Amidst rumours of death of former Nigeria’s Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) a family member has come out to debunk rumours declaring that the former military leader is hale and hearty.
“General Ibrahim Babangida is hale and hearty, nothing is wrong with him. He is in good condition of health”, one of the family sources said.
Alhaji Mahmud Abdullahi, one of the media Aides to IBB told our correspondent in an interview on Sunday that nothing is wrong with the former President.
Mahmud wants the general public to ignore the rumour as it is the handiwork of enemies promoting quackery in journalism or the cost of similarities in name said he spent hours with IBB yesterday (Saturday), and have been in contact with him today (Sunday).
Describing the rumoured death of Babangida as one of the prices for being popular, Mahmud traced the most recent rumour of Babangida’s death to the possibility of his being mistaken for that of ace footballer who had accident along Kaduna road and lost some family members.
According to Mahmud, “I don’t know how the death of the brother of footballer, Tijjani Babangida has become former President Babangida? Nothing is wrong with IBB and that I can authoritatively tell you”.
Mahmud, a journalist and former Chief Press Secretary to the late former Governor of Niger state, Engineer Abdulkhadir Abdullahi Kure said it is unfortunate that people parading as journalists can publish stories about such a highly placed individual without verifying its authenticity.
“I have been receiving calls from people wanting to know what is happening, and I tell them that nothing happened. IBB is hale and hearty, and that they should ignore rumours of his death”, Mahmud insists.
Meanwhile, our correspondent who visited the hilltop residence of former President Ibrahim Babangida reports that the facility is calm with no sign of unusual visitors as at the time of this report.
