*Why Ortom left APC – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that he doesn’t care
about those who call him ‘Baba go slow’
According to him, he doesn’t want to make the mistake he did as
a military Head of State when he was so much in hurry.
Now, he said he is going slowly to survive.
The President was responding to questions during a town hall
meeting with the Nigerian community in Dubai.
“So, whoever calls me ‘Baba go slow’, I’m very cautious of
historical antecedent. Since I was in a hurry, I was locked up, I’m
going slow so that I can survive.” Buhari stated
According to him, one of the reasons Benue State Governor,
Samuel Ortom left the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC)
for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was because he could not
stomach what he (Buhari) explained to him on the farmers/herders
clashes in his state.
Buhari said that he explained to Ortom that the cattle rearers
and settlers problem in Nigeria was older than himself (Buhari) not
to talk of him (Ortom).
Buhari said “But those of you who are neighbours to cattle
rearers, Nigerians cattle rearers use to carry only sticks and
their machetes to cut foliage for the cattles. But these are cattle
rearers with weapons like AK47.
“But the problem is that you can hardly identify the difference
between cattle rearers from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria
Chad, Cameroon and other cattle herders. They look the same but I
was accused of not doing anything about those operating locally but
I took the governor on this and this is one of the reasons he left
our party for another party.
“Because I told him the cattle rearers and settlers problem in
Nigeria is older than myself not to talk of him and at first
republic, there were cattle routes, they put infrastructures and
even veterinary.
“But the so-called politicians because they are so much in a
hurry to make money they acquire some of these lands and turned
them into their private farms.
“So, if you are a cattle rearer or you know about cattle like
myself, the herders now pass through anybody land to find water for
their cattles to drink. I told Audu Ogbeh, the minister of
agriculture to look at the Gazette of the first republic to get the
cattle routes and get the grazing routes and re-establish them so
that we can reduce this incidence. Some of you here know the
efforts we are making.” he added
On what to expect on his next level, Buhari said “I’m sure you
are informed group of Nigerians. You know we campaigned on three
issues in 2015: security, economy and fighting corruption. I
explained so many time where we are, what we have been able to do
with resources available to us from that time till now.
“The next level is to consolidate whatever we have done
initially and 2023 it makes common sense that in order to manage an
outfit, whether a nation-state or organisation, you have to secure
it.
“We all know how many local governments the Bko Haram were
occupying. People among you that are from the North-east know now
that they are not holding any local government. They were holding
17 out of the 774 local governments; they are not holding any
now.
“They have reverted to indoctrinating young people, mostly girls
and arm them with explosives and send them out on soft targets like
churches, mosques, market places motor parks and so on and after
blowing up the place they will say Allah Akbar.
“We told them they don’t know what they are saying because God
made everything good. You can’t kill innocent people and say God is
Great.
“You either don’t know what you are saying or you don’t believe
it. We are trying our best not only in physically in dealing with
the combatants but in trying to rehabilitate those left behind in
the internally displaced persons camps and we have a commissioner
there who is supposed to look after them.
“I hope he had the time to look after them. So, the next level
is to consolidate on our success. Now to the north-west, the
bandits there and the conflicts between herders and farmers and so
on and so forth.” he said
The President disclosed to the group that his administration has
taken action on the illegal mining taking place in Zamfara State
which is being linked to the banditry in the state.
He said “We have taken action about it. We said that all mining
activities should be closed and the expatriates participating,
should go back to their countries, we have enough problems. So let
them go back.”
On health of workers and occupational hazards in oil and gas
industry, Buhari said “There are standards, there are rules. I used
to be in the petroleum sector for three and a quarter years under
Gen. Obasanjo, there are rules.
“You can’t take Nigerians on paper, it’s when it comes to
practical application of what is on paper, this is where you have
problem with Nigerians.
“But when you look round, there are rules, there are committees
and it depends on the leadership of a particular institution or
place. If the leadership has the time and commitment to do his job,
then there are rules and regulations by which he can go and
efficiently run that organization or institutions.
“But a lot of Nigerians, they will commit to memory all the
paperwork, and then they will proceed to do what they like
personally. So I assure you that the health of workers is clearly
defined in each of the institutions especially the dangerous ones
like oil rig operators and so on.
“Then, anybody who is wounded as a result of mismanagement or
bad instruments, there are enough laws to prosecute that
institution and get money or payment for those who have been
wounded. It is up to the ministries responsible to maybe develop
how they can go round and ensure that people are going by the
rules.” he added
On treasury looter, Buhari said “I ‘bark but I cannot bite, Baba
go slow,’ I have once ruled this country, some of you know that
once upon a time I came in uniform and what I did was to arrest
from the president downward. The president, Vice President, the
governor’s and ministers, other than the president and the Vice
President, the others, I put them in Kiri-Kiri, and I told them
they are guilty until they can prove themselves innocent.
“And you know subsequently what happened- we put about six
tribunals base on the geopolitical zones, and those who were
ministers and governors were asked to justify what they have in the
banks and physical on the ground relative to their legitimate
earnings. There were only two Nigerians then to my knowledge who
were found to be very Honourable, both of them are dead now:
Biliaminu Usman, a junior minister, from Jigawa State, and Adamu
Chiroma, a minister of finance and governor of central bank.
“They were incredible Nigerians. But you know what happened,
eventually, I myself was arrested, I was put in detention for three
and a quarter years, luckily for me, I was not stupid, I didn’t
take anybody’s money, so there was no bad publicity for me because
they couldn’t find anything against me.
“Eventually I was released, and that was why I made up my mine
since the bulk is partisan politics, I joined the partisan
politics. You also know what happened, I tried three times, and I
managed to succeed the fourth time.
“And the three times I tried, 2003; 2007, and 2011, I ended up
in Supreme Court. All the time, I was claiming that I was actually
the person who won the election but I was rigged.
“But because I was in the opposition, I never won any of the
cases until God brought technology- Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and
so on.
“The fourth time, before they realize it, I won the election. So
there was nothing anybody could do.”
The President explained that even though some Nigerians see him
as ‘Baba go slow’, he did loot the country.
“I may be ‘Baba go slow’ but I didn’t loot. People have to be
proven guilty before they are locked up. All that I have to do is
to tell the police, and DSS that somebody has so many houses, he
has so many investment and his salary is this.
“Recently, the EFCC placed an advert in some of the national
newspapers and showed how much was recovered in term of fixed asset
and money.”
He added “But what this administration did is to encourage
Treasury Single Account (TSA), where government revenue goes to. If
you see how the money goes in, then when it goes out, you can
follow it.
“Before everybody was doing his own thing. You had ministry with
20 accounts. The office of the Auditor General of the Federation or
the Accountant General cannot follow it.
“So, when we came we said there must be TSA, all government
revenues must go there and from there you can trace where it has
gone to. It’s a very unpopular decision but I feel relieved that
people have to account for whatever they manage.”
The President said that his administration is investing more on
research and development.
He said the Government is coming up with a policy to take the
full advantage of the resources of the country to get first class
equipment in Nigeria institutions and to train and retrain
teachers.
On diversification, he said “What we did is to try to encourage
agriculture. Fertiliser made available at the half price it used to
be. We encouraged people to go back to land. The response was
excellent.
“We have virtually achieved food security, we have stopped the
importation of rice. The money we have saved in foreign exchange in
hundreds of millions of dollars, not even in naira. We are putting
that into the infrastructure.
“As you know the roads, some of them were not rehabilitated
since what used to be the PTF. From Abuja to Onitsha, from Abuja to
Port Harcourt, back and other roads. Equipment in hospitals and
other institutions. I was forced to go to public so many times.
What Nigeria was earning between 1999 and 2014 from crude.
Production was 2.1m barrel per day, the barrel of Nigerian crude
was $100 per barrel, it went up to $143.
“So, Nigeria was earning 2.1m times $100, times 16years. But
look at the condition of our infrastructure when we came; the
roads, the rail was killed and you know there was no power.
“I think one of the leaders of those administrations made a slip
tongue by saying that they spent $16bn, not naira on power. But,
where is the power and where is the $16bn. Maybe eventually by the
end of this term will get at it.
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