Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-president Muhammadu Buhari has said that Buhari takes delight in every bit of his decisions as president noting that he has no regrets whatsoever.
Shehu said this in an interview with BBC Hausa in his attempt to set the record straight about a remark made by a former colleague, Mr. Demo Adesina whom he said was misquoted in an interview he granted.
He expressed worries that Adesina was misquoted in an interview that Buhari regretted some of the decisions he took during the 8 years of his administration
It could be recalled that Buhari’s former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, was reported to have said that the ex-President regretted some of the decisions he took while in office and felt he could have done some things better.
According to Adesina who spoke in Osogbo at an event, “Such is normal for any human being. There is no living human being that will not regret certain things. It is one of the questions I asked the President. Before we left office, I sat with him for about two hours and I asked him every question under the sun; there was no question I didn’t ask him.”
“There were things he (Buhari) felt could have been done better,” Adesina was quoted to have said.
Reacting to the report, Shehu told the BBC Hausa monitored in Kaduna, that Mr Femi Adesina said was interpreted differently or reported out of context.
According to Shehu, “The newspaper that carried the story wanted to attract people’s attention and make sales. If not what’s it that was done that would lead to regrets?” He queried.
He said all that the former President has done while in power were done for the people and for the nation’s benefit, and not for any selfish reason. “Therefore the talk of regrets does not even arise,” he said.
He explained that all that Buhari has done, he did with his strength and energy to make Nigeria a much better country for the citizens.
According to him, “Buhari has done so many things in different sectors for the people to see. But that’s how things used to be, once an elephant is down people will bring out their knives to struggle for a cut.”
“Our leader Muhammadu Buhari has done well and if people fail to talk about that now perhaps they will talk about that in the future. They would be fair to him and talk about the good things he has done in the country.”
On the allegation that the country was thrown into myriad of problems which led to the present predicaments, Shehu said there was no any government in the world that could solve all problems faced by the nation, but could only do its best and leave for another government to build on.
“If there were hardships or problems, these should be looked into to know how they came about. There is no administration in this country that has found itself in economic problems, like that of Buhari, because of our dependence on oil and the price has gone down.
“We also had the Corona pandemic and nations shut their doors and the economy plummeted. But, Alhamdulillah, Buhari brought out the Nigerian economy out of that crisis,” he said.
He expressed that it is a thing of pride that no part of Nigeria lacked infrastructure or developmental project that was made possible by the Buhari administration.
“Capital projects executed by Muhammadu Buhari could be likened to rainfall. If it did not drop on you while on the farm, it will fall on you while at home,” he said.
While commenting on the assertion of a political analyst who alleged that Buhari had closed his doors and was not listening to people, Garba Shehu said he was not fair to Buhari.
“If Buhari’s doors were closed, how comes the said political analyst was able to meet with him both in the office and at home?” Shehu asked.
