2019: IBB turns down PDP’S invitation

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, has turned down an invitation to be part of the National Rebranding Conference of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that he has quit partisan politics.

IBB, in a statement he signed personally on Tuesday in Minna, the Niger State capital, said he is okay with his present role as a non-partisan elder statesman, a patriot and a “consultant-in-chief” to political office seekers and other like-minds who want to have his input in their aspirations.

According to the retired General, it was unthinkable for people to start linking the PDP rebranding conference to an attempt to prepare him for future elections when there are much younger people on ground, adding that he has foreclosed any likelihood of running for any political office again.

He said: “I wish to make some clarifications concerning the invitation extended to me on the scheduled PDP Rebranding Conference slated for Thursday, 12 November, 2015, aimed at repositioning the party after its poor outing at the last elections.

“While I welcome the invitation to the event as a mark of respect as one of the founding fathers, I want to be excused on the grounds that I have long bid bye to partisan politics. Since 2011 till date, I have been playing my role as an elder statesman and ‘consultant-in-chief’ to political office seekers and other like-minds who want my input in their aspirations.

Read also: IBB: Stories from the expired tyrant

“At 74, I feel a deep sense of fulfillment in my new role as non-partisan elder statesman and a patriot, available to all categories of persons without the burgeoning label of any political party or affiliation. I have many friends and associates in the two dominant political parties – APC and PDP, and numerous other smaller political parties. At this stage of my political journey, I want to be able to interact and socialize with them without being branded anti-party.

“I have heard whispers from different political arenas that one of the rationales for the rebranding of PDP was to prepare me for future elections in 2019. How ridiculous? God’s willing; by 2019, I will be 78 years old. If I called it quit in 2011, why would PDP contemplate fielding a 78 years old man in a presidential election in a country that parades very vibrant men and women of lesser age? I have no intention whatsoever to run for any office again in Nigeria.”

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