Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has given one of
his most incisive and extensive interviews in recent times during which
he fielded questions on everything from Biafra to Buhari.
Mr. Babangida spoke to The Interview in Minna, in a two-hour interview in
the December issue of the magazine out next week.
On Biafra, he said, “We do not need this distraction now…” but added
that, “I will vote for an Igbo president in 2019, if I find one.”
On his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, who had accused him
of staging the 1985 coup to save General Aliyu Gusau and himself,
Babangida told a story of their 2006 encounter arranged by former Abia
governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, as proof that all is well between him and
the president, adding, “One thing you guys in the media want is for us to
be exchanging words with each other each time we see.”
He spoke on June 12 and how he received the news of the death of the
winner of the election, Chief MKO Abiola, saying, he “was shocked,” but
without regret.
“Do you believe he (Abiola) died of natural causes?”
“I should know? I didn’t serve the tea…!”
Also in the interview, Babangida spoke on the two “most traumatic” coups
during his eight-year regime – the Mamman Vatsa and Gideon Orkar coups –
revealing, for the first time, a meeting he had with Vatsa before his
trial began. The interview also covered Dele Giwa and the C130 Hercules
plane crash in Ejigbo, which left 150 military officers dead.
In the same edition, frontline lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
Femi Falana, spoke on why he was dropped from the ministerial list, while
the new President of Mauritius, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, gave African leaders
some homework to do.
The edition, according to the Managing Director of the magazine, Azu
Ishiekwene, also features interviews with leading South African Editor-
In-Chief of City Press, Ferial Haffajee; young prodigy and Bill Gates
scholar at Oxford, Ify Aniebo; and the D-G of NIMASA, Haruna Baba Jauro,
with an extended version of Interview Confidential, the inside news in
whispers.
0 comments :
Post a Comment