Kassim Afegbua, spokesman of former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, has stood by the statement on Sunday in which the retired army general was quoted as asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019.
Mr Afegbua said this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Sunday evening.
“I have been doing this job for 13 years now. I have never issued a statement on behalf of General Babangida and you get a rebuttal.
“I extracted a commitment from him (Babangida) before I issued that statement. The former military president authorised the statement I issued. I didn’t just put out the statement on my own.”
Babangida had shortly before distanced himself from the statement credited to him and signed by Afegbua.
The 76-year-old in his rebuttal said the views expressed in the statement are not his views but that of the writer.
According to Afegbua, that was the handiwork of friends and supporters of Babangida who felt the statement was a direct attack on Buhari.
“You know, IBB is for everyone, so people want to love him more than he loves himself, people want to appreciate him more than he appreciates himself, people want to play the role of IBB.
“So, when the statement came on board, and when some of his friends saw the twist and how the social media sensationalise it, they felt we were trying to put the former president on a collision course with the President. So, to that extent, they went and did a statement to deny that,” Afegbua said.
