I am not a politician, but I am a
friend of General Muhammadu Buhari and the things that have been said about
this exceptional Nigerian will make the stomach of anyone who truly knows him
sour.
Nigerians cannot stand up to him when it comes to character and
integrity. It therefore appalls me when people whose only credentials are that
the Economic and Financial Crimes, Commission (EFCC) has stopped chasing them
around because they know how to double speak now have the audacity and
effrontery to question the character of a man like General Buhari.
I do not make a joke of it when I say
General Buhari is an exceptional Nigerian and an incident which I want to share
here with Nigerians gave me that conviction a long time ago and greatly
influenced my own life as a public servant.
I lived in the United Kingdom in the
90s and in the late 90s I was encouraged to return to Nigeria by my friend
General Buhari. It also coincides with when he was Chairman of the Petroleum
Trust Fund (PTF). I used to spend most of my time in Nigeria with him and his
family and I noticed that his two grown daughters who were undergraduates at
the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, were always at home because of the unending
strikes in Nigerian universities at the time.
I did not like the situation so on one
of my visits I got the prospectus and brochures of some educational
institutions in the United Kingdom and decided to encourage him to send these
kids to institutions in the UK, where they could school without interruption.
Because of how busy he was at the time,
it sometimes took days to find a moment alone with him, so I finally did find a
moment alone with him, and I brought up the issue of his kids always being at
home on strike and suggested his sending them to the U.K to school. I quickly
brought out the brochures and prospectus and I believed I made a very strong
case.
He then asked me what the cost would be
and thinking the cost would not be an issue since I was speaking with the head
of one of the most powerful and richest institutions in the country at the time
(as well as a former Head of State of Nigeria), I boldly opened the cost pages
of the brochures and tried to work out the cost to him.
What he said at the time stunned me.
General turned to me and asked me where I expected him to get that kind of
money and I could not believe the question as I am sure many Nigerians will not
believe. First, I could not believe that as PTF chairman, he would find the
school fees an issue. Afterall, he was presiding over what was unarguably the
richest public institution in the country at the time and others in his shoes
would have found a way to “afford” it from their public offices. But not
General Buhari. What he did at the time made me see him as an exceptional
Nigerian and you are all free to confirm or verify this. General Buhari sold
the only property he owned in Victoria Island at the time and it was with that
fund that he sent his kids to school.
I do not know of many Nigerians who as
PTF Chairman would have done what he did and, from then on, General Muhammadu
Buhari became my hero and the epitome of integrity and honesty in public office
to me.
The General Buhari I know will never
come out to claim a qualification he does not possess and for charlatans and
people of questionable character to call for his arrest for forgery is a great
insult to honesty itself. I know that Nigeria has become a country where
anything goes, but insulting our heroes because of politics should not be one
of them. This is just one instance, as there are several instances that I can
cite here, but time and space will not permit me. So, let’s put politics aside
and celebrate our heroes, because I do not know of any man of greater integrity
than General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB).
Dr. Noble Abe
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