President Buhari said this on Monday, while addressing some Nigerians in South Africa. He said: “How I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I
can do. But what brought me there I think mainly is because I love this country. Those who work hard, the society will pay them back.
Two things made me join politics. One, when I went back home after being a governor, petroleum minister, Head of State and chairman of PTF, the most irritating thing was that of all these positions I had held, people didn’t remember any. They only remember my days at the PTF because I bought bed sheets and some x-ray machines for hospitals and some buses for the schools. In spite of the fact that it was during my time that I signed the contract for the Warri and Kaduna refineries, laid more than 3,500km pipes and built more than 20 depots.
We got the tankers off the roads; we saved lives; we saved fuel; we saved the road itself. But from 1999 till date, PDP has messed it up. The second thing was what happened to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was an empire in the 20th century that collapsed without a shot being fired. Everybody went home; there was confusion. Now, there are 18 countries out of the old Soviet Union.
They were more advanced than the Western countries in science because they wanted to go to space specifically in 1957, and they had more nuclear war heads and delivery system. And they had organized their societies; they had much less crimes as they got jobs for people. When people had no jobs they got some for them.
That was when I decided, and I believe that the best form of governance is multi-party democracy with a big caveat – election must be free and fair. And that was why I was in trouble. I contested in 2003, 2007, 2011 and spent 30, 20 and 8 months in courts respectively, all ending up in the Supreme Court. Why was I doing this? I know the reason; I believed in it! I believe in a system where election is free and fair.”…. in complexion like erm erm, Wizkid’s girlfriend, Tania….
