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Tag: Muhammadu Buhari

  • How I became an enemy to the pubic – Femi Adesina

    How I became an enemy to the pubic – Femi Adesina

    Femi Adesina, former Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to the previous president, Muhammadu Buhari, has said that he was misquoted by the media under the past administration for 8 years, making him an enemy of the public.

    The former Special Adviser made this statement at a media chat organised by the Association of Veteran Journalists in Osogbo, Osun State, on Wednesday,

    He noted that after he got accustomed to the antics of the media, he was able to outgrow it by not letting such affect his job as the presidential media aide.

    Adesina mentioned that the “media section” purposely wanted to make him an “enemy of the public”, hence they misquoted him often and flipped his words.

    “My biggest challenge during the eight years that I served with former President Muhammadu Buhari was the fact that a section of the media deliberately quoted me out of context.

    “I eventually grew out of it and got used to the antics. Even while I had a television interview, it was turned upside down in the papers deliberately to make me an enemy of the public, but I outgrew it and it did not affect my duty throughout my tenure,” he said.

  • Inside Buhari’s cattle farm – By Femi Adesina

    Inside Buhari’s cattle farm – By Femi Adesina

    By Femi Adesina

    I spent three days in Daura, Katsina State, about a fortnight ago, visiting with our former President and my principal, Muhammadu Buhari. I got more than an inkling into how he spends his days in retirement in that modest abode and verdant community.

    Even out of power and office, Buhari is in so much demand. So many people just want to meet and greet, see the iconic man, and possibly have a handshake. If protocol aides were not available to schedule visitors, the place would be a bedlam. A riot of sorts. Very strange and curious for a man who does not share money. We no dey give Shishi (apologies to Obidients).

    I had accompanied him to Daura after handover of power on May 29, 2023, and stayed for two days. My early September visit was the first after that homecoming trip.

    Was it a delight to see the man again after three months? Sheer pleasure. That winsome smile, the firm handshake, going down memory lane, and other delightful stories we shared.

    He filled me in on how he spends his days. Resting, reading newspapers, following developments across the world, receiving visitors, loads and loads of them coming in buses, and going to the farm at least four times a week.

    I was intrigued by the last one. A visit to the farm. I’d been to Daura a number of times, but I never got to the farm. So, when he said he would go the next day, I promptly indicated interest in joining him.

    Departure from the house was fixed for 4 pm. I got to the rendezvous point with 20 minutes to spare, to join the other aides. At the dot of 4 pm, former President Buhari came out. Always as prompt as clockwork.

    Koza Farm is about 8 kilometers from the house, located near Jassai and Saitawa villages. It was established over 40 years ago.

    Vast. Vast is the description of the farm sprawled across 36.4 hectares of land, bound by the Koza Dam, with the waters shimmering in the late afternoon sun. The dam never dries all-year round.

    To actually call it a cattle farm is a misnomer, as there are many other things being reared and cultivated in Koza Farm. A checklist, as given to me by Sulaiman Umar, the farm veterinarian, whom I engaged in a conversation during the visit.

    Apart from cattle herd in ranches, you also have legumes, tree crops, horses, sheep, camels, other livestock, dairy unit, orchards. There are over 1,322 economic trees, 130 cattle as at time of visit, attended to by 34 staff, including professionals, farmhands, technical people, and security men.

    In the orchard, you have lemon, mandarin, grapefruit, avocado, mango, apple, banana, cashew, date palm, moringa, pomegranate, orange, and many others.

    There were horses, Sudanese sheep, camels, and the star attraction, cattle, including imported azowoark, bokolo, black angus, and locally bred ones.

    The cattle were secure in their enclosures, feeding quietly. But Umar told me that they could also be let out to graze on the vast grassland, which is within a fence, with no risk of their straying into any farmland to cause havoc to crops. Yes, President Buhari shows the way. No danger of herders and farmers clashing here.

    The cows were well fed. Robust. Former President Buhari gives a good number out as gifts. How do I know? I’ve been a beneficiary, when I was burying my mother over 10 years ago. Pastor Tunde Bakare also told me he received five when he was burying his mother. The farm is a commercial enterprise, and obviously doing very well.

    It would take hours to walk the farm. Hours on end. See Buhari striding like a young lad, a man knocking hard at 81 by December. I thought I was fit. Relatively, despite my bulk. But after about 30 minutes, I was already breathing like a wild hog. You this man, you are not fit o. Lol. Those things you do on treadmill are just child’s play. Walk round Koza Farm four times a week like Buhari does, and know what fitness is.

    I salute the other aides who kept pace with the honest man from Daura. Well, they do it four times a week, and are used to it. I didn’t pretend I could compete. I proudly maintained a far distance at the rear, chatting with the veterinarian. It was a good smokescreen for lack of stamina. You sure can’t blame me.

     

    Adesina was Special Adviser to the then President Buhari on Media and Publicity, 2015-2023

  • Inexperienced boy owned a jet under Buhari administration – Sanusi

    Inexperienced boy owned a jet under Buhari administration – Sanusi

    Former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, disclosed that former President Muhammadu Buhari surrounded himself with sycophants in the eight years of his administration.

    Sanusi stated this in a video message to Nigerians, said sycophants exploited the system, adding that an “inexperienced boy” owned a jet under the past administration.

    He said borrowing had crippled Nigeria’s economy, urging the citizens to be patient with the current administration led by President Bola Tinubu.

    Sanusi stated that some people wrote to him demanding that he speak on the current situation in the country. He, however, said this is not the right time for him to speak on the difficulties Nigerians are experiencing.

    Sanusi said, “The last eight years, Nigeria led a false life, the government borrowed from within and without. About N30 trillion was borrowed from the Central Bank.

    “All the revenue the country generated in the last few years couldn’t service debt. Debt service exceeded 100 per cent. Government borrowed to service debts. No country can grow this way. Time will come when one cannot borrow any more. Additionally there will be nothing to pay debts.

    “Those writing, demanding that we speak on the current situation in the country; this is not the right time for me to speak. It was like a driver on the road driving recklessly despite a wise counsel telling him of a crater ahead. What will you tell after plunging the car into the hole?

    “People refused to listen to us then. We will only now advise them to be patient. I will never say Tinubu has pushed Nigeria into difficulty. I am not saying he is flawless or flawed. We will speak when he goes astray. The government can’t pay subsidies since it doesn’t have the means.

    “If they add tax, we have to pay since borrowing is impossible. If the CBN printed more naira, the dollar would jack up to N1,500. We must suffer. When I was the CBN governor it was N150. Today it’s somewhere around N900.

    “They treated the economy the way they wanted and refused to listen to experts. In the last eight years only sycophancy succeeded. The sycophants bought dollars at N400 and sold N540. An inexperienced boy who had never worked anywhere owns a private jet.”

     

     

  • The APC beyond Buhari – By Chidi Amuta

    The APC beyond Buhari – By Chidi Amuta

    The APC was birthed out of Mr. Buhari’s resilient appetite for presidential power. Its victory in the 2015 presidential election satisfied that hunger and lavishly fed it for eight years. His victory then was a product of both his northern regional cultic followership and a nationwide rejection of Mr. Jonathan’s bumbling presidency. Eight years afterwards, Buhari’s appetite for apex power has been fulfilled, richly rewarded and arguably squandered in terms of a credible legacy. His pet nativist hegemony project came full cycle and even overreached itself. With a largely expired national relevance, Buhari has since gathered his belongings and returned to the pastoral anonymity of his native Daura.

    Looking back, the coalition of parties that gave birth to the APC was an inconvenient marriage of political convenience. There was nothing in common among them. There was a pseudo social democratic CAN. There was an ultra conservative CPC literally owned by Buhari himself. There was also a nationalist right wing ANPP, and an ethno nationalist APGA. To complete the picture was a renegade and opportunistic centrist NPDP made up of a faction of governors who broke off from Jonathan’s PDP .

    The cardinal objective was to cobble together a workable electoral  coalition to wrest power from the PDP after 16 monotonous years. The idea of a multiparty coalition eventually gave way to the even better idea of a single opposition party. A unified party was required to win an election if the hegemony of the PDP was to be toppled. The nation was hungry for a change from the PDP whatever the name of a viable and credible opposition.

    Mr. Buhari facilitated and galvanized the marriage. He provided the amalgamation with a presidential mascot albeit one with a national name recognition and leadership mythology. He also came dressed in an untested mythic garb of leadership prowess, governance prudence, barrack discipline and a reasonable level of personal integrity and austerity. Above all, he had managed over the years to build up a huge cultic following among the northern mob of rough uneducated and unemployed youth and regional power fanatics. Part of the motor park fable around Mr. Buhari was the infantile notion that once elected president, he would jail all the corrupt former government officials, recover the ill- gotten wealth and redistribute same among the poor masses. His political salesmen required no better set of unique selling points.

    Thus was born the APC, a party tailored more towards wresting power from an effete incumbent than for the effective governance of a country in desperate need for responsible leadership.  Given the tenacity of African power incumbents, the APC was more honed for the task of contesting the outcome of the 2015 presidential election possibly up to the Supreme Court. It spared little time rehearsing a governance nad leadership model for the nation. “Anything but Jonathan” was the slogan in town!

    But when the results tumbled in mostly in favour of the APC and Mr. Jonathan conceded defeat to Mr. Buhari, it was an overrated and unprepared APC that had to set up a government and ascend the pinnacle of national power. Victory came as a rude surprise with power as an unanticipated burden. Time has passed. Buhari has fulfilled his long standing ambition of wearing the toga of President and gone home after completing two terms of eight wasted years . It is now time for the party to take stock of its stewardship and contemplate its future as a ruling party.

    With the benefit of hindsight, the emergence of the APC reinforced Nigeria’s historic tendency towards a credible two party architecture as previously recognized by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida. To that extent, the emergence and electoral victory of the APC as and when they occurred was a positive political outcome, one which promised a great dividend for Nigeria’s democracy and future political party architecture. The new party came to power on the wave of expectations greater than its capacity and preparedness.

    Even then, having successfully hounded the PDP out of power at the national level, the APC had two tasks. First, it had to develop into a party with a national membership spread, credible internal democratic structure and a definable ideology to anchor its policies on. It had a mandate to rule and to govern more creditably than the party it ousted. But beyond its logo and Buhari as electoral mascot, there was nothing substantial about the APC.

    Regrettably, however, the APC has not grown beyond the logic of its incoherent origins. It has turned out to be just merely a ballot paper alternative to the PDP. After close to a decade in existence, it has no ideological identity, no policy coherence, no record of sensible governance at the federal level and state levels. Admittedly, an isolated number of APC ruled states (Kaduna and Lagos especially) have managed to show signs of some progressive policy direction and arguably a bit of good governance. But the party has hardly tried to galvanize an effective grassroots membership to consolidate over eight years of power dominance at the center.

    From the very top, the APC remains an embarrassing ideological proposition and oddity. I doubt that from Mr. Tinubu to the most mundane foot soldiers out there, that  word ideology ever comes up even in casual conversations. I doubt that most o fthe party faithful have ever bothered about the meaning of the word “ideology”! But as a political organization, we need to dress up the APC and its leading lights in some ideological garb in order to make sense of their quarrels or at least give the party a reason to exist. As my friend George F. Will would insist, “We can dignify …disputes among small persons of little learning by connecting them with great debates about fundamental things.”

    Let us therefore confront the ideological curiosity of the APC. Here is a so- called  ‘progressive’ party led by an unabashed arch- conservative in the person of former president Buhari and now a bucaneer social democrat in the person of Mr. Bola Tinubu. This is one of the greatest ironies of recent political theory and history. Ordinarily, progressivism indicates a bias for social democracy in its dynamic context. It should signal a commitment to continuous social and economic democracy and change along progressive lines. Progressivism is decidedly partisan on the side of the masses while acknowledging the entrepreneurial class as an engine of growth and wealth creation. Instead, Nigeria’s “progressives” are a loose collection of free wheeling brief case capitalists, commission agents, primitive accumulators and racketeers in every imaginable merchandize.

    The party previously led by the diehard conservative Buhari is now under the wings of Bola Tinubu. He may be sympathetic towards the plight of the masses  in whose name he is mouthing incoherent policies while they bear the early brunt of his IMF-style policies. Buahri was a confused advocate of Medieval economic fundamentalism of controls and over regulation of nearly everything from domiciliation of government bank accounts to the distribution of fertilizers to peasants.

    In spite of its abysmal performance in government for over eight years, the APC predictably “captured” power in the still contentious February 2023 presidential elections.  Mr. Bola Tinubu, Buhari’s effective political ‘God Father’ is now incumbent president. He has accordingly, moved to rejig the leadership of the party to serve his own power ends. He has quickly hand picked a new party Chairman in the person of the former dollar-hugging Kano governor, Mr. Ganduje . He has also ousted Mr. Omisore as party Secretary.

    A preliminary view of the political calculus of the party going forward indicates an entrenchment of interest in the basic regional and sectarian equations that handed power to Mr. Tinubu. The initial changes in the leadership architecture of the party indicate a reinforcement of the South-West, North East and North Western  power base of the party. There also seems to be an incremental confidence in the effectiveness of a predominantly Muslim orientation of the  party leadership. This much can be gleaned from the initial skirmishes around the party headquarters .

    In spite of its victory and electoral majority in the number of governorships and a clear parliamentary majority after the 2023 elections, however, Mr. Tinubu now recognizes that he cannot take the pre eminence of the APC for granted. He needs to strengthen the party in order to govern and also maintain a basic continuity of political authority. He cannot easily forget so easily that the pre-eminence of the party in the present political spectacle remains tenuous. The party was substantially challenged at the February 2023 election as may become more evident when the tribunal and court challenges of the outcome are concluded.  A 36% voter score of less than 8 million votes out of less than 20 million total votes cast at the presidential election out of a registered voter population of 80 million plus cannot give a ruling party comfort.

    In addition, between the two opposition parties – the PDP and the Labour Party- there is enough groundswell of popular support  especially Mr. Peter Obi’s Obidients to keep the APC awake for the foreseeable future. As things stand, the APC still has an existential challenge: how does it survive in and of itself as a political party? How will it persist as a ruling party in and of itself given its regional incoherence?  Above all, how will it survive as a strategic national institution of democratic stability if its existence is dogged by far reaching but latent regional and sectarian under currents?

    Even now on the eve of Mr. Tinubu’s first 100 days in office, there is a palpable fear that the future of the party is headed into turbulent clouds. A few prominent party faithful have resigned in protest to the recent leadership changes. Of course, the party could somehow tinker its way through this initial immediate post election patronage  and pork barrel stretch of the new administration. Mr. Tinubu can expect to enjoy some party solidarity and superficial unity in these honeymoon days of anticipation of patronage and appointments by party people.

    Beyond the appointment of ministers, there are still numerous boards of federal parastatals, ambassadorial positions and sundry sweetheart contracts to be dispensed. But when that is over, it will be clear that the majority of party members will have been left out in the cold. They may go shopping for other party umbrellas well ahead of the next election season.

    In spite of the present appearance of camaraderie, the APC cannot hide its  many headaches and underlying troubles. But in whichever direction we look, the party is threatened by internal contradictions and gaping cracks that lie deep in its very foundations.

    The APC was born out of a private political ambition. It prevailed for 8 years only because it won the presidential election in 2015 against a leaderless former ruling party. Having repeated that feat in 2023 in spite of its dismal performance in government under Mr. Buhari, it is only likely to survive in power if it can transform itself from an African “Big Man” party to a broad based grassroots party. Otherwise, the future political landscape of Nigeria belongs squarely to youth based populist movements like Peter Obi’s Labour Party and its Obidients or others in that mould.  The real terminal danger for the APC is in the future fights among its many ambitious contenders for Mr. Tinubu’s throne if he falters. The even greater danger to the hegemony of the APC lies in the massive discontent of the youth followership of its opponent parties.

  • Niger state: Buhari sends condolences over death of soldiers

    Niger state: Buhari sends condolences over death of soldiers

    Former President Muhammadu Buhari has sent his condolences to  President Bola Tinubu, the Armed Forces of the Federation over the death of 36 soldiers in an ambush and the crash of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) MI17 helicopter in Niger State on Monday, August 14.

    Buhari made this known in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Saturday, August 19, 2023.

    The former president said: “I am saddened by the helicopter accident following the tragic ambush in which we have lost our brave army personnel. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope those injured recover at the earliest.

    “My heartfelt condolences to the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Armed Forces of the Federation and the families of the deceased.

    “With the soldier discipline in our troops, it is a matter of time before they overcome.”

    The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, while briefing newsmen on Thursday, had disclosed that three officers and 22 soldiers paid the supreme price in the ambush in Zungeru general area while seven were wounded in action.

    Buba stated that the NAF helicopter was on a mission to evacuate the deceased and wounded troops when it crashed at Chukuba area of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

    He said the crashed helicopter was conveying 14 bodies of the previously killed soldiers and the seven wounded ones as well as the two pilots and two crew members on board.

  • Why I missed APC caucus meeting – Buhari

    Why I missed APC caucus meeting – Buhari

    The immediate past president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has explained why he missed the All Progressives Congress (APC) national caucus meeting held on Wednesday in Abuja.

    The ruling party had last week fixed August 2 and 3 for the national caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings in Abuja.

    The caucus meeting took place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday while the NEC meeting will be held at theTranscorp Hilton, Abuja, on Thursday.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ex-presidential spokesman said Buhari missed the caucus meeting due to commitments he had made earlier.

    The statement read: “Former President Muhammadu Buhari has explained his inability to be present at the caucus meeting and the national executive committee, NEC, meetings of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to which he has been invited.

    “He has conveyed his apologies, indicating that he is unable to attend due to commitments earlier made.

    “The former president used the opportunity to express his support and commitment to the party, at the same time wishing it a good meeting as the leaders take decisions on issues of importance to the party and the nation.”

  • Coup: Ex-President Buhari reacts to Army take over in Niger Republic

    Coup: Ex-President Buhari reacts to Army take over in Niger Republic

     

    “As to be expected, I, like millions of other Nigerians, am shocked by the latest turn of events in Niger Republic,” he said.

    “Concerns have been raised about the fate of democracy as a system of government in the country and in the wider sub-region, and equally so, about the safety of President Mohammed Bazoum and his family.

    “I and my family are as much concerned about these as is everyone else.”

    ” to be expected, I, like millions of other Nigerians, am shocked by the latest turn of events in Niger Republic”.

    Concerns have been raised about the fate of democracy as a system of government in the country and in the wider sub-region, and equally so, about the safety of…

    The coup has prompted mounting concern and Kenyan President William Ruto called the army takeover “a serious setback” for Africa.

    “The aspirations of the people of Niger for constitutional democracy were subverted by an unconstitutional change of government,” he said in a video message.

    West African leaders will meet Sunday in the Nigerian capital Abuja to discuss the coup, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said.

    “ECOWAS and the international community would do everything to defend democracy and ensure democratic governance continues to take firm root in the region,” Tinubu, who is also the chairman of The Economic Community of West African States regional bloc said in a statement.

    The European Union threatened to cut aid to Niamey after what it said was a “serious attack on stability and democracy”. Bazoum and his family have been confined since Wednesday morning to their residence at the presidential palace located within the 700-strong Presidential Guard’s military camp.

  • Palliatives: NEC dumps Buhari’s social register, says it lacks integrity

    Palliatives: NEC dumps Buhari’s social register, says it lacks integrity

    The National Economic Council (NEC) has said that palliatives to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal will be implemented using new registers created by states rather than those utilised by the last administration.

    The decision was taken at the NEC meeting held on Thursday, July 20, presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

    The Council agreed that the register used by the Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration to implement the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) lacked integrity as the criteria for its compilation were ambiguous.

    Anambra State governor Charles Soludo noted after the meeting that many of the poorest Nigerians are unbanked, which makes it impossible to digitally transfer money to them.

    “We need to face the problem of the fact that we don’t have a credible register,” Soludo said.

    He added that through formal and informal strategies, states could easily identify recipients of the palliatives.

    The Council agreed that integrity tests would be carried out on the proposed registers.

    In the same vein, government officials were urged to reduce the cost of governance in their various organisations.

    In June, NEC recommended palliatives for workers and poor Nigerians during its inaugural meeting, under the President Bola Tinubu administration, to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal in the country.

    The recommendation came sequel to Tinubu’s directive that the Council should come up with options to ease the effects of subsidy removal.

    Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed disclosed after the inaugural meeting that the Council considered paying the sum of N702 billion as cost of living allowances to civil servants.

    “Various scenarios were given by the presenter on the issue of national salaries, income and wages, and this N702 billion-plus was suggested as cost of living adjustment allowance by the organised labour, and the other one is a petroleum allowance,” Mohammed said in June.

    Tinubu had asked the National Assembly to approve an $800 million loan to ease the hardships caused by the subsidy removal.

    He had initially decided that 12 million poor households would receive N8,000 monthly over six months from the loan to assist with the rising cost of living resulting from the hike in fuel prices.

  • Islamic new year: Buhari canvasses prayers for Nigeria

    Islamic new year: Buhari canvasses prayers for Nigeria

    Immediate past President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has called for prayers for Nigeria as Muslims mark the Islamic New Year.

    Buhari’s message was contained in a statement Wednesday by Malam Garba Shehu, a former special assistant to the president.

    The statement reads: “On the occasion of the Islamic New Year 1445, former President Muhammadu Buhari has called upon Muslims across the nation and all over the world to follow the noble teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions while stressing the importance of self-retrospection in the full awareness that we are all migrants in this world.

    “We called for prayers for the nation and adherence of all citizens to our collective good and avoidance of actions and utterances unbecoming a united nation.”

     

  • Buharists now orphans in APC – Shehu Sani

    Buharists now orphans in APC – Shehu Sani

    Senator Shehu Sani has mocked former President Muhammadu Buhari’s camp in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the resignation of Abdullahi Adamu as the party’s National Chairman.

    Adamu tendered his resignation letter on Sunday night. Subsequently, Senator Abubakar Kyari, APC Deputy National Chairman (North), took over the affairs of the party.

    Adamu is said to be an ardent supporter of the former president.

    It was alleged that Adamu worked against the emergence of President Bola Tinubu prior to the presidential primaries and even after he emerged as the candidate of the party.

    Sani, in a post via his verified Twitter handle on Monday, following confirmation of Adamu’s resignation, made a veiled remark mocking Buhari’s supporters in the APC.

    He said, “The Buharists are now orphans; they are purged in their party.”