President Buhari has yesterday Wednesday said he is not concerned about who becomes the Nigerian leader after him, stressing 2023 is not a headache for him. The Nigerian leader made these comments during his live interview with channel Television. Political commentators opined that, unlike former president Olusegun Obasanjo who ensure that he hand-picked President Umar Yar’adua in 2007 on the same political party he was elected into office, Buhari is less concerned about who takes over from him in office. When the interviewer asked Buhari about his plan for Nigeria as 2023 draws closer, Buhari said, “2023 is not my problem, I don’t care who succeeds me, let the person come, whoever the person is.
Buhari explained “All important things I make sure I put them on record. Nobody should ask me to come and give any evidence in court, otherwise, whoever it is will be in trouble.
“I don’t have a favorite for 2023 in my party, I wouldn’t because he will be eliminated before I mention, it is better I keep it a secret.”
When asked about the legacy he would prefer to leave behind for Nigerians, Mr. Buhari said, “My legacy is that I will try to make sure we conducted ourselves with integrity, which means we stop all the stealing as much as the system can allow. We’ll stop misappropriation. And for Nigerians, that is very important.”
However, when a question about the detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed IPOB, Buhari revealed that he is not a court and therefore, his faith lies in the judicial process. Although, he admitted that his administration may consider Kanu’s appeal when he becomes remorseful and change his ways.
The President explained, “There is one institution I wouldn’t try to intervene in, that is the judiciary. Kanu’s case is with the judiciary. But what I wonder is that when Kanu was safely in Europe, abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I never thought really, he wants to come and defend himself on the accusations he has been making.
“So, we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system and not to be abusing us from Europe. He was acting as if he was not a Nigerian.
Buhari concluded, “Let him come here and criticize us, Nigerians know I don’t interfere with the judiciary, let him be listened to. For those who are saying he should be released, no, we cannot release him.”
When asked about the unity of Nigeria whether he is happy with the current situation, Buhari said, “I don’t fear for the oneness and unity of this country because from 15 January 1966, I have been in all the troubles of this country including detention for more than three years.
“I think Nigerians, we make noise to get better deals but we know that we are better together than separate. I believe in that.”
Meanwhile, on restructuring, President Buhari demanded that the proponent must give a clear definition of what they mean.
He said, “Those who are calling for restructuring, I want them to define what they mean in their own concept of restructuring, do they want more states? If they want states, they should look at the map of Nigeria, at what expense?
“I have a big problem with the people of the South East, they said they wanted an additional state, I said they should go and look at the map to see how much land we contribute to other states.”
Talking about how to resolve the farmer/herder clashes that have become cancer in Nigeria, Buhari opined that unless the cattle routes and grazing reserves are revived, otherwise the problem may linger.
Speaking about climate change, Buhari said Nigeria is vulnerable because of the population outburst.
On bandits that have held some part of the country hostage, Buhari said, since they have been designated as terrorists, he has directed the security forces to hunt them down in full aggression.
He laments, “In the North West, the same people, the same culture, killing each other, banning grazing. So, I think the only language they understand, we discussed it thoroughly with the law enforcement agencies, with the service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police, is to go after the terrorists.
‘’We named them terrorists and we are going to deal with them. I believe if you go to those constituencies in the North West and the North Central within the last four weeks, there are improvements in the security,” Buhari added.
Speaking about the declined Electoral Bill reform, the Nigerian leader said he was ready to sign the bill if the lawmakers amend the gray areas he pointed out.
He said, “Personally, I don’t support direct primary. I want people to have choices. Let them have the three options,”
Talking about the economic hardship of Nigeria, Buhari said he is much aware of the current hardship in the country, but said, investing more in agriculture is the way out.
Meanwhile, he explained his administration was still working to achieve its set goals on rail, road, and power.
“We have to get the infrastructure right. When the infrastructure is not there, there will be no power,” he said.
He laments that “The problem of electricity is that TCN is 100 percent government but what we inherited is what is called DISCOs, they divided the country almost along geo-political zones, what was the basis?
“I can’t find out, the people that owned them, who are they? They are not electrical engineers. They don’t have money. It is a political favor and to remove a system and bring it back is not a joke.”
When asked about the huge loan trap the Chinese government has given to Nigeria, Buhari explained, was right to turn down an important project like Lagos-Ibadan rail when the administration was working to fix critical infrastructures such as rail, roads, and power.
Talking about the youth, the president said our youth need to g to school and empower themselves educationally, saying an educated person is better than the uneducated one.
However, when asked about the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buhari asserted that the main opposition is a “failure”
