Posted by By Francis Awowole-Browne(Abuja) on
Sunday Sun exclusively gathered that Gen. Babangida was at the Aso Drive, Abuja headquarters of the SSS penultimate Friday.
Sunday Sun exclusively gathered that Gen. Babangida was at the Aso Drive, Abuja headquarters of the SSS penultimate Friday.
Gen. Babangida, an impeccable source disclosed, appeared at the SSS headquarters at exactly 2:16pm. He was there till 6:00pm.
Although the reason for his invitation by the SSS could not be immediately established, it was learnt it might not have been unconnected with the series of political meetings he has attended in recent times.
A source close to the Minna-born General claimed IBB received the invitation shortly after he had visited President Obasanjo at his Ota Farm on January 2.
But contacted at the weekend, the SSS Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Ado Muazu, would not confirm the story. He denied that Babangida was quizzed by the service.
Claiming to have been in touch with the office of the Director General of the service, Muazu insisted that 'Gen. Babangida was not invited by us and he never visited, that I am sure of."
But a close associate of General Babangida who craved anonymity, cited the 'chat" as one of the reasons the former military president, uncharacteristically, refused to entertain visitors during the Sallah celebrations Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hundreds of friends, associates and other visitors to the Minna mansion of the Babangidas were shocked as the gates were shut against them.
The decision, the source volunteered, was taken by Babangida who, after his invitation to the SSS office, was keen to avoid a situations whereby his gesture would be misconstrued as being politically motivated.
It would be recalled that when asked about President Obasanjo's rumoured third term aspiration following a visit to Obasanjo during the Xmas holiday, Gen. Babangida had declined to speak on the issue, saying his position was already known to those in power.
'As a statesman, my job is to help ease problems and not increase them for the incumbent president. What I am saying on issues like these is that my views will be known to the authorities because I was there before and I know what it entails to be there," he had said.
Babangida, who failed to make a categorical statement on his own perceived presidential ambition, had also observed that there were millions of Nigerians qualified to occupy the presidency.
He was recently quoted as having said that 'You cannot sit at home, you have to participate one way or another and at various levels. This is what politics is all about."
Interestingly, Babangida, who is thought to be interested in contesting the presidency in 2007 presidency, was in attendance at the meeting of northern politicians, which held in Kaduna late last year, where participants expressed strong feelings against the perceived third term ambition of President Obasanjo.
Also, Babangida had in December played host to General Mohammadu Buhari, an implacable foe of President Obasanjo at his Hilltop family home in Minna.
Buhari's visit came in the heels of their being reconciled by Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State in Umuahia.
At the parley, which signaled the end of their 20-year-old animosity, were prominent Nigerians such as former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, Biafran warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and Anambra State Governor, Chris Ngige.