24th September, 2014
General Ibrahim Babangida (retd), a former military president, has advocated generational power shift in Nigeria.
He said the youths should take charge of governance from the older generation still calling the shots in politics.
Babangida, also known as IBB, stated this during his recent flight from Abuja to Frankfurt, Germany, for medical treatment.
He was on the same Lufthansa flight with Kehinde Ojo-Apata, a Nigerian based in the United Kingdom and an aspirant to the Ondo State House of Assembly from Ayede Ogbese area of Ondo State.
IBB had a conversation with Ojo-Apata during which he said young men like him should be in power.
The conversation between IBB and Apata went thus:
IBB: How old are you?
Ojo-Apata: I was born in 1969.
Babangida: You resemble my son, Mohammed. You are of the same age as him. It is your generation that should take over from ours. You people have international exposure.
Babangida also told Ojo-Apata that Nigeria would overcome its present challenges.
As Apata made a connecting flight to Sweden, IBB stayed back in Germany for his medical examination.
Gen. Babangida was Nigeria’s military president between 1985 and 1993 and ruled with iron fist. He enacted draconian decrees and proscribed several newspapers.
He was forced to relinquish power in August 1993 following protracted nationwide protests by pro-democracy groups after he annulled the presidential election won by Moshood Abiola that year.