President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said President Donald Trump of the
\nUnited States had questioned him on why he is killing Christians in
\nNigeria, saying the issue is an age-long one orchestrated by failure of
\nleadership in the past.<\/p>\n
Buhari also asked Nigerian elites to judge his administration with
\nfairness.<\/p>\n
The President was speaking at the closing of the first-year ministerial
\nperformance review retreat held in Abuja.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the Nigerian elites, please encourage them, to judge us fairly,\u201d
\nBuhari said, arguing that his administration has done more for the
\ncountry with less resources.<\/p>\n
He said the average production of oil in the country, from 1999 to 2014,
\nwas 2.1 million barrels per day sold at an average price of $100.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we came, it collapsed to $37, $38 per barrel, you know it. And the
\nmilitants were unleashed on the administration, and the production went
\ndown to half a million barrels per day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to please reflect, what was the condition of the
\ninfrastructure then, in spite of those earnings. The roads, the rail is
\ndead and there was no power, up till now no power; where does the money
\ngo?\u201d<\/p>\n
The President said he was \u201cdoing my best\u201d to fight corruption by \u201ctrying
\nto follow the system\u201d in contrast to his brief military regime in 1984
\nwhen he arbitrarily rounded up politicians, threw them in jail, and
\nrequired them to prove their innocence.<\/p>\n
Now \u201cI\u2019m being called \u2018baba go slow\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The President also addressed the long-running conflict between cattle
\nrearers and farmers, blaming past leaders who encroached cattle routes.<\/p>\n
The President said when he met with the President of the United States,
\nhe was asked \u2018why are you killing Christians?\u2019<\/p>\n
Buhari said he tried to explain that the conflict had nothing to do with
\nethnicity or religion but a failure of leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe First Republic leadership is the most irresponsible set of
\nleadership we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked the Minister of Agriculture to get a gazette of the early
\nsixties, which delineated the cattle routes, the grazing areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo any cattle rearer that allows his cattle to go to somebody\u2019s farm is
\narrested, taken before a court. The farmer is called to submit his bill.
\nAnd if the cattle rearer cannot pay, his cattle are sold.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut subsequent leaders encroached on the cattle routes, took over the
\ncattle areas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said President Donald Trump of the United States had questioned him on why he is killing Christians in Nigeria, saying the issue is an age-long…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n