NOBODY CAN ANNUL 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – IBB

IBB
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has declared that the 2011 presidential election cannot be annulled the same way his government cancelled the June 12, 1993 presidential poll won by Basorun M.K.O Abiola.

Babangida who made the statement in Kano yesterday also said he would have no problem with jettisoning of the PDP zoning arrangement, if the party's leadership thought that the issue of fairness and justice, which originally informed the zoning and rotation of power in the country had been achieved.

The former military president dismissed the speculation that he might move to an alternative party, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in the event that he was not able to secure the platform of the PDP for the 2011 Presidential elections. He insisted that the speculation was a product of the fertile imagination of those promoting it.

Below is the full text of the interview:
Sir, should the Peoples Democratic Party decide to discontinue with the zoning arrangement, what will be the fate of your aspiration?

First of all, I am a member of the PDP. I hope you know that. Secondly, the PDP designed the zoning arrangement because it is a party that believes in fairness, a party that wants to make sure that everybody participates in the political process of this country. If on the other hand, they are satisfied that the objectives of fairness, equity and justice have been achieved, by all means, I see nothing wrong in jettisoning that (zoning).

Secondly, there is this speculation that you are already plotting your exit from PDP and heading to the ANPP. How true is this claim?

It remains a speculation. You know you people have very fertile mind and you think about virtually everything under the sun. So it remains a speculation

You just said that if the PDP is convinced that they have achieved that fairness…, but in your opinion, has the PDP achieved the fairness they set out to achieve through zoning?

But you shouldn't forget that I am a loyal, ordinary, card-carrying member of the party. We have leaders. So, if our leaders in their own wisdom agreed that we have achieved what it set out to achieve in the first place, by all means, they will now come to us and say forget it, we have achieved what we wanted to achieve. There is fairness; everybody can be on his own. That is politics.

Assuming that you are a candidate in the 2011 elections and when the polls results are being collated, somebody annuls the result. How will you feel?

I want you to understand two things. This time around my dear sir, we are in a democracy. That is government of the people by the people and for the people. Using the instrumentality of political parties; using the rule of law. So I can't see it (the process) being annulled by a democratic society. Don't forget, I ran a military government and that is different from what we have now.

Sir, as a kind of digression, I will like to know the reason why you are in Kano?

Well, I am here to see my friends. But most importantly, there was a story which most of you reported that the Emir of Kano escaped assassination attempt. The Emir of Kano is very, very dear to us in this country. He is one of the rarest human beings that we want to see well; we want to see living well. So, for most of us who know him; those of us who are close to him, we want to show concern. And it is out of this concern that I am here to show my respect for him and to pray for his well-being.

Should power return to the North West Zone, where late President Yar Adua hailed from and not the North Central zone where you hail from in the spirit of strict adherence of zoning, how will you react?

You have read the whole objective of the zoning upside down. The agreement was between the North and the South. It didn't say North West , North Central or North East in the case of the North. It didn't say South East, South West or South South in the case of the south. That is all.