Chairman of Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC) Buba Galadima in this interview with LEO SOBECHI says there is no empirical evidence to buttress President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term, saying that Nigerians should rise up and reject the fascist encroachment on their liberty and democracy.
Shortly after the 2019 Presidential election, you were harassed and arrested, did you find out exactly why?
Well, I have addressed that matter sufficiently and have told the world several times over that I did not want to divulge what had happened, but I will say a bit. I was tipped off by a friend. I did not take his advice until when physically I saw people come for me and they had one mission. The mission was to take me out of circulation for the elections to be held, they did that without harm and I do not want to say much, because saying much will also betray them.
But as an old friend of Buhari, you found yourself on the other side, supporting the rival candidate. All the time you were with the President, especially in 2011, when he said he would do one term, was there anything suggesting that he would not keep to his words?
In the first place, I would not want to accept that I was his old friend. I am still the best friend he has on earth. My parents told me that whoever cannot look you in the eyes and tell you the truth should be avoided because he is not your friend. I kept to that as I look at him straight in the face and tell him what I think is right. It may not even be right, but I am convinced that what I am telling him is the correct situation.
So, he cannot find a better friend than me, who will tell him exactly one’s frame of mind. Of course, sycophants and bootlickers would say I was once his friend and now his enemy. Secondly, I cannot say whether President Buhari categorically said he will do only one term in office. But he told the world press conference in 2011 that that would be the last time he would ever contest election and everybody in Nigeria and the world saw him weeping, in hot tears. He tested God’s will and God made him lose the election, yet he came back to re-contest the election.
If I were him, under any situation, once I say ‘no’, It will be my no, because my integrity will be called to question and my integrity is worth more than anything in the world, including the presidency of Nigeria.
