President Bola Tinubu has led a wave of tributes to former military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, as he marks his 85th birthday, praising his lasting impact on Nigeria’s political and economic development.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinnubu described Babangida’s eight years in power as a period that reshaped the country’s political, economic and geographic landscape, crediting him with expanding the economy, building key infrastructure, and setting up institutions that remain in service today.
The President also commended Babangida for the vision and fairness he said guided the creation and continued stability of several states within the federation, adding that the former leader’s counsel remains valuable even in retirement. Tinubu wished him continued good health and many more years of service to the nation.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar also paid tribute, calling Babangida one of Nigeria’s most respected elder statemen and crediting him with major infrasturctural and socio-economic investments, including the relocation of the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja.
Atiku highlighted Babangida’s appraoch to conflict and hierarchy, quoting his guidance that seniors should not be fought, elders should not be insulted, juniors should be given latitude for their inexperience, and peers should be treated with understanding that paths cross again.
Atiku described the former leader’s communication style as a model worth studying, and used the ocasion to urged continued prayers for national unity ahead of the next year’s general elections.
Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, similarly celebrated Babangida’s decades-long presence in Nigerian military and political life, describing him as one of the few figures who could rightly be called an architect of modern Nigeria.
Saraki prayed for the former President’s continued good health and offered his family’s congratulations on the milestone birthday.
