None of Buhari’s critics can question his intentions as president – Garba Shehu

Garba Shehu, spokesperson for ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, says that despite the fact that the former president made some poor choices during his eight years in government, his critics cannot question his intentions.

In a series of posts via his X page, formally known as Twitter, on Wednesday, Shehu also highlighted several measures taken by his principal during his time in office.

According to him, there was no single area that wasn’t touched by the Buhari government, with massive, positive changes in the eight years he was president.

He also revealed that through the former administration’s numerous measures put in place to stem the impact of corruption, the Buhari government was able to flush out over 50,000 ghost workers through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System, IPPS to cover all MDAs.

He also said such a move had saved the former administration billions of naira.

Shehu also spoke about the former government implementing the Treasury Single Account, saying although the initiative was launched in 2012 but lacked implementation and with the coming of the Buhari administration, in 2015, the government was able to ensure prompt implementation and subsequently saved the government billions in bank remittances.

He said many of the account were signatories of big men and women including those that had retired from public office.

“There has not been a single area that has not been touched by the Buhari government, with massive, positive changes in the eight years he held fort.

“In the normative functions of our governments, an administration takes four to five major decisions in four years and they rush to the public square to celebrate themselves.

“Looking at the records he left, the Buhari government has taken hundreds of major decisions in the eight years it was in office, and yet you hear nothing but criticism upon criticism.

“So while it is the case that some in the country were happy that he was no longer in office, there are some, even more that continue to cherish and admire him.

“In the eight years he led the country, Muhammadu Buhari had made many decisions and as is human, one or two may have been wrong.

“But no one, not even critics, can question his intentions when those decisions were taken,” Shehu said.

He claimed that, in contrast to Mr Buhari, who rarely speaks about the numerous accomplishments and works carried out while in office, other presidents make four to five significant decisions in a period of four years and then rush to the public square to congratulate themselves.

Shehu also spoke about Buhari’s efforts in human capital development, stating that the ex-president’s administration touched the lives of up to 46 million vulnerable Nigerians who were streamlined into the country’s development process.

These he said included 10 million school children who were fed a meal a day and another two million poor and vulnerable households who got N10,000 bimonthly stipend.

He said, “So many schemes- Nigeria’s Micro Pension Scheme,Survival Fund, National Youth Investment Fund, National Special Public Works Program, COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility, Survival Fund, Nigeria Investment and Growth Fund, the Development Bank (created in 2017) and the enhancement of the Bank of Industry just to cite a few have  all come  into play to make life better for the citizens as part of the massive changes in the economy.

“The Covid-19 pandemic was brought under control due to the relentless leadership of President Buhari. In fact, the country was among the top few that came out with strong economic activities after the pandemic. It has happened due to the farsightedness of the President and the effective leadership of the efforts by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.”

On the fight against terrorism which was at its peak when Buhari took over in 2015, Shehu said this was brought to its minimum during the eight years in office.

“No one should be angry at some revisionist characters whose only focus is the delegitimization of significant Buhari legacies.They refuse to acknowledge that bomb explosions, suicide bomb incidents and all that stopped when President Buhari stepped in.

“The National Security office was ruthless in denying End User Certificates, EUCs to those bringing in Urea fertilizer. They  impounded shipments of fertilizer for over 5 years to freeze the bomb-making industry controlled by terrorists thereby helping to bring these atrocities to a standstill.

“The so-called critics don’t want to acknowledge the great job done by the nation’s intelligence agencies in diminishing the IPOB, its affiliates and other secessionist movements. The National Intelligence Agency, NIA single-handedly worked with our neighbors, especially Niger Republic in bringing down illegal small arms and light weapons importation into Nigerian territory by 78%. 

“This agency carried out extensive work on the blocking of the insurgent Cameroonian Ambazonian network’s  infiltration into Nigeria. Our security and intelligence operatives were virtually awake 24/7 and the President was well aware at all times on the evolving situations,” Shehu added.

He said Buhari has done his part and left. “History will judge him, and fairly I think.