Buhari now watches his favourite TV shows – Garba Shehu

Former presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, has said former President Muhammadu Buhari now has plenty of time to read and watch his favourite TV shows.

Shehu said this in a tribute to celebrate Buhari on his 82nd birthday, praying that the former president be always remembered with honour.

He described Buhari as a very different leader with a strong attachment to the weak and poor, dedicated to improving their wellbeing and alleviating their suffering.

He said despite corruption in Nigeria and the world, the former president “is known as ‘Mai Gaskiya,’ the truthful one for his honesty and simple lifestyle.”

Shehu recalled that Buhari’s two terms ushered in a paradigm shift in governance with a strong focus on building the country’s long-delayed infrastructure and leadership through personal example.

“Under Buhari, the country embarked upon remarkable initiatives to address multi-dimensional poverty. The country became the first on the continent to have a social security system. Several measures aimed at reducing poverty, the bane of the poor were introduced through financial inclusion,” he said.

He reminded Nigerians that under Buhari’s administration, the country’s name was removed from the list of nations with endemic polio.

On power supply, he pointed out that in 2021, the administration launched a campaign for five million off-grid solar power connections to villages without electricity impacting 20 million Nigerians without power more than 60 years after independence; took reliable, clean energy to the country’s major markets, electrified several federal universities, teaching hospitals and set up a funding scheme for mini grids in 100 hospitals across the country.

He said as a farmer, agriculture was very close to the heart of the former president, noting that he launched several initiatives in rice growing and 15 other agricultural communities leading to domestic self-sufficiency in some and boosting exports and increased foreign earnings in others.

He said Buhari believed that transportation was a key path to the transformation of the country and embarked upon next-generation infrastructure reconstructing the nation’s major roads and bridges, airports, inland waterways, seaports and significant advances in the development of standard gauge rail.

Shehu said Buhari is aware that Nigerian leaders are praised while in office and discredited even after tremendous contributions by them after they leave office.

“Knowing this, President Buhari would rather be silent on the criticism of his administration -much of it unfair- in the belief that the truth, like oil buried under the soil, has a way of coming to the top,” he said.

He said the former president has kept to his promise that from May 29, 2023, he would be as far away from the nation’s capital, Abuja, so as not to cast a shadow over the new administration, to give the space to them to effectively take off and stabilise without distractions.

“Being willing to renounce power is his extraordinarily admirable trait,” Shehu said, adding that Buhari has only visited Abuja twice for important occasions since leaving office.

“Cooperation between serving and former Nigerian leaders is not new although it is difficult to know how much cooperation goes on between current and former presidents. General Gowon, the oldest surviving former leader, would appear to be the most helpful of all of the nation’s past rulers.

“On the other hand, since leaving office, first as a military leader and subsequently as elected president after two terms, President Olusegun Obasanjo has called and written on every head of state after him to put him to shame or disgrace, and in some cases outrightly asking for his resignation or ouster in the next election. General Abacha alleged that Obasanjo had a hand in a coup plot against him and had him imprisoned,” he said.

He said Buhari is sympathetic to President Bola Tinubu in his challenging job of reforming the economy, and all the other leaders in expectations management of citizens, much of which is difficult- if not impossible- to meet.

“In the remoteness of Daura, he has found the atmosphere for a well-deserved rest, in silence and dignity and away from predatory pressures of Abuja. Buhari maintains a very simple daily routine of catching up with the news on radio and television each morning, enjoying the company of his grandchildren, meeting with scheduled guests and a one to two hour walk around his expansive farm inspecting crops and livestock. An avid reader who must get all available newspapers, President Buhari now has plenty of time to read and watch his favourite TV shows.

“As he marks his 82nd birthday, may he always be remembered and honoured,” he said.