IBB denies endorsement of military rule
Former Military President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) has officially disavowed a statement attributed to him on X (formerly Twitter) endorsing military rule over democracy. The comments were posted on a parody account, @General_Ibbro, which purported to represent IBB.
The IBB Media Office, through a statement signed by Alhaji Mahmoud Abdullahi, clarified that the account is a counterfeit and does not belong to the former president.
“Our attention has been drawn to a post on a parody account on X, formerly known as Twitter,” the statement said. “This dubious account carries our principal’s picture and name, and the coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for added effect, but it does not belong to him, nor does the former President sanction any post appearing there.”
The statement further explained that this account had previously disseminated false information, including claims that IBB had endorsed a specific presidential candidate, causing public confusion and embarrassment.
“General Babangida truly believes that the era of military intervention in Nigeria’s politics is long gone,” the statement continued. “He has said how proud he is that the Nigerian military has stood firmly behind multiple democratic governments in this country since 1999, thus giving us the longest run of civilian administration since independence.”
IBB’s media office urged the public to ignore posts from the parody account and advised caution when interpreting social media content.
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“Sadly, there seems very little we can do to make the overseers of X or Twitter remove or sanction the tiresome account,” the statement concluded. “In future, we sincerely hope that our media practitioners and social media users will be more discerning and make the necessary efforts to get confirmation before sharing messages attributed to former President Babangida on X or any social media platform.”
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