President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he had been called “Baba go slow” meanwhile Nigerians elites never spoke of the misrule of the country by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for 16 years.
According to Buhari, while the elite allowed the country to be mismanaged in 16 years without raising a voice in consternation, they have been accusing him of being too slow in decision making.
Buhari queried what those that were considered to be fast achieved.
This was part of a statement made available to news house on Friday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
Buhari spoke at a meeting he had with the Nigerian community in the United States of America on Thursday in New York.
The meeting was held on the margins of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly holding in New York.
The President said, “They (Nigerian elite) didn’t say a word. Under the PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund, of which he was Chairman), we did roads from Lagos to Abuja, to Onitsha, to Port Harcourt.
“Since then, the roads were not done, between 1999 and 2015, yet the elite did not say a word.
“I was called Baba Go Slow. Those who were going fast, where did they get to?
“In 1983, military officers gathered and made me Head of State. I packed the politicians into jail, told them they were guilty until they could prove their innocence.
“We seized what they had looted, but after I myself was put in detention, the politicians were given back what they had looted. How many elites complained about that?
“Three times I contested elections; three times I went to court after the elections were rigged against me. No justice, but I said ‘God dey.’”
Smilehopego together we go