Business mogul Femi Otedola has said a former Head of State, Gen Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), asked Goodluck Jonathan, as vice president, to sit on the unoccupied seat of then-President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting following Yar’Adua’s medical trip abroad.
In his 80th birthday message to Gen Babangida, on Sunday, Otedola commended the retired general for the role he played during the political logjam caused by the prolonged sickness of Yar’Adua in 2010.
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In his forthcoming book on “business lessons” scheduled for release in November, Otedola revealed that Babangida’s message was sent through him.
“With Yar’Adua failing to formally transfer power to his VP when he was flown abroad for medical treatment, there was tension across the nation as a result of the power vacuum, which led to public protests.
“Worried by the tension and uncertainty, I decided to do something on my own. In the first week of February 2010, I went to Minna, Niger State, along with Hajia Bola Shagaya, to commiserate with General Ibrahim Babangida over the death of his wife, Maryam.
“At his Hilltop residence, we spoke on a wide range of issues, but I told him I needed to discuss an urgent and vital issue.
“He took me to his study, where the two of us were alone. I told him that the state of the nation had been agitating my mind,” he added.
