[size=18pt]Buhari Bares It All In New Interview (part5)[/size]

You achieved so much success and all that. But there was an issue that became quite contentious: N2.8billion. They said N2.8billion oil money was missing. - It couldn’t have been missing. The governor of the Central Bank then, the late Clement Isong, said it was ridiculous, that N2.8billion couldn’t be missing because he said even the king of Saudi Arabia couldn’t issue a cheque of N2.8billion. When you have paid your money for petroleum, they are normally put in the country’s external account and no bank will release that amount of money at a go because it was deposited. And then, at that time, Nigeria was exporting about 1.82 million barrels a day. And the cost of barrel a day was about $18. You work out N2.8billion. How could N2.8billion be missing and we still have money to run the country? So, it was just a political…

How did that issue come about? What happened and how did you feel during that period? - No, no. Shagari did the only honourable thing. He ordered a judicial enquiry and put a serving Justice of the Supreme Court, the late Justice Irikefe, to carry out investigation. And their terms of reference were put there. They said anybody who had an idea of missing N2.8billion, let him come and tell Justice Irikefe. Nobody had any evidence. It was just rubbish. Well, later, Tai Solarin and Professor Awojobi were confronted and Fela, the late Fela, to go and prove their case. They had no evidence, most of them took the newspaper cuttings of their allegations to the tribunal.

As evidence? - As their evidence…Cuttings of newspapers publications where they said N2.8billion was missing. That was their evidence. That was what they took to the Irikefe panel.

And Fela sang about it! Fela was your friend. - He couldn’t have been, because of what Obasanjo regime did to him. Because we were part of Obasanjo regime.

There is one other incident that has also been in the public domain: that Shagari gave you an order and you disobeyed your commander-in-chief. What happened then? Which order was that? That he gave you an instruction not to go to war against Chad or something like that? - Well, that was when I became GOC. When I came back from War College, I was in Lagos. Then, 4 Infantry Division was in Lagos, in Ikeja. I was in War College when I was posted there before General Obasanjo’s government handed over to Shagari. So, when I came, after about four months or so, I was posted to Ibadan, to command 2 Infantry Division. And after that, I was posted to Jos to command 3rd Armoured Division. It was when I was there as the GOC that the Chadians attacked some of our troops in some of the islands and killed five of them, took some military hardware and some of our soldiers. Then, I went into Army headquarters and told them then, the Chief of Army Staff then, General Wushishi, why they shouldn’t just allow a country, our neighbour to move into our territory, where we had stationed, to kill our people. So, I moved into Maiduguri, former Tactical Headquarters, and I got them out of the country. Something dramatic happened: I didn’t know I had gone beyond Chad and somehow, Shagari, in the United States, was sent pictures that I was with my troops and had gone beyond Chad, beyond Lake Chad. So, I was given direct order by the president to pull out and I did.

Oh, you did? - I did. I couldn’t have disobeyed the president. So, I handed over the division to Colonel Ogukwe, who was my course mate but was my…

He was in National Population Commission (NPC)? - I think so. Colonel Ogukwe. Yeah, he must have been. I handed over the tactical headquarters to him.

So, you never went against presidential directive? - I couldn’t have. He was the Commander-in-Chief. But maybe it was too slow for them, for me to withdraw, but you don’t disengage so quickly.

[size=18pt]Buhari Bares It All In New Interview (part6)[/size]

But after that, Shagari was overthrown?

Yes.

Now, they said you were invited to head the government after the coup?

Yes.

As the most senior officer?

Yes.

What really happened because it was not a Buhari coup?

No.

Could we say you never plotted a coup throughout your military career?

No. I didn’t plot a coup.

You were not a coup plotter?

No.

You were invited?

Yes.

Where were you when you were invited?

I was in Jos. They sent a jet to me flown by one of General Gowon’s younger brothers. He was a pilot. He told me that those who conducted the coup had invited me for discussion.

You went to Lagos?

I went to Lagos. I was flown to Lagos. Yes. And they said ok, those who were in charge of the coup had said that I would be the head of state. And I was.

When you made that statement that ‘this generation of Nigerians has no country other than Nigeria,’ for me it was like a JFK statement asking Americans to think of what they could do for America. Twenty months after, your same colleagues who invited you sacked you. What happened?

They changed their minds.

They changed their minds? So, what happened in between that, because part of what they said when they took over power was that you had become “too rigid, too uncompromising and arrogated knowledge of problems and solutions to yourself and your late deputy, Idiagbon. What really happened?

Well, I think you better identify those who did that and interview them so that they can tell you what happened. From my own point of view, I was the chairman of the three councils, which, by change of the constitution, were in charge of the country. They were the Supreme Military Council, the Executive Council and the National Council of State. I was the chairman of all. Maybe when you interview those who were part of the coup, they will tell you my rigidity and whether I worked outside those organs: the Supreme Military Council, the Council of State and the Council of Ministers.

Before I come to that, there was also this issue of Decree 4, alleged drug peddlers who your regime ordered shot. Looking back now, do you think you made mistake in those areas?

You see, maybe my rigidity could be traced to our insistence on the laws we made. But we decided that the laws must be obeyed.

But they said it was retroactive.

Yes, they said so. But I think it should be in the archive; we said that whoever brought in drugs and made Nigeria a transit point committed an offence. These drugs, We We (Indian hemp), is planted here, but the hard drug, cocaine, most Nigerians don’t know what cocaine is. They just made Nigeria a transit point and these people did it just to make money. You can have a certain people who grow Ashisha or We We and so on because it is indigenous. Maybe some people are even alleging that those who want to come for operation, brought the seed and started to grow it in Nigeria. But cocaine, it is alien to our people. So, those who used Nigeria as a transit, they just did it to make money. And this drug is so potent that it destroys people, especially intelligent people. So, the Supreme Military Council did a memo. Of course, I took the memo to the Supreme Military Council and made recommendation and the Supreme Military Council agreed.

There was no dissenting voice?

There was no dissenting in the sense that majority agreed that this thing, this cocaine, this hard drug was earning Nigeria so much bad name in the international community because Nigeria was not producing it, but Nigerians that wanted to make money didn’t mind destroying Nigerians and other youths in other countries just to make money. So, we didn’t need them. We didn’t need them.

But there were pleas by eminent Nigerians not to kill the three men involved in the trafficking?

Pleas, pleas; those that they destroyed did they listen to their pleas for them not to make hard drug available to destroy their children and their communities?

So, it is not something you look back now at 70 and say it was an error?

No, it was not an error. It was deliberate. I didn’t do it as an head of state by fiat. We followed our proper system and took it. If I was sure that the Supreme Military Council then, the majority of them decided that we shouldn’t have done so, we could have reduced it to long sentencing. But people who did that, they wanted money to build fantastic houses, maybe to have houses in Europe and invest. Now, when they found out that if they do it, they will get shot, then they will not live to enjoy at the expense of a lot of people that became mental and became harmful and detrimental to the society and so on, then they will think twice.

Decree 4 was what you used to gag the press?

Decree 4. You people (press), you brought in Nigeria factor into it. When people try to get job or contract and they couldn’t get it, they make a quick research and created a problem for people who refuse to do them the favour. What we did was that you must not embarrass those civil servants. If you have got evidence that somebody was corrupt, the courts were there. Take the evidence to court; the court will not spare whoever it was. But you don’t just go and write articles that were embarrassing.

But don’t you think you went too far?

What do you mean by going too far?

But you went to the extreme that public officers could do no wrong, as if they were saints. You called the decree ‘Protection of Public Officers Against False Accusation,’ and clamped down on the media.

Those who did it, the editors, the reporters, we jailed them. But we never closed a whole institution, as others did. We investigated and prosecuted according to the laws, because shutting a newspaper, it is an institution and we lose thousands of jobs. But we found out who made that false report, who was the editor, who okayed it and then, we jailed them.

No regret?

No regret, because we did it according to the laws we made. We neither closed a whole institution and caused job losses.

Then, you left power, 20 months after…

No. I was sent packing from power.

Ok, you didn’t leave on your own volition?

No.

That is a good one. For Nigerians, they remember War Against Indiscipline you brought. What was the philosophy behind it?

Well, I think we realised that the main problem of Nigeria, then and now, was indiscipline and corruption. When I say we, I mean the Supreme Military Council. Those two, are Nigeria’s Achilles heels. And I believe the Nigeria elite knew it then and they know it now. So, we started to discipline them. People must realise their level in the society and accept it. If you go and read hard and get a PhD, certainly you will get the best of life than somebody who hasn’t been to school at all or who has been a drop-out. And then, in the public, people must behave responsibly. If you go to bus stops, it is step-by-step or turn-by-turn, and not to force your way. If you go to bank, you find out if people were there before you. Why can’t you go behind them?

Or you come early and be number one.

Exactly! I think that was accepted. And up till now, I think it is the only thing that survived out of our administration, the queue culture. People accepted it with calmness. And in Lagos, they wouldn’t like to associate themselves with the military, so they call it KAI. That is right. Kick Against Indiscipline. But it is still the same thing. It is the same. The only difference is that one was brought by the military and this one is through democratic system.

When you were eased out of power and you had time to reflect for three years, what did you then see that was wrong?

We gave them the opportunity in the three councils I told you. Those rules are supposed to be in the Nigerian archives, except somebody destroyed them, destroyed the evidence. Otherwise, what did we do wrong to warrant being sacked? For example, when we overthrew the Second Republic, we had what we called the SIP, the Special Investigation Panel that comprised the police, the National Security Organisation (NSO) then and the intelligence community of the military. We did nothing by impulse or ad hoc. We went through the system.

And then, you handed down long jail terms, some 100 years. That was something else. Why did you do that?

They would never see the daylight again to commit another crime against humanity.

Would you say your detention period made you a new person?

I think I have always been the same person. When I came out, I was amazed, amazed in the sense that people in my immediate constituency didn’t seem to bother about the major setback I had. They were still coming to me, expecting me to help them in a way. Not in terms of material help, because they knew that I didn’t operate any money house or any petroleum bloc or any filling station…

How can you say a whole oil minister like you didn’t have any oil licence?

No. Not one, and not any for any blood relation or anybody close to me. Really, somehow, people in my community felt that I can still help them. But with that setback, I was wondering how. So, the only way for me, I think, was to join partisan politics so that I can have a platform to speak about the opinion of my constituency, immediate constituency. But the thing that convinced me more than the pressure from immediate locality was the change in 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union. I have said this so often that an empire in the 20th century, collapsed and a lot of people ran back home, leaving strategic installations behind, like missile sites, nuclear formation and so on. And now, there are about 18 to 19 or 20 republics. It was then that I believed, personally, in my own assessment, that multi-party democratic system was and is still superior to despotism.

That was your turning point?

That was the turning point. But there is a big caveat: elections must be free and fair! And that is what we need. Elections must be free and fair, otherwise, the whole thing will be something else.

During your tenure, one case kept coming up: the 53 suitcases. You had ordered the border shut and your Aide de Camp (ADC), Major Jokolo, was alleged to have escorted 53 suitcases into the country. What happened? Why were you selective?

There was nothing like 53 suitcases. What happened was that there was my chief of protocol; he is now late. He had three wives, and I think about 12 children. He was in Saudi Arabia as Nigeria Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was in Libya before, as ambassador and later, he was posted to Saudi Arabia. And then, I appointed him as my chief of protocol and he was coming back. Three wives, about 12 children. And then, by some coincidence, the late Emir of Gwandu, the father of Jokolo, who was my ADC then, was coming back with the same flight. And somehow, some mischievous fellows, everything, including the handbag of maybe, their small daughters, were counted as suitcases. Atiku then was the Commandant of Murtala Muhammed Airport as customs officer. And that day, we were playing squash. Jokolo my ADC and I. At some point, I said to him, ‘Mustapha, is your father not coming back today again?’ He said, ‘yes, sir, he is coming.’ I said, ‘what are you doing here? Why can’t you go and meet your father?’ He said yes, sir. He went to wash and meet his father. I am telling you there was no 53 bags of suitcases. It was a bloody lie. It was a bloody mischief.

So, not that he was detailed?

No, he was not detailed. He was not even about to go. I was the one who made him to go and meet his father. He was a respected emir, in fact, if not the most respected emir in the North then. He was learned, he had fantastic credibility and personal integrity. And this man was just coming on posting with his wives and children and they counted every imaginable thing, they said 53 suitcases.

Was that why Atiku was retired?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t think I retired Atiku. I can’t recall because I had nothing against anybody.

But the argument was that the border was ordered shut. So, how did those people then come in?

They came by air. We didn’t stop aircraft coming in. They came by air, from Jedda to Lagos. They didn’t drive through Chad to Maiduguri and… People just say 53 suitcases when all borders had been ordered shut because that is how you can sell your papers.

God bless Buhari

The servant leader

GenBuhari,
howdy, bros?

GenBuhari: God bless Buhari

I have never heard of a Nigerian leader with so much wide-ranging support as Buhari. I know of people that can't stand the sight of each other - can't even stand to hear the name of one another, and they all love Buhari, and would still support him if he ran again. There are posters on this site who fight like cats and dogs, that would vomit if they knew their nemesis also supports Buhari.

Good guy. I miss Idiagbon most. That one na my own.

Nice to hear from you madam.
You are very right about Buhari's support, Nigerians over the age of 45yrs old would remember his performance in govt in 1984/85, those over 36yrs old would remember his performance as head of Petroleum Trust Fund during Abacha's rule, younger Nigerians only know of him because they have seen him contest three consecutive elections and they would have heard of his anti-corruption credentials.

Buhari in a couple of interviews has praised Idiagbon in very glowing terms.

isale_gan2: GenBuhari,
howdy, bros?



I have never heard of a Nigerian leader with so much wide-ranging support as Buhari. I know of people that can't stand the sight of each other - can't even stand to hear the name of one another, and they all love Buhari, and would still support him if he ran again. There are posters on this site who fight like cats and dogs, that would vomit if they knew their nemesis also supports Buhari.

Good guy. I miss Idiagbon most. That one na my own.

[size=20pt]Buhari Bares It All In New Interview (part7)[/size]

Then you came into politics and every election you are there. Would you still do politics at 70 years, elective politics, offering yourself for election?

This is what I told the audience that came to listen to my address before we started the campaign for the 2011 elections. But my party and supporters were sending representatives. Up till today, they haven’t stopped. But what I told them was that we are in the process now of reorganising the party and perhaps, come into an alignment with other parties. Whatever the parties decide, whether my party or the new party that align and we are hoping to develop; if they give me the ticket or recommend me, I will consider it. That is the position we are now.

God bless Buhari

GenBuhari:

There is a sustained unfair and malicious attack going on against Buhari by govt sponsored group.

They cannot enter this thread though.

.

[size=20pt]Buhari Bares It All In New Interview (part8)[/size]

Until you get to that stage you can give a definite answer?

Until we get to that stage, there is no clear answer now. Let’s wait and see.

Is it that you don’t like money? Anytime somebody sees you, they say General Buhari is so austere. What gave you that kind of lifestyle? Nobody is associating you with millions. My reporter here was pointing to one mansion of a former governor who just ruled for eight years. So, how did you develop this frugal lifestyle? Is it that you don’t like good life? How do you unwind? Well, some of us have heard that you used to smoke. Do you still smoke? What are those things you have given up?

I used to smoke, but of course, I abandoned it I think in 1977.

Oh really? Before you became head of state?

Yes, I stopped smoking.

Have you ever taken alcohol?

No.

Never?

Never.

Even as a young man and all that?

No, no. Even in the military tradition, how they break you in, I said well, the military did not stop anybody practising his religion. My religion said no alcohol and no alcohol. So, that was respected. I was never forced to take alcohol and I have never voluntarily taken it because I want to remain alert all the time. There is a tendency that when you drink, you would want to have a bottle more, or a glass more and do something silly.

As a young man, very handsome because I saw some of your old pictures, did you have women flocking around you? And women like soldiers, people who have power…

I also thought women ought to have taken more interest in me but I don’t know why they didn’t. I must have something they didn’t like. I assure you of that. I didn’t drink, I smoked, I had girlfriends; it was true.

How many did you have?

I hope you won’t publish this because my wife will read the interview. So, you will be very kind to me if you don’t publish that (general laughter).

You joined the army and there was coup and counter-coup and civil war. You still had time to unwind?

You can create it but we had too much eventful time, professional career. It was too eventful. There were too many things happening almost at the same time. If I could recall, the 30 months civil war that we had, I was just having two weeks after every six months to come back home just to see my old mother and some of my relatives because I refused to get married till after the war.

Was it deliberate?

It was deliberate.

Why? I thought that would have been the reason to get married.

No, no. Some of our colleagues, like late Vatsa, like Babangida, they were more adventurous than myself. They took a weekend and had a quick marriage and went back to the front. I thought I would be putting the poor girl or the poor woman under a lot of stress. So, I said if I survived the war, I would get married, but if I didn’t survive, no woman should cry for me other than my relatives.

You know most nigerians find it really hard to understand the concept of isolating someone or a group by damaging their reputation or misrepresenting their intentions in a way that the majority finds them a threat and would therefore desist from forming an alliance with them. This has been going on now that everything the man said is misrepresented and now people think Boko Haram when they think of Buhari.

I hope and believe that Nigerians would be too politically sophisticated to allow themselves to be manipulated and deceived.
Again this could only happen in a country where the press are corrupt and would write anything that they are paid to write.

thoth: You know most nigerians find it really hard to understand the concept of isolating someone or a group by damaging their reputation or misrepresenting their intentions in a way that the majority finds them a threat and would therefore desist from forming an alliance with them. This has been going on now that everything the man said is misrepresented and now people think Boko Haram when they think of Buhari.

It seems that many Nigerians have not yet realised that Nigerian News Media are tools of the govt, to misinform and subdue them.

GenBuhari: It seems that many Nigerians have not yet realised that Nigerian News Media are tools of the govt, to misinform and subdue them.

it will be really hard for majority of nigerians to accept that. In their minds the media is to be to lie, too professional to be corrupted and in a sense which i still don't understand; a government critic and weapon of the people.
So what will you say when they point to the newspapers as their evidence? Will you tell them the newspapers are liars ? Then they will ask you what is the truth and then you tell them then they will follow it up with the question " where is your evidence ?" hehehe .
Or when about 5 major newspapers and television tells the same lie and you tell them to believe in the news of an independent small obscure newspaper. I have been in that corner for a while haha.

We have to continue telling the truth even if not initially believed.

I would use logical reasoning to explain why lies told by Nigerian press media (which are at times replicated by international media intentionally or otherwise) can not be true. This can easily be done by exposing inconsistencies in the lies.

Many newspapers and TV stations tell lies constantly to support the government. I would seek to discredit them by exposing their record of misinforming and telling lies to support their govt sponsors.

When they ask me where my evidence is, I often see the irony many Nigerians are willing to accept lies without question, but when they are told the truth start asking for evidence. However I would gather as much evidence as possible and give it to them to support my view.

I would recommend a boycott of certain govt sponsored news papers and TV and radio news stations.

norrisman: Very interesting.

Bigoted Nigerians will fail to see that none of the men in that ministeral list isvstupendously rich (to my knowledge). Afterall, they were only civil servants. Compare and contrast that list with ministers, governors and senate leaders of today, who have no known mega businesses or are owners of patents of a successful product but are able to post bail of N500 million.

I totally agree, buhari has really meant well to fight corruption but the problem has always being his utterances, if only buhari could be constructive in his criticisms and support his local govt by developing it and creating that atmosphere of good leadership, I tell you he would win tremendous support, its never still to late though cos I have always supported his good stand against corruption. I believe the 2007 election was warn by him cos the govt in power then said it, that he new his election were rigged but then 2011 election was never rigged, and if it was it would be some parties that did not win and just wanted to cause mayhem.

Buhari sshould change his style of approach to issues and try to win the support of everyone and not uttering the wrong statement and sending out wrong signals that can disintegrate the country!

^ Do not believe everything you read.

Buhari never made those utterances as reported by the corrupt Nigerian newspapers who write whatever their corrupt PDP paymasters tell them to write.

There are dozens of video and audio interview with Buhari, and there are no hint of those utterances in them.

Nigerians shine your eyes well well o!

BTW I believe if not for the rigging, Buhari would have won elections of 2003 , 2007 and 2011

Time is running out for Nigeria oo!

You carefully avoided the suitcase of cash issue, arrest of Nigerian just for visiting Isreal and the rest of his uncountable atrocities. not forgetting the new wave of crime in the north because he thought he won the last general election

^ Wait be patient. The interview covers that as well

[size=20pt]Buhari Bares It All In New Interview (part9)[/size]

Some of your General-colleagues became stupendously rich. Today, they have means. I am not a lawyer taking inventory of your assets or preparing your will, but tell me what property do you have now at 70? I am sure you have a house in Abuja, you have one in Lagos. You have one in Daura and you have one here (Kaduna). So, if I count your property, maybe five. Am I right or wrong?


You are right but am not going to read or declare with you. My assets were on record, I told some of your colleagues when they came. When Murtala/Obasanjo regime came, they made sure that certain grades of public officers must declare their assets when they assumed that office and they must declare when they were leaving. So, when I was sworn in as governor of North East, I declared my assets.


What did you declare?


I declared surprisingly, even the number of my cows then. Even if they were supposed to be producing every year, but I declared them the time I was there. And when I was leaving governorship, I became petroleum minister. When I was leaving to go to War College, I declared my assets. I could recall General Jemibewon then, was the Adjutant-General of the Army. He rang me and said he was sending me asset declaration form, that I must fill it, sign it before I left for the United States. And I did. General Jemibewon is still alive. And when I became head of state eventually, I declared my assets again. So, all of us; when I say that, I mean Obasanjo downwards, those who are alive who were governors, ministers, head of states, they had declared assets. So, if you people are serious and interested about political officers becoming multi-billionaires, you can find out from Murtala downwards. And those of us who were not very good in making money you should pity us.

Is it that you don’t like money?

Everybody likes money but I am not very good at making money. Let me put it that way. I borrowed from the banks to build the house in Daura and the one in Abuja that you mentioned and the one in Kano. The bank then was Barclays, now Union Bank. Kaduna State or North Central then housing scheme and the Federal Mortgage Bank for the house I am in and AIB, which was, I think, terminated by Central Bank. So, when you go through the records, you find out that the houses I built, I borrowed from there.

I adore this man! Nothing can make me renege from evangelising about his good nature!

That d system has conspired against him before now is not even a deterrent

It wil further spur me to dig deeper till Nigeria bcums a land of our dreams

Sai Buhari....Mai Gaskiya!

^ Very true!

GenBuhari: ^ Very true!

God bless The people's General!