Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) has spoken about the state of the nation amidst preparations for the upcoming Presidential elections in 2013.
IBB ahead of his eightieth birthday anniversary this month, expressed his confidence in the country’s capability to be great due to its human and natural resources.
He spoke on his visualization of who should emerge as president of Nigeria from the 2023 presidential election.
He hinted at a few unnamed individuals, whom he said were in their 60s, had the capacity to become president and could effectively run the country.
He said such a person should be able to transverse the different parts of the country and make friends everywhere, as well as be able to listen to the people and communicate effectively with them at every level.
The former military President made this assertion during an interview with Arise Television on Friday, focusing on the state of the Nation.
That Nigeria has refused to progress and achieve the dreams of the founding fathers was because Nigerians no longer believed in the future of their own country, he opined.
The former leader, who accused the Nigerian people of creating and at the same time, destroying their own country, identified bad leadership as yet a major reason for the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria.
Regarding leadership, IBB said, “If you get a good leadership that links with the people and tries to talk with the people; not talking on top of the people, then we would be okay.
“I have started visualising a good Nigerian leader. That is, a person, who travels across the country and has a friend virtually everywhere he travels to and he knows at least one person that he can communicate with.
“That is a person, who is very versed in economics and is also a good politician, who should be able to talk to Nigerians and so on. I have seen one, or two or three of such persons already in his sixties.”
When asked if the person could emerge victorious in the 2023 presidential election, the Minna-born former military leader said, “I believe so if we can get him.”
He also reiterated his staunch belief in the unity of the country saying, “I do believe in the future of Nigeria, but Nigerians don’t believe in the future of their country. They created and they destroyed.”
