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Rumored Death: IBB, alive, safe and sound- family member, security aides
Olabode Adaramola, Minna
Palpable shock gripped the residents of Minna Niger state capital and his environs last Thursday evening following unconfirmed reports about the sudden death of the ailing Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd).
The rumoured death of the Elder statesman , like a winter haze as it quickly reverberated across the country and set the Media Industry aglow, with every Media Managers in parts of the country trying frantically to confirm the truth or otherwise of the rumour making the rounds with the view to get abreast of the situation at the Uphill Minna expansive residence of the former Nigerian Leader.
And no sooner that the rumour was making the rounds across the country that some Media Managers in parts of the country started making concerted efforts to get to the roots of the matter, while several others either sent text messages or put telephone calls to their reporters and some close relatives and associates of the gap-toothed General otherwise known as an evil genious in Minna and Abuja, to confirm the authenticity or otherwise of the unconfirmed reports.
One of such messages received in Minna from such Media Managers at about 21:13:14 hours (9:13pm Nigerian time) on the fateful Thursday, 22nd September ’16, by some state Correspondents reads in parts: “Please confirm, is it true that Gen. IBB is dead? Good evening”.
Nationawire learnt from a very close family source of the former Nigerian Leader and Elder Statesman, that nothing of such had happened to him, adding the IBB, as he was fondly called by friends and foes alike was indeed hale and hearty.
The source, who pleaded anonymity in a brief interview by Telephone, debunked the sad news about the death of General Babangida, while also describing the rumoured death as the handiworks of some mischief makers who did not wish their Patriarch well.
In his words the source said, “please dis countenance with the rumour because there is no iota of thruth in it and just as I talk to you the General is doing fine. We were with him earlier in the day and he was in high spirit and he even attended to some of the visitors who came to see him for one thing or the other as usual.”
Also, one of the security details f of the former Leader who did not want his names mentioned also corroborates what the earlier source had said, saying “that General Ibrahim Babangida was doing fine and there was no sign of any unusual occurrence within the expansive Mansion and even in the inner chambers as at the time he was in the office within the compound on that particular Thursday afternoon , while he was on routine duty.
The very credible source stated this on Friday, saying “I am even on duty in the house now and the General is even around, he is doing well and we are all praying that nothing should happen to him because he is a good man and he treat al of us as his Biological children irrespective of your religious belief and ethnic background.
It could however be recalled that last month in an interactive session with some selected Journalists at his Uphill Mansion in Minna, the former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida had said that he was no longer perturbed with the news about his rumoured dead in the Mass Media in Nigeria .
At the occasion preceding his 75th Birthday ceremonies on Wednesday 17th August 2016, the Elder Statesman stated categorically, that he wasn’t disturbed because other past Leaders like the Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, among others had suffered similar fates even before their eventual deaths.
