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Minna, Nigeria – Former Navy President Normal Ibrahim Babangida has strongly refuted claims circulating on social media that he endorsed army rule as a preferable type of governance over democracy. In an official assertion launched by his media workplace, signed by Mahmud Abdullahi in Minna, Babangida reiterated his unwavering assist for democratic governance and urged Nigerians to embrace and uphold its ideas.
The assertion was issued in response to a deceptive publish from a parody account on X (previously Twitter) with the deal with @General_Ibbro. This account falsely attributed statements to Babangida, suggesting he praised army rule’s virtues over democracy, inflicting public confusion and misrepresentation of his views.
“This doubtful account carries our principal’s image and identify and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added impact, however it doesn’t belong to him nor does the previous President sanction any publish showing there,” the assertion clarified.
Up to now, this account had equally posted false info throughout the presidential elections, claiming Babangida endorsed a particular presidential candidate and occasion, resulting in vital public misunderstanding and embarrassment for the revered elder statesman.
“We’ve simply realized that it has posted a equally faux assertion the place the previous President was speculated to have mentioned that Nigeria had its greatest years underneath army rule and that democracy has worsened issues,” the assertion continued.
The media workplace emphasised that neither the parody account nor the statements it disseminated are related to Normal Babangida.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Normal Babangida (rtd) believes that Nigeria’s democracy is resilient and has come to remain, and that we should do all the pieces we are able to to safeguard the method,” the assertion asserted.
Normal Babangida affirmed his perception that Nigeria’s democratic journey is an important course of that must be preserved and strengthened. He expressed confidence that the nation would overcome its present challenges by way of democratic means and emerge as a extra strong and progressive nation.
“As a nation, we’re at the moment going through numerous challenges, however the former president has at all times expressed the view that we’ll ultimately overcome these challenges and are available out a stronger, extra progressive nation. The answer to our issues, as he has mentioned beforehand, is ‘extra’ democracy, not much less,” the assertion emphasised.
Babangida reiterated his pleasure in Nigeria’s transition to democracy since 1999, highlighting the army’s position in supporting democratic governance with out interference.
“Normal Babangida actually believes that the period of army intervention in Nigeria’s politics is lengthy gone, and he has mentioned how proud he’s that the Nigerian army has stood firmly behind a number of democratic governments on this nation since 1999, thus giving us the longest run of civilian administration since independence,” the assertion learn.
The previous president criticized the actions of the parody account, which claims to reflect his sentiments however has persistently used its platform to undermine democracy and sow discord.
“The person of this unlucky parody account, which we collect was historically speculated to be an account that imitates or at the least mirrors the emotions of the unique Twitter or X account it copies, has serially chosen to make use of the account to undermine democracy and unfold tales able to inflicting animosity,” the assertion added.
Normal Babangida lamented the challenges in getting the platform’s overseers to take motion towards the parody account however urged the general public to ignore any content material from it that falsely represents his opinions.
“Sadly, there appears little or no we are able to do to make the overseers of X or Twitter take away or sanction this tiresome account, so we’re once more obliged to advise most of the people to disregard any publish from this account that purportedly claims to symbolize my opinion,” Normal Babangida declared.
The assertion concluded by advising media practitioners and social media customers to train discernment and diligence in verifying info earlier than disseminating any messages attributed to former President Babangida throughout social media platforms.
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