Kaduna — FORMER military leader, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has said goodbye to politics.

Babangida, whose repeated attempts to return to power were thrice thwarted by opposing political forces, made this declaration at a press conference yesterday at Transcorp, Abuja, while speaking at the Annual Trust Dialogue series, hosted by Media Trust Ltd (Publishers of Trust Newspapers), and added that although he would be available for advice, politics was over for him.

IBB, as he is fondly called, seized power from Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on August 27, 1985, and ruled Nigeria with an iron fist until August 27th, 1993 when he was forced to 'step aside' following the controversial annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

Babangida tried to return to office in 2003, 2007 and 2011, but he was thrice unsuccessful; the last time being when he sought to emerge as the northern consensus candidate under the auspices of the Northern Leaders Political Forum (NLPF), led by former Finance Minister, Malam Adamu Ciroma.

Although former Vice President Atiku Abubakar beat him to emerge as the northern consensus candidate, he was trounced at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries held at the Eagle Square late 2010.

The Minna-born general, who spoke as chairman of the occasion, took the audience unawares when he declared: 'I feel am the one man in African politics who has received the most bashing by the media.'

Meanwhile, he maintained that his priority at the moment and to all those who fought the civil war is to keep Nigeria united. He, therefore, insisted he would not hesitate to put on his uniform again so as to maintain the unity of the country.

He spoke in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service monitored in Kaduna on Thursday.

According to the former military ruler, the civil war claimed over a million lives and was fought to keep Nigeria united, many were wounded and are still alive, while many lost their sight and limbs, it would be unfair to reward such people with the disintegration of the country.

This is because the civil war would have been fought in vain.

He said he would be part of the struggle to keep Nigeria one just as it was done between 1967 and 1970, adding that a country with the population of over hundred million to disintegrate would definitely be bad.

He went on: 'Today, I have news for the Nigerian media. Although I will still be around to give advice to up-coming politicians, I will not seek election into any elective office again. Babangida will not be around for you to kick around anymore.'

The retired general, whose last public outing was on January 15, 2012, had urged President Goodluck Jonathan to restructure Nigeria along the lines of true federalism. He has lately been rumoured to be in poor health.

Equally speaking at the event, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, decried the media practice of valuing advertisement above content, saying it was regrettable that the economics has taken precedence over the proverbial pubic right's to know.