Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has admitted that he and some other people he did not name can no longer be laughing with President Muhammadu Buhari as they were doing when they were in opposition.
He said in those days, he and others would be laughing and rolling on the floor of Buhari’s living room.
The governor who apparently was talking about the funny aspect of the President spoke in a documentary, “Buhari: Beyond the Iron and Steel” put together by the President’s media team.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, made excerpts of the interviews in the documentary, meant to show the other side of Buhari, available on his Facebook page on Sunday.
“When we were in the opposition, you needed to see how we rolled on the floor in his (Buhari’s) living room, as we laughed. Of course, we can’t do that again now,” Adesina quoted El-Rufai as saying in the documentary.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was also quoted as confirming that Buhari cracks jokes and still keeps a straight face.
“He gives you things to do and leaves you strictly to do those things. No interference at all, once he has confidence in you… And he cracks those jokes, and manages to still keep a straight face,” Osinbajo said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Matters, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said she wished Nigerians know Buhari’s “softer side.”
“How I wish Nigerians know his softer and accommodating side. Very jocular. But it is our duty to tell them,” she said.
Ogun State Governor, Ibikunke Amosun, who is an ally of the President described him as a “reformed democrat.”
“I wish I had his patience. He would listen to everybody and then take a decision. He is a reformed democrat,” the governor said.
On his part, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said, “He gave me some priority projects: Mokwa/Jebba road, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, and Second Niger Bridge… He never appends his signature to anything, unless you’ve explained, and he understands it.”
The documentary is billed to be aired on the Nigerian Television Authority on Sunday and Monday at 8pm and on Channels Television on Monday.
Thanks Documentary on Buhari
To make a great documentary, you must go beyond someone’s kitchen cabinet. What else would you expect them to say about their principal? Whitewashing him ofcourse!
In any case, I doubt if this is the information Nigerians need now under the suffocating economic and social realities. For me, it is a very wrong strategy and the timing is even wronger.
Let this government address the most basic challenges of governance – infrastructure, security, food, etc, and save us from all the balderdash about Buhari’s soft side. If his rock and seell side can get things done, so be it. Why bother us with his other side when the real side he’s known with has not performed? Obviously, the team has run out of ideas.
For me, a documentary detailing Buhari’s strategic and intelligent approach to managing issues, people’s and resources, identifying the possible challenges he encounters and showing his deft ways of navigating them, would be more appealing to people at this time. Let the team be a bit more creative.