Afegbua
Matilda Omonaiye/
Police authorities have invited Mr Kassim Afegbua, the spokesman of former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), over a controversial statement he released yesterday.
According to a report in The Nation today, the police would arrest Afegbua, if he fails to turn himself in within 24 hours.
Afegbua in the purported statement quoted the former military ruler as saying that President Muhammadu Buhari should not seek re-election in 2019.
Babangida denied the statement in another one which he personally signed.
Afegbua, however, on Sunday night insisted that the one he issued was authentic and was endorsed by Babangida.
Mr. Afegbua, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television Programme Sunday Politics, said as a professional who has been on the job for 13 years, he has never gotten a rebuttal after releasing a statement on behalf of the former President.
He said, “I have been doing this job for 13 years now. I have never issued a statement on behalf of General Babangida and it gets a rebuttal.
“I extracted a commitment from him (Babangida) before I issued that statement. The former Military President authorized the statement I issued. I didn’t just put out the statement on my own.”
Afegbua in the interview on Politics Today said that the former President’s ‘friends’ and ‘supporters’ who loved him more than he loves himself felt the first statement pitched the former President against President Muhammadu Buhari.
He added, “You know, IBB is for everyone, so people want to love him more than he loves himself; people want to appreciate him more than he appreciates himself; people want to play the role of IBB.
“So, when the statement came on board, and when some of his friends saw the twist and how the social media sensationalise it, they felt we were trying to put the former president on a collision course with the President. So, to that extent, they went and did a statement to deny that.”
Afegbua also said that Babangida in a telephone conversation assured that the statement stands and that it is not a figment of his imagination but a communication that emanates from Babangida.
“But I have since spoken to him; he called me and said that the statement stands. The kernel of that statement should inform public discourse and not necessarily people personalising it as if it were to be against the sitting president.
“So, the statement stands and I have since communicated to all the media houses that they should respect that statement as coming from IBB. It did not emanate from my head. We sat down, we discussed and articulated them and we put them into perspective.”
According to Afegbua, the issues raised by General Babangida should be discussed and not neglected as he wants a new side of leadership, from the younger generation of Nigerians who in his own views have the resourcefulness, the energy and capacity to manage governmental affairs.
“Nigerians can begin to interrogate the issues he raised in that statement. IBB started politics since 1990 and so, if he is saying we should go back to the politics of early 90s, it is corresponding with his line of thoughts. So, I wouldn’t know why someone will think that I will go and generate a statement without authority from him,” he said.
Clearing the air on the statement further, the spokesperson explained that General Babangida is not personalising his statement against the incumbent president, “but he is saying, as a stakeholder and a concerned Nigerian, that he shares in the aspirations of the people”.
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Do personal assistants speaks or write on behalf of their bosses without due consultations? If yes, why the denial from IBB camp after the ' fact'? On the other hand, if the answer is No, why should a man working for someone comes out with personal views, claiming to have emanated with the blessings of his boss? Could this have being the practice in the system where he speaks unbehalf of his boss uncensored or could it have being a private conversation between the boss and his boys which Afegbua felt it was a message worth sharing with the world? Well, the truth is somewhere in between the lines . All in all, I love this soap opera.