President Muhammadu Buhari has said that contrary to the claims by
critics of his incessant foreign trips, none of the trips he had made so
far can be said to be frivolous.
He said there were always political and economic justifications for his trip.
Buhari
said this on Friday in London while answering questions from some
Nigerian journalists shortly before he commenced a six-day vacation that
would end on Wednesday.
Our correspondent obtained the transcript of the interview on Saturday.
It
will be recalled that Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, had
asked Buhari to stay at home and govern the country instead of junketing
from one country to the other.
Fayose had said that the
President’s incessant foreign trips were already bleeding the economy
with about $1m being spent per trip.
But Buhari said he did not know how Fayose arrived at the figure he gave.
He
said, “Every one of my trips can be politically or economically
assessed. I recall that the first trip I had was to go to Chad and
Niger. The trip was mainly because of Nigeria’s security.
“We
campaigned based on three issues -security, economy (employment) and
corruption. And then the G-7 invited me to Germany. After that, I went
to Cameroon. I then went to the United Nations General Assembly.
“I
have not seen any frivolous journey that I undertook. I understand that
the governor of Ekiti State said that every trip I make costs Nigeria
at least $1m. I do not know how he worked that out but every trip that I
have made, there must be economic and political reasons that justified
them.
“Those who do not see it the way the government sees it
have the right not to agree and say whatever they like. But we will try
and give them the appropriate reply.”Buhari also promised to take his administration’s ongoing anti-corruption war to all sectors of the economy.
“We
have to go the whole hog into other sectors because unlike what some
people believe that the fight against corruption is selective, although
they have failed to define the selectivity in their own understanding,
there is no way we can get a public officer on record that has
misappropriated public fund and we will leave him alone.
“It is one of the undertakings that the Federal Government made and we are going to see it through,” he said.
The President identified the need for firm evidences against corrupt persons as one of the main challenges facing the war.
“The
challenge mainly is to affirm evidence. If you just hear our story that
somebody built 12 houses in Abuja, houses do not move. Do they?
“It
is for us to do verification. We need to verify and quantify before the
man is invited to justify how he acquired those properties while he is a
public officer,” Buhari explained.
He promised to make a
representation to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Muhammed,
on the various complaints being made against judges in the country.
He recalled that a lot of allegations had been levelled against some of the judges who served on election tribunals.
He,
however, declined to comment on the recent Supreme Court verdict that
validated the elections of Governor Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Governor
Udo Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) until he holds a discussion with the Ministry
of Justice.
Buhari insisted that despite the killings being witnessed in public places, his government is winning the war against terrorism.
He
said, “We are winning the war. I have said that Boko Haram used to
effectively control 14 local governments, they hoisted their flag and
declared a caliphate of some sort.
“But now, Boko Haram is not holding any local government. They have been dispersed. They have reverted to technology.
“They
use Improvised Explosive Devices. They use cooking gas, some wires and
metals, put them together and get girls from the age of 15 downwards and
explode them in churches, mosques, markets or motor parks and kill
people en masse.”
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My trips are not frivolous, Buhari replies Fayose
February 7, 2016
President Muhammadu Buhari
16674
President
Muhammadu Buhari has said that contrary to the claims by critics of his
incessant foreign trips, none of the trips he had made so far can be
said to be frivolous.
He said there were always political and economic justifications for his trip.
Buhari
said this on Friday in London while answering questions from some
Nigerian journalists shortly before he commenced a six-day vacation that
would end on Wednesday.
Our correspondent obtained the transcript of the interview on Saturday.
It
will be recalled that Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, had
asked Buhari to stay at home and govern the country instead of junketing
from one country to the other.
Fayose had said that the
President’s incessant foreign trips were already bleeding the economy
with about $1m being spent per trip.
But Buhari said he did not know how Fayose arrived at the figure he gave.
He
said, “Every one of my trips can be politically or economically
assessed. I recall that the first trip I had was to go to Chad and
Niger. The trip was mainly because of Nigeria’s security.
“We
campaigned based on three issues -security, economy (employment) and
corruption. And then the G-7 invited me to Germany. After that, I went
to Cameroon. I then went to the United Nations General Assembly.
“I
have not seen any frivolous journey that I undertook. I understand that
the governor of Ekiti State said that every trip I make costs Nigeria
at least $1m. I do not know how he worked that out but every trip that I
have made, there must be economic and political reasons that justified
them.
“Those who do not see it the way the government sees it
have the right not to agree and say whatever they like. But we will try
and give them the appropriate reply.”
Buhari also promised to take his administration’s ongoing anti-corruption war to all sectors of the economy.
“We
have to go the whole hog into other sectors because unlike what some
people believe that the fight against corruption is selective, although
they have failed to define the selectivity in their own understanding,
there is no way we can get a public officer on record that has
misappropriated public fund and we will leave him alone.
“It is one of the undertakings that the Federal Government made and we are going to see it through,” he said.
The President identified the need for firm evidences against corrupt persons as one of the main challenges facing the war.
“The
challenge mainly is to affirm evidence. If you just hear our story that
somebody built 12 houses in Abuja, houses do not move. Do they?
“It
is for us to do verification. We need to verify and quantify before the
man is invited to justify how he acquired those properties while he is a
public officer,” Buhari explained.
He promised to make a
representation to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Muhammed,
on the various complaints being made against judges in the country.
He recalled that a lot of allegations had been levelled against some of the judges who served on election tribunals.
He,
however, declined to comment on the recent Supreme Court verdict that
validated the elections of Governor Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Governor
Udo Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) until he holds a discussion with the Ministry
of Justice.
Buhari insisted that despite the killings being witnessed in public places, his government is winning the war against terrorism.
He
said, “We are winning the war. I have said that Boko Haram used to
effectively control 14 local governments, they hoisted their flag and
declared a caliphate of some sort.
“But now, Boko Haram is not holding any local government. They have been dispersed. They have reverted to technology.
