BY Fredrick Nwabufo
The future of Nigeria is the main motivation behind his latest presidential bid, Muhammadu Buhari has told TheCable.
In the first part of the interview published on Saturday, the retired major-general had explained his decision to seek office again having promised that after his third attempt in 2011, he would no longer present himself for election.
He said since he did not quit partisan politics altogether, his supporters insisted that for as long as he remained a politician, he must contest as he longer belonged to himself alone.
Buhari, who is seeking the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has further explained his motive ─ and regrets that people are now using his age against him.
He said: “What I am doing is for the future of this country. I said this 30 years ago and nobody wrote the speech for me: ‘We have no other country but Nigeria. We have to remain here and salvage it together.’
“I recently heard the interesting story of a man who relocated to the US. His children have now come of age and they have told him they want to come to Nigeria. You can be a nuclear physicist, go to Europe or America to get your dollar worth, but sooner or later, your children will start saying, Daddy, when are we going home? Is it not better then to make sure the system is working and conducive for all?
“I have an objective ─ I want to secure and effectively manage this country. I want to offer leadership to this country. This is my objective. Nigeria has been endowed by God with material and human resources. That is why I blame the elite for the state of this country. The elite have failed to organise themselves to realise this God-given favour to Nigeria.”
Buhari said a feasibility study was done on solid minerals when Olusegun Obasanjo was president and wondered why no action has been taken since then.
“There is no part of this country that does not have solid minerals. All the states of the federation! Gold, uranium, name it. The feasibility report is there in the archive, waiting for a serious government to revisit it and go into action with the latest technology. We are too focused on petroleum. Solid minerals will generate employment and take millions of youths out of the labour market.
“The elite must come together to develop this country. Nigerians don’t have to go abroad with their degrees and end up washing plates and toilets in hotels,” he told TheCable.
Asked what wrong impression about him he would like to correct if he had the chance, he responded: “People are talking about my age. It is now as if my age is a disadvantage for my presidential ambition. I would like to perform well in office so that people will know what I am about.
“There is nothing Nigerian politicians want to do now that I have not done before. I was governor of a state that is today six states. I was petroleum minister for three and a quarter years. I signed contracts for refinery projects, depot projects that were executed. The contracts I signed are worth billions of naira in today’s currency.
“Then I became head of state. And I became chairman of PTF when [General Sani] Abacha saw that I could be useful. There was a time when PTF had more than N53 billion in the banking system. And nobody has successfully accused me of abusing trust.”
Buhari promised to support whoever picks APC’s presidential ticket if he does not get it.
WATCH OUT: In the last part of the interview, Buhari speaks on the overthrow of Shehu Shagari kn 1983, the Babangida palace coup of 1985 and the Umaru Dikko kidnap saga.
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