy events that brought Nigeria to its kneels as a nation and all that Nigerians expect from him is an apology.
“Here is a man who annulled the world’s acclaimed freest and fairest election ever conducted in Nigeria. Here is a man under whose leadership; scores of innocent people lost their lives to defending their franchise, taken away by his fascist government by fiat. Babangida’s government legalized corruption and brought our country fifty years backwards. To us, he is a vampire, a mean, ruthless leader with a beguiling smiley face with which he plundered and raped our economy silly.”
It continued, “We also take exception to his unfounded theory of age limit to leadership. That he is incapacitated cannot mean people above 60 years of age cannot rule and rule well. The Queen of England is 98, Pope Francis of the Vatican is 84, Harald, King of Norway, is 84, Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia is 85, American Biden is 78, etc and they are very great leaders,” the release stated.
The group, therefore, reiterated its stance that a sovereign conference that would birth a new Nigeria with regional independence is all Nigeria needs for a way forward.