IBB Set To Remarry   

IBB

Less than a year after losing his wife, Maryam, former military ruler and presidential hopeful in the 2011 general elections, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is prepared to take another wife. This disclosure was made by the gap-toothed, Minna-born General at his roundtable with media executives recently in Minna. Although he neither gave details nor identity of the bride-to-be, Babangida is said to be truly making plans to wed “very soon” and has already sought the advice of his close friends.

Babangida’s wife, Maryam died on 27 December 2009, in an American hospital after a protracted battle with cancer. Until her death, the almost inseparable couple enjoyed a union that lasted 42 years. Their eldest children––Aisha and Mohammed––are now married, while Aminu lives in Abuja, where he runs an oil business and Halima, the last of the Babangida children, attends a university in Switzerland.

In the opinion of Babangida, by Nigerian culture it will be quite unusual for him (Babangida) to remain unmarried. “People will ask if something is wrong with me,” he said.

There is no doubt that it will be very difficult for any woman to fill the void created by Maryam’s exit from Babangida’s life. The retired Armoured General admitted that when he said: “For over forty years, myself and Maryam never had a quarrel that lasted three days in this house. It is simply impossible to replace her. Now I will need a woman to take care of me. My children are married and do not live with me.”

More than anything else, Babangida who fancies his chances of becoming Nigeria’s next president in 2011, thinks it is inconceivable for him to become Nigeria’s president without a First Lady!