The Buhari Interview

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Ashafa Abdullahi

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:13:14 PM6/10/21
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The Buhari interview

By ETIM ETIM

Even if it did not break any news, the 90-minute exclusive interview of President Buhari by Nigeria’s cable network, Arise News, did show that the Nigerian leader is not as demented as Farooq Kperoqi would want us to believe. Consistently over the last five years, Prof Kperoqi, a teacher in a US university and columnist in Nigerian Tribune, has been making the point in his articles that President Buhari is so mentally challenged that he could not hold a ten-minute discussion unaided. Many of my friends who work in the Villa have discountenanced this assertion vehemently whenever I confronted them, but Kperoqi’s unrelenting repetition of his claim has left me puzzled. The President’s taciturnity, aloofness and near absence in the face of a national turmoil has not done much to dispel Kperoqi’s theory.  But watching the interview this morning (Thursday, June 10, 2021), I came away with the impression that the Atlanta-based professor is guilty of blatant exaggerations on the president’s health. There’s no doubt that at 78, Buhari has obviously lost some of his acuity and alertness. Senescence has certainly set in, and this explains why some of his answers were not related to the questions asked. But overall, he is fairly alert mentally and he has a good command of the issues bedeviling the nation.

The interview expectedly covered a wide range of issues: insecurity, Twitter, restructuring and devolution of power, corruption, national debt, IPOB and the South East, appointment of Army Chief, the Buhari legacy, open grazing and where the next president will come from. These are some of the key topics that have seized our national conversation in the last several years, and so most of the President’s answers were quite predictable. On insecurity, the President says he was almost overwhelmed by the violence in the North Western region given that the people there are of homogenous culture, religion and tradition. He however noted that the law enforcement agencies have risen to the challenge. ‘’We closed the mines and drove away illegal miners from Zamfara State, and this has helped to reduce banditry in the area’’, Buhari said. The President wondered why Igbos would want to secede from Nigeria when they live and own massive property all over the nation. On why the president has not considered any Igboman for appointment as a service chief, the President stated that such positions require persons of immense experience, competence and cognate track records. ‘’For the chief of army staff, for example, the person must be well known to the soldiers who are fighting in the field so that they would relate with him very well’’, the President said. This explains why the three army chiefs Buhari has so far appointed have been commanders in the theatre of war in the North East. This is the same consideration that influences the appointment of military chiefs in the US, for example. In May 2015 when President Obama nominated Marine General Joseph Dunford to succeed Gen Martin Dempsey as the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, the President relied heavily on Gen Dunford’s track records. Gen Dunford had served as the Commander of American and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014 and was just before his elevation, the Commandant of the US Marine Corps. Note that Afghanistan was the main theatre of war for the US as at 2015. In fact Obama described Gen Dunford as one of the ‘’most admired officers in our military’’, and someone whose decision-making he trusts.

 I was particularly struck at President Buhari’s answer to the question on our huge foreign debts. The Buhari administration has borrowed billions of dollars from China and some multilateral agencies to fund infrastructure. The President said that he inherited decrepit infrastructure and empty treasury, and the economy could not develop if infrastructure were so bad. He stated that previous administrations earned so much from oil, yet they did not build roads, rail and bridges, so he had to borrow to fix these things. This was the exact same answer I gave in October 2018 when I appeared on the same Arise News morning show. I remember retorting back at the panel when they asked me why whether it was okay for the government to borrow so much: ‘’If you travel around the country as I do, you’d notice how bad our roads are. What do you want the President to do? Fold his arms and do nothing’’? Successive administrations between 1999 and 2015 have failed to invest on infrastructure. Federal roads were in a terrible state of disrepair and no single rail line was constructed, yet the country earned billions of dollars from crude oil exports. I am sure that the people who stole these resources and stashed them away are now the same people sponsoring violence and negative news against the country.   They wouldn’t mind destroying the country, just because they have their ‘’Plan B’’ to run outside the country if, God forbid, crisis erupts.

On open grazing of cattle, the President said: "Two South West governors came to me to report that cattle rearers were destroying farms in their states; I asked them what happened to the grassroot security panels from Traditional Rulers to Local Governments who meet regularly to identify the root of their problems and identify crooks within their environment. Who destroyed this system? Go back and fix it, give your people sense of belonging. I don't like it when people campaign to become Governors and people trusted them with their votes and after winning, they can't perform, they're trying to push responsibilities to others. ....We have three tiers of Government, Federal, State and Local. We have killed the Local Government totally. We will send N300m as allocation to a Local Government, one Governor will ask the LG Chairman to sign that he collected N300m but he will give him N100m and the Chairman will keep quiet.....is that how we will continue?" This is vintage Buhari. Plain and blunt. The President is essentially complaining about corruption among the governors and their inability to rise to their responsibilities. In my article in The Guardian today titled "Niger Delta and the search for peace",  I note that many governors are so afraid of confronting criminals in their states, yet they keep collecting huge sums as security votes.

Another interesting aspect of the interview was when the president was asked what his legacy would be. ‘’I will leave that for Nigerians to decide, but I hope that they will be fair to me. Nigerians should judge me fairly, based on what we met when we came in and what we have been able to do’’, the President said, noting that he will return to his farm when he leaves office. The huge security challenges which have enveloped the country have almost completely obliterated whatever achievements this administration has managed to record. The President risks being remembered as the peace-time leader under whom most Nigerians died. In my article titled ‘’Buhari’s legacy; Osinbajo’s burden’’ and published in The Guardian of February 5, 2021, I made the point that after eight years, the whole of Buhari’s legacy would be defined, not by the rails and roads he’d built, but by how well and safe Nigerians had lived under him.  Let me end by commending Arise News, our own CNN, for consistently improving in its offerings as the nation’s only international cable channel. The Morning Show has become the most popular of the breakfast shows on our TV. The interview team comprised Nduka Obaigbena (Chairman of Arise News and Publisher of Thisday newspaper; Segun Adeniyi, Chairman of Thisday Editorial Board, Reuben Abati and Tundun Abiola).

Toyin Falola

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:21:16 PM6/10/21
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My great Ashafa:

I felt like throwing up when I read the opening statement of the assessment of the Buhari’s interview with a remark on Farooq.

I know you much longer than Farooq who is not even my friend. When does his voice count for our collective march to modernity? Is he a Marabout from Casamance?

TF

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 10, 2021, 3:57:05 PM6/10/21
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Oga TF:

A columnist is an opinion leader and for a columnist to consistently over the years deliberately  purvey falsehood about the state of  health of his country's leader is deplorable, particularly if he is an academic as academics are noted to be consciously in search of the truth and not deliberate falsehood.

TF, I am disturbed  that you are not concerned that he is dragging your calling into the gutters by this attitude.



OAA



Sent from my Galaxy



-------- Original message --------
From: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Date: 10/06/2021 20:34 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What has Farooq got to do with theBuhari's Interview?

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My great Ashafa:

I felt like throwing up when I read the opening statement of the assessment of the Buhari’s interview with a remark on Farooq.

I know you much longer than Farooq who is not even my friend. When does his voice count for our collective march to modernity? Is he a Marabout from Casamance?

TF

 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ashafa Abdullahi <abas...@gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 2:13 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Buhari Interview

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Toyin Falola

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Jun 10, 2021, 4:14:19 PM6/10/21
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Ha!

Farooq’s “falsehood” produced the insecurity, youth anger, Kanu, Oduduwa Republic, Sunday Igboho?

My point, to repeat: You cannot evaluate the TV interview of the president of a country of 200 million people by what Farooq says about Buhari.

Of course, I don’t know whether Farooq’s words are endorsed by the Kperogi Red Army and his Kennesaw Bay Maximum Security to keep prisoners.

Even the betrayal by Judas was not what led Christ to the “firing squad” on the cross. So Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crows and this produced the Crucifixion?

 

TF

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Jun 11, 2021, 2:43:00 AM6/11/21
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TF:


The writer never inferred Farooq's falsehood caused these events.  He was specific about which falsehood of Farooq, the interview debunked: the President's mental health.

He then gave the President's responses to the issues you raised which any third party can independently evaluate for their effectiveness.

By the way these are not your great friend Ashafa's observations; they belong to Etim Etim.  

You are hanging the wrong man!

Apologise to your great friend, sir.


OAA



Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------
From: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Date: 10/06/2021 21:20 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What has Farooq got to do withtheBuhari's Interview?

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Ha!

Farooq’s “falsehood” produced the insecurity, youth anger, Kanu, Oduduwa Republic, Sunday Igboho?

My point, to repeat: You cannot evaluate the TV interview of the president of a country of 200 million people by what Farooq says about Buhari.

Of course, I don’t know whether Farooq’s words are endorsed by the Kperogi Red Army and his Kennesaw Bay Maximum Security to keep prisoners.

Even the betrayal by Judas was not what led Christ to the “firing squad” on the cross. So Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crows and this produced the Crucifixion?

 


Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021 at 2:57 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Jun 11, 2021, 2:43:27 AM6/11/21
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I am surprised that the Buhari interview is being analyzed this way.

So, the President cannot find any soldier with the qualities he enumerated from the Southeast or from other  parts of Nigeria to be made Chief of Army staff? Why throw in what happens in the United States, a developed country?

On the matter of insecurity in the states, didn't it occur to the President that the state governors have no security infrastructure under their control to manage insecurity?

I can go on, but what is the point? 

Mediocrity is not to be encouraged in leadership.

-CAO.

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Moses Ochonu

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Jun 12, 2021, 4:48:10 AM6/12/21
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This is another one of those garden variety semi-anonymous pro-regime babble we occasionally have to endure on this list. Fifty percent (or more) of leadership in our complex and diverse polity is empathy, capacity for self-critique, introspection, a cosmopolitan outlook, and sensitivity. Buhari lacks them all. He sees himself as president or the Muslim-majority zones of Northern Nigeria. He and his regional minions only need Nigeria as a revenue generation base. Plus, he seems so full of hate, bile, and paranoia. His hatred of the Igbo is on another level. He can’t even hide it. If I was a psychologist, I would say the man is haunted by unresolved trauma, hence the self-conscious adoption of sadism and meanness, along with blatant ethnocentrism, as instruments of governance.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 10, 2021, at 2:21 PM, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:



Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Jun 12, 2021, 7:07:22 AM6/12/21
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"Empathy, capacity for self critique, introspection, a cosmopolitan outlook and sensitivity"

Superb

Salimonu Kadiri

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Jun 12, 2021, 7:08:45 AM6/12/21
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​Haba!!! Professor Toyin Falola, 

Nigerian intellectuals in the Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDA's), National Assembly and Judiciary are the producers of insurrections, armed robbers, armed bandits, kidnappers for ransoms and general insecurity in Nigeria and not Buhari. Farooq's falsehood with his quack diagnose of Buhari as being demented has not produced the socio-economic insecurity in Nigeria, rather, it has diverted attention from Farooq's fellow intellectuals in the MDA's, National Assembly and the Judiciary who are the real precursors of chronic political and economic ailments afflicting the masses in Nigeria. You claim that Farooq is not your pal, but you have published his verbal felonies week after week against the person of Buhari. Why?

Ashafa Abdullahi has watched a long TV interview with President Muhammadu Buhari and discovered, to his surprise, that Buhari who Farooq had diagnosed of dementia affliction on many occasions on this forum showed no such symptom in over one hour live interview. Ashafa Abdullahi's observation is important and relevant.  Let me recall that on Saturday, 15 May 2021, the title of Farooq Kperogi's article on this forum was : Dementia, not Buhari, Fired NPA's Bala Usman. He wrote, "The pendular swings in the tenure elongation and then sudden suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman as MD of NPA is only the latest example of an uncomfortably lengthening cascade of insructable (sic), dementia-fuelled presidential decisions that Buhari has taken in the last five years.  The truth is that Buhari is in an inexorable cognitive and mental free fall. His dementia-powered presidential pendulum swings are merely outward expressions of a deeply decrepit and dysfunctional personality who shouldn't rule any country." Farooq Kperogi substantiated his quackery on Buhari thus, "Muhammadu Buhari's 'suspension' of Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) four months after prematurely approving a second term for her (months before the end of her first term) is yet another instantiation of his dangerously degenerative dementia." Eventhough Buhari had prematurely approved a second term for Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, he withdrew his approval after receiving a genuine report of alleged fraud. His reaction cannot be interpreted as evidence of dementia.

While the quack, Kperogi, diagnosed Buhari demented on 15 May 2021, ten days later, the online media in Nigeria, namely Premium Times, of 25 May 2021, reported, "Buhari presides over Extraordinary Summit on Lake Chad Basin Commission."  Four days later, 29 May 2021, the Premium Times reported, "Buhari Off to Ghana for Emergency ECOWAS summit." With these reports of  Buhari hosting and attending international conferences, the claim of Farooq Kperogi that Buhari is demented is comparable to a naked lunatic declaring a person that wears clothes crazy. Buhari is not the problem or cause of insecurity in Nigeria but the intellectual colleagues of Farooq Kperogi at the MDA's and, especially, the Judiciary which has refused to incarcerate economic ruiners of Nigeria. When Buhari asked the National Assembly to pass a Bill to empower him to set up a special  corruption court to accelerate the trial of producers of insecurity in Nigeria, intellectual colleagues of Farooq Kperogi in the National Assembly refused to act on it. Farooq Kperogi and others, should beam searchlight on their colleagues in the three arms of government, especially the Judiciary, in search of solution to the insecurity in Nigeria. Kudos to Ashafa Abdullahi for sharing his observation on this forum.
S. Kadiri  
    

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: 10 June 2021 22:12
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What has Farooq got to do with theBuhari's Interview?
 
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