Posted by From Jide Orintunsin in Minna on
As the pressure on former military leader Gen. Ibrahim Babangida to formally declare his intention to contest the 2007 presidential race hots up his son, Mohammed yesterday sought divine intervention for the realisation of the dream.
As the pressure on former military leader Gen. Ibrahim Babangida to formally declare his intention to contest the 2007 presidential race hots up his son, Mohammed yesterday sought divine intervention for the realisation of the dream.
He told a crowd of supporters who had gathered at the Bako Kontagora Memorial Stadium, Minna for a rally to mark Babangida's 64th birthday that "it is our hope that what we are praying for, what we are looking for in 2007 will be successful Insha Allah."
Mohammed's pronouncement got a standing ovation from the crowd who had gathered at the stadium under the agies of "IBB Vision 2007".
Babangida who was earlier billed to formally declare his intention to contest the 2007 presidential election, during his birthday ceremony left the country on Monday for Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser Hajj.
Mohammed told the crowd that his father would have loved to be in their midst, but "I am here today on behalf of the family to thank you all and to say that what we are praying for and what we are looking for in 2007 will come to pass."
Earlier, former secretary to Niger State Government, Comrade Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, called on the National Assembly to reject any amendment to the electoral law, that would disqualify certain individuals from contesting future elections in the country.
Kuta who is also a member of the just concluded National Political Reform Conference, chided those calling for the ban on former military leaders from contesting any elective office.
According to Kuta, the passage of such ban would be "unfair, primitive, self-seeking and undemocratic, as well as against the rule of law."
He said that in any democracy, "any law that is targeted at certain individuals is not a just law and any law enacted with retrospective effect is not only unjust but primitive. Such laws are unethical, such laws are selective and discriminatory. The law is devoid of respectability and amounts to miscarriage of justice."
Calling on Nigerians to give the former military leader another opportunity to serve, Kuta listed Babangida's achievements between 1985 and 1993, adding that the former president's mission by 2007 "is to make Nigeria a better place for all."
Despite a family directive in a paid newspaper advert canceling all ceremonies for the birthday Minna was agog yesterday as various groups at different venues organised activities to mark the occasion.
Apart from 'IBB Vision 2007" rally Governor Abdulkadir Kure of Niger State chaired an award giving ceremony organised by National Solidarity Coalition to commemorate Babangida's 64th birthday at Abdulsalami Abubakar Youth Centre.
Another group, "IBB Like Minds" with delegates from all the 36 states and FCT coverged on the Minna Polo ground to mark in absential the birthday of the former military leader.