Professor Tam David-West served as Minister of
Petroleum and Energy when the new President-
elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd), was the
Military Head of State from 1984 to 1985. In this
interview with YINKA FABOWALE and OLUSEYE
OJO in Ibadan, the professor of virology talks
extensively on the person of Buhari that millions
of Nigerians do not know. Excerpts:
Will it be right to describe Gen Buhari’s win
in the just concluded presidential election
as a personal victory to you?
It cannot be a personal victory to me; that will be
too much. It’s victory to Nigerians, victory to
those people in Nigeria, who have over the years
have supported this cause. It is not for me. I was
only one person telling people what he is. I have
worked with him and I know him. I worked very
closely with him.
As an oil minister, I was closer to him than most
ministers because we have hotlines; few
ministers had hotlines with him. Whenever I talk
about Buhari, I am talking about somebody I
know. I am not talking about stereotype, am
talking about somebody I know firsthand.
He has good qualities. He is a unique man. The
former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar,
described him as an extraordinary Nigerian.
Why do I love him? First, he is very honest. He is
not corrupt at all. He’s disciplined and he’s
focused. I worked with Buhari and I worked with
Babangida (Gen Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida,
retd). If you give a 20- page memo to Buhari by
9:00 this morning, by 10 he has finished reading
it and he will ask you to come. When you get
there, you will see that he has read it and made
notes. If you give the same memo to Babangida,
he would not read it for one week.
Buhari loves Nigeria, not only because he was a
soldier and signed his life for Nigeria, I know
from all the people around, he’s the only person
that I can vouch for. They used to insult me that
Jonathan (President Goodluck Jonathan) is Ijaw
and I am an Ijaw man too, why am I supporting
a Fulani man? I am not going to support you
because you are Ijaw, I am going to support you
to lead Nigeria and do well for the country
I have written two books on Buhari: one is who
really is Gen Buhari and the other one is 16 sins
of Buhari, which are qualities of Buhari. In the
book, I wrote on the lies they are telling about
him. In fact, Femi Adesina (Managing Director of
The Sun newspapers) was the master of
ceremony when I launched the book at NIIA
(Nigerian Institute of International Affairs) in
Lagos.
I have a third book on him, which I have not
finished – General Buhari: A Rare Gem. I don’t
have Buhari’s phone number. I don’t phone him.
Why do I do that? It’s because I don’t want to be
tempted to be phoning him to discuss. If I want
to talk to Buhari, I know how.
Buhari can turn this country around. I have
strong faith in this. If my father is contesting an
election against Gen Buhari as president, I will
vote for Buhari, not my father. I will tell my
father: I know you are a good man. But you have
no business with politics. You cannot do it. you
are a banker, go and manage money. I cannot
vote for you because Buhari will do better than
you. Buhari is a fantastic man.
For example, they are talking of economy while
the greatest problem in Nigeria is corruption. If
you can take care of corruption, everything will
fall in place. Gen Buhari refused to devalue the
naira in spite of the fact that when he came to
power, Nigeria was broke. Shagari (Alhaji Shehu
Shagari, former president of Nigeria), was
negotiating for N2billion IMF loan before he was
overthrown.
Buhari told me he would not take IMF loan. I
asked him why and he said: If you take loan of
N2billion now, we will not be able to finish
paying it before we leave. So, the debt will be
there for our children. He’s as careful as that.
You must have read that Buhari cancelled Lagos
metro line. It is a lie. I have published the story
before. I don’t write anything without a research.
I phoned him on it and he said: No, when we
came to power on January 1, 1984, Nigeria did
not know how much foreign debt they are
owing. They don’t know the figure. Shagari did
not know.
He said Lagos State came with a project, which
would gulp over N100billion or so, guaranteed
by the Federal Government. It’s a big loan for the
project in those days. He said Federal
Government could not guarantee the loan of
N100billion when we did not know how much we
are owing. So, Lagos State government thought
of it, looked at it and jettisoned it by itself. He
told me: Look professor, how can I cancel a
project that I am not part of? I cannot cancel it.
Buhari cited another example. He said when he
was in PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund), the first N1.2
billion they made was spent on Lagos
waterworks. Many people just write, they don’t
investigate. This is why I don’t have respect for
so many people called intellectuals. When Bu­
hari was Head of State, $1.5 was N1:00; today, it
is over N190 to $1 dollar. Then, it was N2 to £1;
today it is over N240 to £1.
As regards the economy, they are talking that
the oil price has fallen. Oil is still being sold for $
57 per barrel. When Buhari came to power, oil
price was $30 per barrel. During that time too, it
went down to about $15. But he managed the
economy.
When OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries) decided to get the market
share, oil price fell to about $15 per barrel, yet
we survived. We survived because of good lead­
ership and good focus. Now, they are saying the
oil price is coming down, what will Buhari do?
I am absolutely certain that Buhari will turn the
economy round. Why? It is because some of the
blueprints he had to turn the economy round, he
had not implemented before he was
overthrown. I know that some of the blueprints
are still on his table. So, one of the blueprints we
used was very ingenious. The London Financial
Times of May 1984 said it was extra-ordinary.
We made IMF irrelevant. It is very simple. The
economy can move.
Continue reading from: jimidisu.com/?p=21074
Cc: Gbawe, Aresa, passingshot,ilungunboy,cleverly, please kindly repost so It can get to front page...We most educate those people who still think Negatively about our amiable General

Watching keenly

Ogbeni

Well constructed thread

Sai Baba

In God we trust. GMB you did it before and u can do it again. Godbless Nigeria

Tam David West is still savouring the feat of military Buhari. Tam should know that politician Buhari has a lot of constraints in a democracy.

Let's watch.

hmm
I pray under his watch there will be no tribalism, nepotism etc to the extent that Nigerian's would dilute his and the name of the person ( jega ) who ushered in his government into our local name eg Oluwabuharimi chukwujegam

Long live Nigeria

Long live her People