Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, has refuted reports that he is incapacitated and bedridden at his Hilltop Mansion in Minna, Niger State. Babangida, who spoke to journalists yesterday, said: “It is true, I have minimised my appearance at public functions because of my ill health, but not to the level of incapacitation as being widely circulated in some media.”
It was reported a few days ago in the media (not New Telegraph) that Babangida is seriously ill and bedridden. But the former military president, who refuted the report, said: “You can see me attending to people, after which we all go in for our lunch and have our prayers before I retire for my siesta.
I am not incapacitated. “I’m not bothered about the news. I know I must go and meet God, my Creator. “Well, as a Muslim, I strongly believe everybody will die. Everybody has to die, it could be now or in 100 years’ time or two days to come. It doesn’t matter because everybody must die. “Nobody is above sickness or death because nobody is above what God has destined. Everybody will fall sick or will die.” Quoting from the Quran, Babangida said:
“Every soul shall face challenge in life,” revealing that the bullet wound he sustained on his right leg during the civil war has been with him for quite some time and its frequent relapsing is an expected phenomenon. “When I was the president of the country, I had to travel to Germany where the sickness was diagnosed as radiculopathy, which has troubled me since and as such a relapse,” he added. Babangida’s son, Mohammed, who also spoke on his father’s health status, said the former military leader is recuperating after a recent corrective surgery.
He said: “It’s nothing new that my father has radiculopathy, everybody knows that. But he has just gone through a corrective surgery and he’s recuperating at the moment. And if you will reason with me, being an old man, it will take some time for the surgery to heal.
“He is supposed to be at home resting after the surgery, but he had to attend the valedictory service for the former Chief Judge of Niger State because of his relationship with General Abdulsalami Abubakar.” Mohammed added that but for the valedictory, “my father ordinarily wouldn’t have stepped out a few days ago.”
