More Pictures of Mercy Johnson Church Wedding
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
President Jonathan Speak on Suicide Attack on UN Building
By today's attack, we are once again reminded of the international character of terrorism and its indiscriminate targeting of innocent civilians, I affirm Nigeria's determination to continue to play its part in the global effort to eradicate the scourge of terrorism in all its ramifications." - GEJ. #talktalk
Meanwhile, not to cause any panic o, but there's a broadcast I got that I feel I should share. We might have nothing to fear in Lagos, but just in case, let's all be security conscious. These animals can obviously strike at any time and any place. RIP to all those who lost their lives today. Stay off the Third Mainland Bridge and surrounding areas.
"Lagosians are advised to stay off the Third Mainland Bridge and surrounding areas. Unconfirmed report says terrorists plan to bomb Lagos within 24 hours of bombing the UN building in Abuja. This information comes from 1st suspect arrested in connection with the Abuja blast. The law enforcement agencies are working to thwart the latest threat. Military roadblocks and other emergency and security measures might result in traffic congestion. The use of alternative routes is strongly advised."
Meanwhile, not to cause any panic o, but there's a broadcast I got that I feel I should share. We might have nothing to fear in Lagos, but just in case, let's all be security conscious. These animals can obviously strike at any time and any place. RIP to all those who lost their lives today. Stay off the Third Mainland Bridge and surrounding areas.
"Lagosians are advised to stay off the Third Mainland Bridge and surrounding areas. Unconfirmed report says terrorists plan to bomb Lagos within 24 hours of bombing the UN building in Abuja. This information comes from 1st suspect arrested in connection with the Abuja blast. The law enforcement agencies are working to thwart the latest threat. Military roadblocks and other emergency and security measures might result in traffic congestion. The use of alternative routes is strongly advised."
Monday, August 22, 2011
Jonathan phones Obasanjo, Babangida to cease fire
On Sunday, a source in the Presidency told one of our correspondents that Jonathan, who was “embarrassed” by the conduct of the two former heads of state, had intervened on Saturday.
The source said Jonathan made separate telephone calls to Obasanjo and Babangida, who are also chieftains of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, on Saturday.
The source said, “Nobody should expect the President to fold his arms and be watching. He has done the natural thing to do in a situation like this.
“He has called both Obasanjo and Babangida and appealed to them to sheathe their swords.
“He urged them not to make further comments on the issue and encouraged them to settle it between themselves as they are friends and have access to each other.
“He did not take sides with anybody; there is a disagreement between two big men here and the President is playing the role of a peacemaker.”
The source however could not say what the reactions of the two former leaders were.
Babangida had stirred the hornets-nest last Wednesday at a news conference to mark his 70th birthday in Minna, Niger State, when he said that Obasanjo’s eight year tenure was a huge waste. He said Obasanjo’s administration spent $16bn on electricity without result, adding that if his own regime had the enormous revenue available to the Obasanjo government, he would have given Nigeria power.
But Obasanjo thundered back on Thursday, calling Babagida a fool at 70.
He said, “If Babangida has decided, on becoming a septuagenarian, that he will be a fool, I think one should probably do what the Bible says in Proverb Chapter 26, versus 4. It says don’t answer a fool because you may also become like him.”
However, in a swift reaction through his spokesperson, IBB retorted, “One may excuse his (Obasanjo) present outburst as the effusions of a witless comedian.”
Obasanjo who was the president between 1999 and 2007 was also a military head of government from 1976 to 1979. Babangida was military president from 1985 to 1993 when he “stepped aside” from power following the popular protests that greeted the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential poll by him.
Many at the weekend lashed at the two former leaders for “washing their dirty linen” in the public.
A former military governor of the old Western region, Vice Admiral Akin Aduwo (retd.), said the duo of Obasanjo and Babangida should be court-martialled over what he described as their indiscretion. Aduwo, who spoke over the weekend, also said the warring generals should be banned from the National Council of States.
On Sunday, the Octogenarian leader of the Yoruba social and political organization, Afenifere, Pa. Reuben Fasoranti, described the feud as a “show of shame.”
Fasoranti, in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Akure, Ondo State, noted that the two leaders behaved like “kids”.
He said, “It is a pity that the two ex-heads of state decided to throw caution to the winds and behave the way they did. They should have exercised restraints. Their behaviour is unfortunate. They should not have lost their tempers. Only kids do such things.”
Fasoranti appealed to the two leaders to exercise great caution and control over their tempers, warning them to refrain from exchanging insults on the pages of newspapers.
Aduwo had described the public exchange of words by the former presidents as a ‘complete shame, completely out of character, an international disgrace, an embarrassment to Nigeria and the military that gave those two people prominence as heads of state.”
He said, “IBB is a subordinate to Obasanjo, at all levels of service to the nation, the military, government and politics. The superior officer remains the superior officer.
“They went through all sorts of military training in discipline, leadership, mood control, conduct control. I have never been so shocked. Whoever is your superior up till retirement from active service remains your superior.”
By Niyi Odebode, Fidelis Soriwei, Olusola Fabiyi and Sunday Aborisade
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Libyan rebels take most of Tripoli
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Euphoric Libyan rebels took control of most of Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday, celebrating the victory in Green Square, the symbolic heart of Moammar Gadhafi's regime. Gadhafi's defenders quickly melted away as his 42-year rule crumbled, but the leader's whereabouts were unknown and pockets of resistance remained.
State TV broadcast Gadhafi's bitter pleas for Libyans to defend his regime. Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son was under house arrest.
"It's over, frizz-head," chanted hundreds of jubilant men and women massed in Green Square, using a mocking nickname of the curly-haired Gadhafi. The revelers fired shots in the air, clapped and waved the rebels' tricolor flag. Some set fire to the green flag of Gadhafi's regime and shot holes in a poster with the leader's image.
The startling rebel breakthrough, after a long deadlock in Libya's 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Gadhafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles over a matter of hours Sunday, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.
When rebels reached the gates of Tripoli, the special battalion entrusted by Gadhafi with guarding the capital promptly surrendered. The reason: Its commander, whose brother had been executed by Gadhafi years ago, was secretly loyal to the rebellion, a senior rebel official Fathi al-Baja told The Associated Press.
Fathi al-Baja, the head of the rebels' political committee, said the rebels' National Transitional Council had been working on the offensive for the past three months, coordinating with NATO and rebels within Tripoli. Sleeper cells were set up in the capital, armed by rebel smugglers. On Thursday and Friday, NATO intensified strikes inside the capital, and on Saturday, the sleeper cells began to rise up.
President Barack Obama said Libya is "slipping from the grasp of a tyrant" and urged Gadhafi to relinquish power to prevent more bloodshed.
"The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people," Obama said in a statement from Martha's Vineyard, where he's vacationing. He promised to work closely with rebels.
By the early hours of Monday, rebels controlled most of the capital. The seizure of Green Square held profound symbolic value — the plaza was scene of pro-Gadhafi rallies organized by the regime almost every night, and Gadhafi delivered speeches to his loyalists from the historic Red Fort that overlooks the square. Rebels and Tripoli residents set up checkpoints around the city, though pockets of pro-Gadhafi fighters remained. In one area, AP reporters with the rebels were stopped and told to take a different route because of regime snipers nearby.
Abdel-Hakim Shugafa, a 26-year-old rebel fighter, said he was stunned by how easy it was. He saw only about 20 minutes of exchanges of fire as he and his fellow fighters pushed into the capital at nightfall.
"I expect Libya to be better," said Shugafa, part of a team guarding the National Bank near Green Square. "He (Gadhafi) oppressed everything in the country — health and education. Now we can build a better Libya."
In a series of angry and defiant audio messages broadcast on state television, Gadhafi called on his supporters to march in the streets of the capital and "purify it" of "the rats." He was not shown in the messages.
His defiance raised the possibility of a last-ditch fight over the capital, home to 2 million people. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed the regime has "thousands and thousands of fighters" and vowed: "We will fight. We have whole cities on our sides. They are coming en masse to protect Tripoli to join the fight."
But it seemed that significant parts of Gadhafi's regime and military were abandoning him. His prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, fled to a hotel in the Tunisian city of Djerba, said Guma el-Gamaty, a London-based rebel spokesman.
That eased him back into the international community.
But on February 22, days after the uprising against him began, Gadhafi gave a televised speech vowing to hunt down protesters "inch by inch, room by room, home by home, alleyway by alleyway." The speech caused a furor that fueled the armed rebellion against him and it has been since mocked in songs and spoofs across the Arab world.
As the rebel force advanced on Tripoli on Sunday, taking town after town, thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters shooting in the air. One man grabbed a rebel flag that had been draped over the hood of a slow-moving car and kissed it, overcome with emotion.
Akram Ammar, 26, fled his hometown of Tripoli in March and on Sunday he was among the rebel fighters pouring back in.
"It is a happiness you can't describe but also some fear. It will take us time to clear the entire city. I expect a long time for Libyans to get used to the new system and the new democracy," he said, dressed in camouflage pants and black shirt and sporting the long beard of a conservative Muslim. "But in the end it will be better."
The rebels' leadership council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, sent out mobile text messages to Tripoli residents, proclaiming, "Long live Free Libya" and urging them to protect public property. Internet service returned to the capital for the first time in six months.
The day's first breakthrough came when hundreds of rebels fought their way into a major symbol of the Gadhafi regime — the base of the elite 32nd Brigade commanded by Gadhafi's son, Khamis. Fighters said they met with little resistance. They were 16 miles from the big prize, Tripoli.
Hundreds of rebels cheered wildly and danced as they took over the compound filled with eucalyptus trees, raising their tricolor from the front gate and tearing down a large billboard of Gadhafi. From a huge warehouse, they loaded their trucks with hundreds of crates of rockets, artillery shells and large-caliber ammunition.
One group started up a tank, drove it out of the gate, crushing the median of the main highway and driving off toward Tripoli.
The rebels also freed more than 300 prisoners from a regime lockup, most of them arrested during the heavy crackdown on the uprising in towns west of Tripoli. The fighters and the prisoners — many looking weak and dazed and showing scars and bruises from beatings — embraced and wept with joy.
"We were sitting in our cells when all of a sudden we heard lots of gunfire and people yelling 'God is great.' We didn't know what was happening, and then we saw rebels running in and saying 'We're on your side.' And they let us out," said 23-year-old Majid al-Hodeiri. He said he was captured four months ago by Gadhafi's forces crushing the uprising in his home city of Zawiya. He said he was beaten and tortured while under detention.
From the military base, the convoy sped toward the capital.
Mahmoud al-Ghwei, 20 and unarmed, said he had just came along with a friend for the ride .
"It's a great feeling. For all these years, we wanted freedom and Gadhafi kept it from us. Now we're going to get rid of Gadhafi and get our freedom," he said.
The uprising against Gadhafi broke out in mid-February, and anti-regime protests quickly spread. A brutal regime crackdown quickly transformed the protests into an armed rebellion. Rebels seized Libya's east, setting up an internationally recognized transitional government there, and two pockets in the west, the port city of Misrata and the Nafusa mountain range.
Gadhafi clung to the remaining territory, and for months neither side has been able to break the other.
In early August, however, rebels launched an offensive from the Nafusa mountains, intending to open a new, western front to break the deadlock. They fought their way down to the Mediterranean coastal plain, backed by NATO airstrikes, and captured the strategic city of Zawiya.
Rebel fighters who spoke to relatives in Tripoli by phone said hundreds rushed into the streets in anti-regime protests in several neighborhoods on Sunday.
"We received weapons by sea from Benghazi. They sent us weapons in boats," said Ibrahim Turki, a rebel in the Tripoli neighborhood of Tajoura, which saw heavy fighting the past two days. "Without their weapons, we would not have been able to stand in the face of the mighty power of Gadhafi forces."
Thousands celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, the rebels' de facto capital hundreds of miles to the east. Firing guns into the air and shooting fireworks, they cheered and waved the rebel tricolor flags, dancing and singing in the city's main square.
State TV broadcast Gadhafi's bitter pleas for Libyans to defend his regime. Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son was under house arrest.
"It's over, frizz-head," chanted hundreds of jubilant men and women massed in Green Square, using a mocking nickname of the curly-haired Gadhafi. The revelers fired shots in the air, clapped and waved the rebels' tricolor flag. Some set fire to the green flag of Gadhafi's regime and shot holes in a poster with the leader's image.
The startling rebel breakthrough, after a long deadlock in Libya's 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Gadhafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles over a matter of hours Sunday, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.
When rebels reached the gates of Tripoli, the special battalion entrusted by Gadhafi with guarding the capital promptly surrendered. The reason: Its commander, whose brother had been executed by Gadhafi years ago, was secretly loyal to the rebellion, a senior rebel official Fathi al-Baja told The Associated Press.
Fathi al-Baja, the head of the rebels' political committee, said the rebels' National Transitional Council had been working on the offensive for the past three months, coordinating with NATO and rebels within Tripoli. Sleeper cells were set up in the capital, armed by rebel smugglers. On Thursday and Friday, NATO intensified strikes inside the capital, and on Saturday, the sleeper cells began to rise up.
President Barack Obama said Libya is "slipping from the grasp of a tyrant" and urged Gadhafi to relinquish power to prevent more bloodshed.
"The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people," Obama said in a statement from Martha's Vineyard, where he's vacationing. He promised to work closely with rebels.
By the early hours of Monday, rebels controlled most of the capital. The seizure of Green Square held profound symbolic value — the plaza was scene of pro-Gadhafi rallies organized by the regime almost every night, and Gadhafi delivered speeches to his loyalists from the historic Red Fort that overlooks the square. Rebels and Tripoli residents set up checkpoints around the city, though pockets of pro-Gadhafi fighters remained. In one area, AP reporters with the rebels were stopped and told to take a different route because of regime snipers nearby.
Abdel-Hakim Shugafa, a 26-year-old rebel fighter, said he was stunned by how easy it was. He saw only about 20 minutes of exchanges of fire as he and his fellow fighters pushed into the capital at nightfall.
"I expect Libya to be better," said Shugafa, part of a team guarding the National Bank near Green Square. "He (Gadhafi) oppressed everything in the country — health and education. Now we can build a better Libya."
In a series of angry and defiant audio messages broadcast on state television, Gadhafi called on his supporters to march in the streets of the capital and "purify it" of "the rats." He was not shown in the messages.
His defiance raised the possibility of a last-ditch fight over the capital, home to 2 million people. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed the regime has "thousands and thousands of fighters" and vowed: "We will fight. We have whole cities on our sides. They are coming en masse to protect Tripoli to join the fight."
But it seemed that significant parts of Gadhafi's regime and military were abandoning him. His prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, fled to a hotel in the Tunisian city of Djerba, said Guma el-Gamaty, a London-based rebel spokesman.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Gadhafi's regime was "clearly crumbling" and that the time to create a new democratic Libya has arrived.
It was a stunning reversal for Gadhafi, who earlier this month had seemed to have a firm grip on his stronghold in the western part of Libya, despite months of NATO airstrikes on his military. Rebels had been unable to make any advances for weeks, bogged down on the main fronts with regime troops in the east and center of the country.
Gadhafi is the Arab world's longest-ruling, most erratic, most grimly fascinating leader — presiding for 42 years over this North African desert republic with vast oil reserves and just 6 million people. For years, he was an international pariah blamed for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people. After years of denial, Gadhafi's Libya acknowledged responsibility, agreed to pay up to $10 million to relatives of each victim, and declared he would dismantle all weapons of mass destruction.That eased him back into the international community.
But on February 22, days after the uprising against him began, Gadhafi gave a televised speech vowing to hunt down protesters "inch by inch, room by room, home by home, alleyway by alleyway." The speech caused a furor that fueled the armed rebellion against him and it has been since mocked in songs and spoofs across the Arab world.
As the rebel force advanced on Tripoli on Sunday, taking town after town, thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters shooting in the air. One man grabbed a rebel flag that had been draped over the hood of a slow-moving car and kissed it, overcome with emotion.
Akram Ammar, 26, fled his hometown of Tripoli in March and on Sunday he was among the rebel fighters pouring back in.
"It is a happiness you can't describe but also some fear. It will take us time to clear the entire city. I expect a long time for Libyans to get used to the new system and the new democracy," he said, dressed in camouflage pants and black shirt and sporting the long beard of a conservative Muslim. "But in the end it will be better."
The rebels' leadership council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, sent out mobile text messages to Tripoli residents, proclaiming, "Long live Free Libya" and urging them to protect public property. Internet service returned to the capital for the first time in six months.
The day's first breakthrough came when hundreds of rebels fought their way into a major symbol of the Gadhafi regime — the base of the elite 32nd Brigade commanded by Gadhafi's son, Khamis. Fighters said they met with little resistance. They were 16 miles from the big prize, Tripoli.
Hundreds of rebels cheered wildly and danced as they took over the compound filled with eucalyptus trees, raising their tricolor from the front gate and tearing down a large billboard of Gadhafi. From a huge warehouse, they loaded their trucks with hundreds of crates of rockets, artillery shells and large-caliber ammunition.
One group started up a tank, drove it out of the gate, crushing the median of the main highway and driving off toward Tripoli.
The rebels also freed more than 300 prisoners from a regime lockup, most of them arrested during the heavy crackdown on the uprising in towns west of Tripoli. The fighters and the prisoners — many looking weak and dazed and showing scars and bruises from beatings — embraced and wept with joy.
"We were sitting in our cells when all of a sudden we heard lots of gunfire and people yelling 'God is great.' We didn't know what was happening, and then we saw rebels running in and saying 'We're on your side.' And they let us out," said 23-year-old Majid al-Hodeiri. He said he was captured four months ago by Gadhafi's forces crushing the uprising in his home city of Zawiya. He said he was beaten and tortured while under detention.
From the military base, the convoy sped toward the capital.
Mahmoud al-Ghwei, 20 and unarmed, said he had just came along with a friend for the ride .
"It's a great feeling. For all these years, we wanted freedom and Gadhafi kept it from us. Now we're going to get rid of Gadhafi and get our freedom," he said.
The uprising against Gadhafi broke out in mid-February, and anti-regime protests quickly spread. A brutal regime crackdown quickly transformed the protests into an armed rebellion. Rebels seized Libya's east, setting up an internationally recognized transitional government there, and two pockets in the west, the port city of Misrata and the Nafusa mountain range.
Gadhafi clung to the remaining territory, and for months neither side has been able to break the other.
In early August, however, rebels launched an offensive from the Nafusa mountains, intending to open a new, western front to break the deadlock. They fought their way down to the Mediterranean coastal plain, backed by NATO airstrikes, and captured the strategic city of Zawiya.
Rebel fighters who spoke to relatives in Tripoli by phone said hundreds rushed into the streets in anti-regime protests in several neighborhoods on Sunday.
"We received weapons by sea from Benghazi. They sent us weapons in boats," said Ibrahim Turki, a rebel in the Tripoli neighborhood of Tajoura, which saw heavy fighting the past two days. "Without their weapons, we would not have been able to stand in the face of the mighty power of Gadhafi forces."
Thousands celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, the rebels' de facto capital hundreds of miles to the east. Firing guns into the air and shooting fireworks, they cheered and waved the rebel tricolor flags, dancing and singing in the city's main square.
When rebels moved in, the regime unit guarding the capital, known as the Mohammed Megrayef battalion, surrendered and its commander ordered its troops to put down their arms. Al-Baja, the rebel official, said that the commander, Barani Eshkal, had secretly defected earlier to the rebels, embittered by the 1986 execution of his brother, who had joined a coup attempt against Gadhafi.
Eshkal also pointed out to the rebels the hiding place of Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam in a hotel, al-Baja said. Rebel chief Mustafa Abdel-Jalil in Benghazi confirmed to the AP that the rebels captured Seif but refused to give details.
In the Netherlands, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said his office would talk to the rebels on Monday about Seif al-Islam's transfer for trial. "It is time for justice, not revenge," Moreno-Ocampo told the AP.Seif al-Islam, his father and Libya's intelligence chief were indicted earlier this year for allegedly ordering, planning and participating in illegal attacks on civilians in the early days of the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
Another son, Mohammed, was under house arrest. Mohammed, who is in charge of Libyan telecommunications, appeared on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera, saying his house was surrounded by armed rebels.
"They have guaranteed my safety. I have always wanted good for all Libyans and was always on the side of God," he said. Close to the end of the interview, there was the sound of heavy gunfire and Mohammed said rebels had entered his house before the phone line cut off.
___
Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Cairo contributed to this report.
Click photos to view more images. (AP/Alexandre Meneghini)
Welcome to Nigeria News Blog: How Obasanjo and I fell apart - IBB
How Obasanjo and I fell apart - IBB: Fresh facts emerged yesterday that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President Ibrahim Babangida are at daggers drawn sinc...
Saturday, August 20, 2011
IBB - I'll Re-Marry Soon Following The Demise Of My Wife Maryam
ABUJA- Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has given notice of his intention to marry a new wife following the demise of his wife, Dr. Maryam Babangida.
In an exclusive interview with Vanguard ahead of his 70th birthday today, Gen. Babangida debunked claims that he secretly married a wife about four months ago asserting such a marriage existed only in the imagination of some section of the media.
In the wide ranging interview, Babangida linked the military intervention led by Gen. Sani Abacha that sacked the interim government of Chief Ernest Shonekan to the agitation of civil society even as he justified his support for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1999 presidential election as the best decision at that time. He rated Obasanjo a success based on the fundamental parameter of unifying the country which he said informed his selection at that time.
On speculations that he had secretly married, "I have not re-married. You are not the only one who heard. A close friend of mine heard and came to the house to find out. I took him around to all the rooms a wife would have been if I re-married. It is the soft sell media that would like to make huge sales that come up with that type of story," he told Vanguard.
But in a session with selected newsmen in Minna yesterday Babangida gave notice of his readiness to marry.
"Yes, I will get a new wife, no name yet but I know what I want and who is coming into this house and one thing I cannot also tell you now is when exactly she is coming in."
Gen. Babangida who was full of life and radiating with smiles throughout the interactive session said he gives glory to God for successfully navigating the turbulence that characterized political office especially as a Military President.
He, however, ruled himself out from further partisan political pursuit saying:
"I am now 70 years. By 2015, I will be about 75 years so at that age, what would I still be looking for. Count me out. That time, I will be in Minna to attend to people who call on me for political and other consultations," the former military president said.
Recalling his saddest moments in life, Gen. Babangida said it was when he lost his bosom friend simply identified as Lt. Col Mohammed in 1974 who he said died in a crash and also the death of his wife, Maryam.
He, however, recounted his most joyful moments to be the day he got married and when he was appointed the military president for the country after a successful military coup.
Gen. Babangida described the public execution of his bosom friend and colleague, Gen. Vatsa following allegations of a coup plot as the most traumatizing decision ever taken in his life. He prayed never to find himself in such a position again.
According to him, "it was a military law which could not be amended. We all got caught up in the coup Decree of 1976 which gave no room for an alternative but only death through public execution. If I tell you that it was not traumatizing, I must be lying and I pray I will never find myself in such a situation again."
The former military president also touched on other National issues such as the amendment of the constitution of the country, the re-occurring June 12 issue and the way forward for the country.
Jonathan congratulates IBB
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday congratulated Babangida on the occasion of his 70th birthday which comes up today. A statement by Dr Reuben Abati, prayed God Almighty to bless him with "many more years of robust health, prosperity and continued distinguished service to our nation.”"Looking back over the past 70 years, I am sure that you, your family and indeed your larger family of associates and admirers do have cause to be grateful to Almighty God for having granted you a life of great accomplishment and abiding fulfillment."
"You did not only rise to the pinnacle of your chosen career in the military, you also rose to become President of Nigeria for eight years," President Jonathan wrote.
odili.net/news
In an exclusive interview with Vanguard ahead of his 70th birthday today, Gen. Babangida debunked claims that he secretly married a wife about four months ago asserting such a marriage existed only in the imagination of some section of the media.
In the wide ranging interview, Babangida linked the military intervention led by Gen. Sani Abacha that sacked the interim government of Chief Ernest Shonekan to the agitation of civil society even as he justified his support for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1999 presidential election as the best decision at that time. He rated Obasanjo a success based on the fundamental parameter of unifying the country which he said informed his selection at that time.
On speculations that he had secretly married, "I have not re-married. You are not the only one who heard. A close friend of mine heard and came to the house to find out. I took him around to all the rooms a wife would have been if I re-married. It is the soft sell media that would like to make huge sales that come up with that type of story," he told Vanguard.
But in a session with selected newsmen in Minna yesterday Babangida gave notice of his readiness to marry.
"Yes, I will get a new wife, no name yet but I know what I want and who is coming into this house and one thing I cannot also tell you now is when exactly she is coming in."
Gen. Babangida who was full of life and radiating with smiles throughout the interactive session said he gives glory to God for successfully navigating the turbulence that characterized political office especially as a Military President.
He, however, ruled himself out from further partisan political pursuit saying:
"I am now 70 years. By 2015, I will be about 75 years so at that age, what would I still be looking for. Count me out. That time, I will be in Minna to attend to people who call on me for political and other consultations," the former military president said.
Recalling his saddest moments in life, Gen. Babangida said it was when he lost his bosom friend simply identified as Lt. Col Mohammed in 1974 who he said died in a crash and also the death of his wife, Maryam.
He, however, recounted his most joyful moments to be the day he got married and when he was appointed the military president for the country after a successful military coup.
Gen. Babangida described the public execution of his bosom friend and colleague, Gen. Vatsa following allegations of a coup plot as the most traumatizing decision ever taken in his life. He prayed never to find himself in such a position again.
According to him, "it was a military law which could not be amended. We all got caught up in the coup Decree of 1976 which gave no room for an alternative but only death through public execution. If I tell you that it was not traumatizing, I must be lying and I pray I will never find myself in such a situation again."
The former military president also touched on other National issues such as the amendment of the constitution of the country, the re-occurring June 12 issue and the way forward for the country.
Jonathan congratulates IBB
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday congratulated Babangida on the occasion of his 70th birthday which comes up today. A statement by Dr Reuben Abati, prayed God Almighty to bless him with "many more years of robust health, prosperity and continued distinguished service to our nation.”"Looking back over the past 70 years, I am sure that you, your family and indeed your larger family of associates and admirers do have cause to be grateful to Almighty God for having granted you a life of great accomplishment and abiding fulfillment."
"You did not only rise to the pinnacle of your chosen career in the military, you also rose to become President of Nigeria for eight years," President Jonathan wrote.
odili.net/news
Gov Obi sympathises with Mikel’s family
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