Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida to Run for President in Nigeria

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida - Next President of Nigeria?

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was born on August 17, 1941. He is popularly known as IBB, and was the military ruler  of Nigeria from his coup against Muhammadu Buhari in August 1985 until his departure from office in 1993 after his annulment of elections held that year.  Now he wants to run for president next year, this is accordion to his spokesman who said on Monday that the former Head of State will vie for Nigeria’s top job. . He will seek the nomination of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Babaginda came into power in a military coup promising to bring to an end the human rights abuses perpetuated by Buhari’s government, and to hand over power to a civilian government by 1990. Babangida’s latest attempt at recapturing the office he seized some 25 years ago is bound to generate controversy because as military ruler he annulled the presidential poll of June 1993, which Nigerians and foreign observers considered to be the country’s freest and fairest. He was not a candidate in that election. He only explored seeking a nomination in 2007.

The former Nigerian head of state enjoys the goodwill of those he empowered during his eight-year military rule.  Some of them are people who now hold influential positions in business and politics, and could help his presidential bid.  In a statement, his spokesman said, “We are in full throttle; there is no going back this time around, as soon as he finishes his consultation, he will formally declare (his intent to run for office) at a rally.” Babangida, who happens to be a Muslim from Nigeria’s north, seized power in 1985 and ruled the country for eight years. Nigeria is the third largest exporter of oil to the U.S. He was forced out of power after annulling the 1993 election, in which a Muslim candidate from the south was in the lead.

After this, an interim government then took over from Babangida and later General Sani Abacha took power and ruled Nigeria with brutality until his death in 1998. The following year Nigeria held elections and returned former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo to power, who went on to win re-election for a final term in a 2003 vote marred by widespread rigging and violence. Obasanjo has been a key backer of current ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The PDP has said that its presidential candidate will be from the mainly Muslim north, which includes Gen Babangida. He had declared he wanted the PDP nomination for the 2007 elections, but later withdrew his candidacy. But this time it seems the former president is banking on the present political uncertainty that looms in the country and hopes that people will see him as the only clear choice to bring sanity back to Nigerian politics. Even though he had issues during his tenure, he is seen as someone who commands a lot of respect among the country’s elite and some of those he can count on for support are the real king makers in the Nigerian political arena.

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