President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that his age would limit his
\nperformance as the President of the country.<\/p>\n
Buhari, who was\u00a0 a military governor at 33 and Head of State\u00a0 at the age
\nof 40, said he would have loved being a President when he was at a younger
\nage . He will be 73 on December 17, 2015.<\/p>\n
The President spoke with Nigerians resident in South Africa on Monday
\nafter taking part in the 25th assembly of Heads of State and Government of
\nthe African Union\u00a0 in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cI wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few
\nyears as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his advancement in age however, Buhari gave assurance that his
\nadministration would make a difference.<\/p>\n
Buhari explained that\u00a0 what brought him to his current position was his
\nlove for the country.<\/p>\n
He recalled that he was in the war front for 30 months during the civil
\nwar, adding that like any other Nigerian, he lost relatives and loyal
\npeople to the war.<\/p>\n
Buhari said considering the fact that\u00a0 two million Nigerians died during
\nthe war, nobody should come forward to talk about a breakup of the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
He stressed that Nigeria would remain one country since God had given him
\nanother opportunity to reorganise its affairs.<\/p>\n
The President promised\u00a0 that his administration would \u201ckill\u201d corruption
\nbefore it wrecks the nation.<\/p>\n
He added that the All Progressives Congress government which he\u00a0 leads
\nwas determined to secure the country and improve its economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government is determined to secure the country, manage the economy,
\ncreate employment and fight corruption. Some articulate writers have said
\nif we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. This APC
\nadministration intends to kill corruption in Nigeria. We will do our best,
\nI assure you,\u201d Buhari stated.<\/p>\n
The President said he was at a time afraid that Nigeria might become a
\nnation like Somalia which \u201cself-centered elite\u201d had succeeded in turning
\nto a war zone in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n
He said Nigerians were more vulnerable because the country has many
\nnationalities who were merged in 1914 in spite of their religious and
\ncultural differences.<\/p>\n
Buhari stated that only crazy people whom, according to him, are not in
\nshort supply, would talk of dividing the country.<\/p>\n
He said there was no big deal in the claims by those who accused him of
\njailing them because he was also jailed for over three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter being in the military for 25 years, and getting to the highest rank
\nand becoming Head of State and under unusual circumstances, as Head of
\nState, I went straight to detention for three-and-a-half years. So, those
\nwho accuse me of locking them up, I too have been locked up; so what?\u201d he
\ndeclared.<\/p>\n
The President said he would not have believed\u00a0 if he had been told during
\nhis days in the military that he would one day join partisan politics.<\/p>\n
He explained that he joined partisan politics with a view to meeting the
\nneeds of the people.<\/p>\n
Buhari said, \u201cWhy did I join partisan politics in spite of that? When I
\nwent home people knew that I have no money and I thought they will leave
\nme alone, but they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were coming to me asking me to do this and do that.\u00a0 I found out
\nthat the only way I could do it is by joining partisan politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd maybe if I speak even if I\u2019m not a member at any level, people will
\nlisten to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then I joined the opposition (the All Peoples Party). I didn\u2019t want
\nany political office at first, if I wanted, I would have joined the
\nPDP(Peoples Democratic Party) then and maybe I would have got to where I
\nam much earlier. But then, I wanted to go with the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second thing that\u00a0 finally convinced me to join partisan politics
\nwas what happened in the Soviet Union. You know the Soviet Union was an
\nempire in the 20th century that collapsed without a shot being fired.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody went home, there was confusion. Now, there are 18 countries out
\nof the old Soviet Union.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari said he believed that the best form of governance was democracy,
\nbut elections must be free and fair.<\/p>\n
That, he said, was why he was in trouble and he had to move from the APP
\nto the ANPP(All Nigerian Peoples Party) to CPC(Congress for Progressive
\nChange) and eventually to the APC.<\/p>\n
Buhari\u00a0 explained that he contested his defeats in 2003, 2007 and 2011 up
\nto the Supreme Court because of his belief that elections must be free and
\nfair.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cIn all those cases from the High Court to the Supreme Court, we
\nsent people to the field, they found out why the elections were not fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came to the court and gave evidence but in the end, they will say
\n\u2018oh well, there were some flaws in the elections but the PDP has won.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at last, the PDP has lost.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
While explaining that he had occupied different positions like military
\ngovernor of the North Eastern State, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Head
\nof State and Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund, he stated
\npeople only remember his days at the PTF because he equipped hospitals and
\nschools.<\/p>\n
The President said, \u201cI bought bed sheets and\u00a0 X-ray machines for hospital
\nand\u00a0 buses for the schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Nigerians) remember me more as chairman of the PTF than as a former
\nHead of State, than a governor or a Minister of Petroleum.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn spite of the fact that it was during my time that I signed the
\ncontract for the Warri Refinery, Kaduna Refinery, more than 3,500
\npipelines and more than 20 depots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got the tankers off the roads;\u00a0 we saved lives; we saved fuel and we
\nsaved the roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut from 1999 till date, the PDP\u00a0 messed them up. That is why Nigerians
\ndecided to vote me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari said despite the money politics being played in Nigeria, his
\nvictories during APC\u2019s primary and the March 28 presidential elections had
\nproved that Nigerians knew what they wanted .<\/p>\n
He said some rejected inducement while some collected and still did
\nexactly what they wanted to do when there was time to vote.<\/p>\n
Buhari regretted that some \u201cstrong\u00a0 Nigerians\u201d were responsible for the
\ndestruction of strong institutions in the country.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cWe have a system in Nigeria. No matter what you say about the
\nBritish colonialists, they built institutions for us, unfortunately we
\nhave destroyed those institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen (Barack) Obama came to Africa, he went to Ghana; he refused to come
\nto Nigeria. And he said Africa or developing countries should have strong
\ninstitutions instead of strong leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he was in Nigeria, he would have known that it was strong Nigerians
\nthat destroyed the strong institutions. And paradoxically, maybe another
\nstrong Nigerian will come and revive the institutions and make them strong
\nagain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Punch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that his age would limit his performance as the President of the country. Buhari, who was\u00a0 a military governor at 33 and Head of State\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n