Don’t Judge Me on My Days as Military Ruler, This is Democracy — Buhari

Feb 12, 2015

General Muhammadu Buhari of the APC spoke on Christiane Amanpour’s programme on CNN, saying it’s unfair to judge him today by his antecedents in 1984 when he was a military head of state.

The APC presidential candidate said it would be harsh to judge him against his record as a military dictator in a democratic setting just as he welcomed President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement.

Speaking on a live CNN interview anchored by Amanpour, he affirmed that the Boko Haram insurgency would be routed by his administration through blocking corruption and other leakages.

Tasked that Nigerians were faced with the difficult option of choosing between a failed president and a former military dictator with a bad human rights record, Buhari said:

“All those things you mentioned were done under military administration; if we did not suspend the constitution then, it would have been difficult for us to operate under those circumstances. So I do not think I should be judged as an individual for those things that happened then.”

Welcoming the endorsement of President Obasanjo, he said: “Well it will certainly bring more supporters to us and more confidence for those who were sitting on the fence because General Obasanjo is highly respected and as far as the nation is concerned, there is no issue that can be deliberated upon without people seeking his opinion.”

Describing the shift of the election dates as unfortunate, Buhari said: “That is a disappointment because the presentation made by the INEC was that they were ready to conduct the elections on the date chosen a year ago. And for them to be forced virtually by the military that they cannot guarantee the safety of their workers and shift it by six weeks.”