Date Published: 09/06/11

Obasanjo's Administration was inept and wasteful, IBB insists

Ibrahim Babangida

Former Military President Ibrahim Babangida yesterday said he stands by his statement that former President Olusegun Obasanjo wasted $16billion on power without any result. 

He said he did not recant his criticisms of Obasanjo, particularly on the administration’s wasteful spending.          

Babangida made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja by his spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua.

He said he would not allow history to record him as keeping quiet when he was called a fool.                                                  

The statement reads: “We have read several news reports suggesting that former President, General Babangida, recanted his comments on former President Obasanjo. He wishes to state very clearly and without fear of contradiction that there is nothing like ‘recant’ on his part. 

“What IBB stated on August 30 was that the media misquoted him on his earlier interview granted prior to his birthday on August 17. The contents of the newspapers’ reports were different from the screaming headlines that were carried. That perhaps informed Obasanjo’s misplaced outburst to the effect of calling IBB a fool at 70.

“IBB still stands by the contents of that interview, where he made allusion to the squander-mania that characterised Obasanjo’s government with particular reference to the $16billion reportedly wasted on a fruitless power project, as revealed by the National Assembly power probe panel. There was nothing extra-ordinary in what IBB said to warrant Obasanjo’s outburst and scathing remarks on Babangida.

“In the light of the above, he wishes to state unequivocally that the idea or notion or impression of a recant does not arise at all. His response to Obasanjo’s outburst remains in force and valid, hence it will be wrong for anyone to report that ‘IBB recanted’ on his earlier position. He will not allow history to record it for him that he kept mum when someone reportedly called him a fool. All the issues raised in his earlier response have not been contradicted by Obasanjo save that he resorted to name-calling and abuse.  

“He still holds the position very strongly that Obasanjo’s regime recorded the highest revenue in the history of Nigeria, from Independence in 1960 till 1999, when his government came into force.