MORE facts have emerged on why the presidential campaign of former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, last Thursday, flopped. Its failure was attributed to the inability of the sponsors of the group campaigning for him in the South West to raise credible and popular politicians in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to spearhead the campaign.

Amid media blitz about the coming of IBB to Ibadan to launch the campaign, many of his supporters went home disappointed as the man eventually failed to turn up for the event.

Sunday Tribune reliably gathered that, weeks after the inaugural meeting of the group at the KS Motel Ibadan, it was unable to raise a credible team that can sway the people of the zone to support the former military president, while those earlier considered as “big catch” backed out unceremoniously.

It was further learnt that the search for membership of the group suffered a major setback following the declaration of the state governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, that President Goodluck Jonathan would surely contest the presidential election in 2011.

While the president’s ambition remains at the realms of speculation, Governor Alao-Akala had, at a media chat in his office last week, emphatically declared that Jonathan would contest and that he (Alao-Akala) was in total support of a Jonathan presidency in 2011.

The declaration by the governor, a source told Sunday Tribune, seriously jolted the IBB camp.

With the turn of event, two aides of Governor Alao-Akala and few notable PDP members who had initially made known their intention to be part of the IBB group were said to have made a u-turn by withdrawing their membership of the group.

Sunday Tribune learnt that Alhaji Sina Alabi, Chairman of the Oyo State-owned Trans City Transport Company (TCTC) led Alhaji Laide Busari, another political appointee in the state, to the office of Goodluck Support Group (GSG), at the Akinjide Plaza, Ibadan, last Tuesday, to denounce the IBB group and pledged their unflinching support for Jonathan’s campaign.

In fact, the duo was present at the secretariat of the Ibadan North West Local Government Area, Onireke, Ibadan, where the governor commissioned some projects executed by the council chairman. 

The failure of the rally was also attributed to the stance of Brigadier-General Raji Rasaki (rtd.), a known supporter of the former military president who served as the Military Governor of Lagos and Ogun States during the Babangida regime.

Two days to the rally, Rasaki stormed the Jonathan campaign office in Ibadan with hundreds of party leaders and supporters, where he pledged his total support and commitment to the continued stay in office of President Jonathan beyond 2011.

With the turn of events, IBB, who is always boastful of his high networks around the country, was said to have been peeved that while the GSG was gaining visibility, and acceptance on daily basis in Ibadan, regarded as the political capital of the Yoruba nation, his arrowhead in the West could only get together a few followers of the late strongman of Ibadan politics to support his cause.