President-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), demonstrated he did not want the past to haunt him, according to veteran politician, Mr. Kenny Martins. In the run up to the just concluded elections, some actions of Buhari as head of state between 1983 and 1985 were cited as reason he cannot be a democrat. But to drive home the point that Buhari does not dwell on the past, Martins, in this interview, narrates the story of the president-elect’s reconciliation with the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua during the Abacha regime after they had both been estranged following Buhari’s claim that Yar’Adua played a role in ousting him as head of state in 1985.
Martins’ words: “He (Buhari) did not want the past to haunt him”. You will read this part of the interview next week. But the politician, who is an in-law to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, also speaks on how Buhari saved him from a plot to assassinate him during the Abacha era and how the president-elect ran the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
The presidential election has been won by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) of the All Progressives Congress, APC. At a point during the collation of results when you saw it coming, what were your first thoughts about Buhari the man and the Nigerian nation?
My first thoughts were very deep. First to thank God for making this day possible and in my heart I congratulated Nigerians because I believed that this would be the beginning of a new dawn based on the fact that a couple of things had happened before in this country.
That Nigerians could voluntarily elect this man without coercion and that, for the first time, Nigerians elected a man by their own will and their will has been allowed to prevail is very unusual.
How do you mean? Nigerians had always had leaders chosen for them and it stuck. Before the elections, there were many issues viz: The type of people who were presenting Buhari; the character of some of those who were sponsoring Buhari; the way the alliance to bring about the APC was coupled; and, most critically, the type of dirty campaigns that we saw. These four points, from your view, how do you think the average Nigerian situated himself within all these to independently make a choice?
I’m a bit philosophical about certain things. There are certain inevitabilities in life that, no matter how serious the odds are stacked against those inevitabilities, they may thrive for a while but, after some time, they will become evident without questions.
I do not believe really that those who presented Buhari or those who sponsored Buhari, if you ask them, I do not think Buhari was really their candidate. But they were faced with a choice that they needed to win an election.
Nigerians were said to have been confronted with a choice between the deep blue sea and the devil?
Yes! Nigerians ended up with a situation whereby they believed that they were confronted with a choice between two devils – Buhari, seen as a totalitarian and dictator; and then Jonathan, after six years of inaction; that was what most people thought. But what I saw was different.
Why did you see something different?
Kenny-Martins I’m writing a book that would be released soon: The Nigerian Project: My Testimony. And what we are discussing here now about Buhari, democracy and politics are chapters in the book.
The man Buhari! This is a man that is perceived to be all of the things that they have said. And if you look at the campaigns, never in the history of Nigeria have campaigns been that dirty because the system was faced with a candidate that the system has fought against for a long time. And the system itself via cronies fought to shoot the candidate down. I have believed that the best man to take us out of the mess we are in since he started contesting for the presidency was General Buhari. Before people think this thing is a joke. Is it because he has won the election now or…….? (Cuts in)What do you mean? This is a man I know very well. I must first thank God for the position he has put me, the privilege to know many things about Nigerian leaders. I’ve seen them breath, I’ve seen them laugh, I’ve seen them cry, I’ve seen them scheme and I’ve seen them victorious. Which of them have you seen cry and why? Is there any man born of woman who doesn’t cry when the situation calls for it? When my book comes out, you will read about these things and I’m saying this with all sense of responsibility.
Martins’ words: “He (Buhari) did not want the past to haunt him”. You will read this part of the interview next week. But the politician, who is an in-law to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, also speaks on how Buhari saved him from a plot to assassinate him during the Abacha era and how the president-elect ran the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
The presidential election has been won by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) of the All Progressives Congress, APC. At a point during the collation of results when you saw it coming, what were your first thoughts about Buhari the man and the Nigerian nation?
My first thoughts were very deep. First to thank God for making this day possible and in my heart I congratulated Nigerians because I believed that this would be the beginning of a new dawn based on the fact that a couple of things had happened before in this country.
That Nigerians could voluntarily elect this man without coercion and that, for the first time, Nigerians elected a man by their own will and their will has been allowed to prevail is very unusual.
How do you mean? Nigerians had always had leaders chosen for them and it stuck. Before the elections, there were many issues viz: The type of people who were presenting Buhari; the character of some of those who were sponsoring Buhari; the way the alliance to bring about the APC was coupled; and, most critically, the type of dirty campaigns that we saw. These four points, from your view, how do you think the average Nigerian situated himself within all these to independently make a choice?
I’m a bit philosophical about certain things. There are certain inevitabilities in life that, no matter how serious the odds are stacked against those inevitabilities, they may thrive for a while but, after some time, they will become evident without questions.
I do not believe really that those who presented Buhari or those who sponsored Buhari, if you ask them, I do not think Buhari was really their candidate. But they were faced with a choice that they needed to win an election.
Nigerians were said to have been confronted with a choice between the deep blue sea and the devil?
Yes! Nigerians ended up with a situation whereby they believed that they were confronted with a choice between two devils – Buhari, seen as a totalitarian and dictator; and then Jonathan, after six years of inaction; that was what most people thought. But what I saw was different.
Why did you see something different?
Kenny-Martins I’m writing a book that would be released soon: The Nigerian Project: My Testimony. And what we are discussing here now about Buhari, democracy and politics are chapters in the book.
The man Buhari! This is a man that is perceived to be all of the things that they have said. And if you look at the campaigns, never in the history of Nigeria have campaigns been that dirty because the system was faced with a candidate that the system has fought against for a long time. And the system itself via cronies fought to shoot the candidate down. I have believed that the best man to take us out of the mess we are in since he started contesting for the presidency was General Buhari. Before people think this thing is a joke. Is it because he has won the election now or…….? (Cuts in)What do you mean? This is a man I know very well. I must first thank God for the position he has put me, the privilege to know many things about Nigerian leaders. I’ve seen them breath, I’ve seen them laugh, I’ve seen them cry, I’ve seen them scheme and I’ve seen them victorious. Which of them have you seen cry and why? Is there any man born of woman who doesn’t cry when the situation calls for it? When my book comes out, you will read about these things and I’m saying this with all sense of responsibility.
