Buhari says Nigerians are “very forgetful”

The President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, slammed Nigerians, saying they are “very forgetful” of the “achievements” of his regime in the last six years.

He also said those who want to criticise him should do it objectively.

Buhari, who spoke on Friday evening during an interview aired on NTA, said “this administration has tried” since it came into power in May 2015.

When asked about the anti-graft fight of his government, Buhari said his administration has done relatively well in bringing corrupt politicians to book.

He said, “Nigerians, I think, are very forgetful. I am very pleased that the majority of Nigerians think that this administration, under the circumstance, are (sic) doing their (sic) best but people who misappropriated funds are elected members either at state or federal level…

“You can accuse them or try to prove that when they were elected members of the House of Reps and they are given ministries and so on, they had only one house and maybe a wife but now they have several houses may be in Abuja, maybe in Lagos, so, rarely, if you try to work out their legitimacy limit, viz-a-viz their expenditure, they will be exposed.”

He also said there was the need for the establishment of specialised courts in the country to hasten the trial of corrupt politicians.

The President was asked how he would describe the country today and he said, “Well,  I want Nigerians to be fair to this administration.

“They should reflect seriously on the time we came in especially as far as the North East and the South-South are concerned.

“Where we are now in terms of resources – how much we are producing… The previous administration before me was producing  2.1 million per day at 100 American dollars per barrel.

“When we came in, militants in the South-South were unleashed on this administration and production went down to half a million barrels per day and then oil price collapsed in the market.

“I will like Nigerians to reflect on these in terms of resources…and I believe that we have not done very badly.”

According to the President, he is also treating bandits and insurgents in the language they understand.

He was reacting to an accusation of “double standards” alleging that he pampers bandits in the north while sounding tough against insurrectionists in the South-East.