Minna- The Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida has dissociated himself from a post linking him to have endorsed the virtues of military rule over democratic governance.
The statement urged media practitioners and social media users to be more discriminating in future and make the required measures to seek confirmationof state media officer, Mahmud Abdullahi in Minna, made a statement.
General Babangida reiterated his commitment to democratic rule rather than military and therefore called on all Nigerians not only to embrace it, but to see to its success.
He issued a statement. he said General Babangida urged all Nigerians to not only accept a democratic system but also to ensure its success, affirming his commitment to it above military rule.
According to the statement, former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, GCFR, was allegedly quoted in a post on a spoof account on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the handle @General_Ibbro, extolling the positive impacts of military rule over democratic governance.
“For extra effect, this shady account has our principal’s image, name, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s coat of arms; however, neither he nor the former President signed it.
“This dubious account carries our principal’s picture and name and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added effect but it does not belong to him nor does the former President signed any post appearing there.
“In the past and more famously during the presidential elections last year, it posted a blatant falsehood that the former President had endorsed a particular presidential candidate and his party, thereby causing public confusion and some embarrassment to the Elder Statesman.
“We have just learnt that it has posted a similarly fake statement where the former President was supposed to have said that Nigeria has the best years under military, democracy made things worst.
“We want to state unequivocally that neither the twitter or X account which is essentially a parody or pretend account, nor the statement made therein ever belonged to the retired General.
“For the avoidance of doubt, General Babangida (rtd) believes that Nigeria’s democracy is resilient and has come to stay and that we must do everything we can to safeguard the process.
Mahmud Abdullahi, the former the head of state media in Minna, issued a statement. General Babangida urged on all Nigerians to not only accept a democratic system but also to ensure its success, affirming his commitment to it above military rule.
“For extra effect, this shady account has our principal’s image, name, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s coat of arms; however, neither he nor the former President signe
Earlier this year, during the presidential elections, it disseminated an obvious lie that the outgoing president had endorsed a specific candidate and his party, creating a widespread misunderstanding and mild embarrassment for the Elder Statesman.
“We recently discovered that it had published a similar fabricated quote in which the president at the time was purported have stated that while Nigeria had enjoyed its best years under military rule, democracy had made matters worse.
The solution to our problems as he had said previously, is ‘more’ democracy, not less.
The user of this regrettable parody account, which we understand was originally intended to be one that resembles the opinions of the original Twitter account or account X that it mimics, has repeatedly chosen to use the account to spread hateful stories and weaken democracy.
“Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or twitter to remove or sanction this tiresome account, so we are again obliged to advise the general public to ignore any post from this account that purportedly claims to represent my opinion,” General Babangida declared.
The statement urged media practitioners and social media users to be more discriminating in future and make the required measures to seek confirmation
“Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or twitter to remove or sanction this tiresome account, so we are again obliged to advise the general public to ignore any post from this account that purportedly claims to represent my opinion,” General Babangida declared
