Buhari’s regret as president

President Muhammadu Buhari says he wishes he had become president at a younger age, as there is a limit to what he can do now at his present age as president.

While speaking with Nigerians resident in South Africa on Monday after taking part in the 25th assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Johannesburg, Buhari said, “I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.”

Buhari however, assured that his administration would make a difference, despite his advancement in age, even as he promised that his administration would “kill” corruption before it wrecks the nation.

“Our government is determined to secure the country, manage the economy, create employment and fight corruption. Some articulate writers have said if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. This APC administration intends to kill corruption in Nigeria. We will do our best, I assure you,” Buhari stated.

He recalled that he was in the war front for 30 months during the civil war, adding that like any other Nigerian, he lost relatives and loyal people to the war, and that considering the fact that two million Nigerians died during the war, nobody should come forward to talk about a breakup of the country.

He said there was no big deal in the claims by those who accused him of jailing them because he was also jailed for over three years.

“After being in the military for 25 years, and getting to the highest rank and becoming Head of State and under unusual circumstances, as Head of State, I went straight to detention for three-and-a-half years. So, those who accuse me of locking them up, I too have been locked up; so what?” he declared.

The President said he would not have believed if he had been told during his days in the military that he would one day join partisan politics.

The President said he was at a time afraid that Nigeria might become a nation like Somalia which “self-centered elite” had succeeded in turning to a war zone in the last 20 years.

He said Nigerians were more vulnerable because the country has many nationalities who were merged in 1914 in spite of their religious and cultural differences.

Buhari stated that only crazy people whom, according to him, are not in short supply, would talk of dividing the country.

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