Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) has opened up on why he has chosen not to marry again since the death of his wife, Hajiya Maryam Babangida.
IBB, 80, also spoke on the kind of president he wants for Nigeria in 2023.
The former military president made the revelations in an exclusive interview with Trust TV.
Maryam Babangida died on December 27, 2009, at the age of 61.
Maryam, who was Nigeria’s First Lady between 1985 and 1993, died at the University of California’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Centre (JCCC) in Los Angeles, United States after battling ovarian cancer for years.
Former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) has opened up on why he has chosen not to marry again since the death of his wife, Hajiya Maryam Babangida.
IBB, 80, also spoke on the kind of president he wants for Nigeria in 2023.
The former military president made the revelations in an exclusive interview with Trust TV.
Maryam Babangida died on December 27, 2009, at the age of 61.
Maryam, who was Nigeria’s First Lady between 1985 and 1993, died at the University of California’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Centre (JCCC) in Los Angeles, United States after battling ovarian cancer for years.
Since her death over 12 years ago, many Nigerians had thought that IBB would take another wife to keep him company but that has not happened to date.
At some point, there was a rumour that IBB was going to take a new wife but he didn’t.
But when asked during the latest interview why he has not taken another wife many years after the death of Hajiya Maryam, IBB said: “No, I didn’t do it, you would have known.
“The media still snoop around me, they should have known. I haven’t. It is a matter of choice; I decided to honour her by being not a bachelor but being unmarried.”
Besides speaking on why he did not marry again, Babangida also spoke on his choice for the 2023 presidency.
It could be recalled that IBB had in interviews last year outlined some attributes of his ideal president in 2023.
The former Nigerian leader, when asked by Trust TV to mention the particular person that fits his ideal president in 2023, said: “It is not who do I have in mind but who fits in; any person who fits in within these criteria, then he is the right person as long as he is a Nigerian; he is a politician, he is not old like I am; he is very conversant with the country, he communicates, he is a very good communicator.
He should be able to communicate because a president should be able to walk into a group of people and talk to them on issues concerning Nigeria; not all the time but most of the time.
