Why you cannot compare military rule to a democracy — Buhari

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari last
Wednesday drew questions from CNN International
Correspondent, Christine Amanpour on a number
of issues relating to his aspiration and his record
as military head of state. Excerpts:
WHat is your reaction to the delay in the elections
by six weeks, and President Goodluck Jonathan’s
promise that the military will make inroad in the
area of security of the North-East in six weeks?
My reaction is that of disappointment because the
presentation made by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) was that they were
ready to conduct the elections on the dates they
fixed a year ago, and for them to be forced
virtually by the military, which said that they
cannot guarantee the safety of INEC staff, which
made the commission to concede to the demand of
additional six weeks…
But since six weeks is within the time stipulated
by the constitution, we had to advise our
supporters to remain calm, resolute and obey the
law.
You are a former military general, and you ruled
the country briefly. Why is it that the Nigerian
military, today, cannot take on Boko Haram, and
has failed to combat that terrorist organization?
The issue was made much clear when the National
Assembly attempted to conduct a hearing after
soldiers sent to the front without proper weapons
were granting interviews to the foreign media.
Competent leadership
The National Assembly attempted to conduct a
hearing by getting the budgets approved by it in
the last three years and inviting the service chiefs
to come and explain why weapons were not
procured and sent to the soldiers under competent
leadership, but the hearing was scuttled.
This shows misapplication or misappropriation of
resources and funds provided by the government,
and also explains why the Nigerian military was
unable to defeat Boko Haram.
You recently got a huge endorsement from a
former ally of President Jonathan; that is former
President Olusegun Obasanjo. How do you react to
that and what will that do to your campaign?
It
will
certainly bring more supporters to us and more
confidence again to us from those who were sitting
on the fence before now (especially) because
General Obasanjo is highly respected as far as the
Nigerian nation is concerned. There is no serious
issue that can be discussed without people
seeking for his opinion and listening to it.
The headlines around the world are that the
Nigerian presidential election is a contest between
a failed president and former dictator, and you are
the former dictator according to these headlines.
Some people say that you expelled 700,000
migrants years back, thinking that it would create
jobs; that you banned political meetings and free
speech; that you detained thousands of people; set
up secret tribunals; executed people for crimes
that were not capital offences. Have you changed,
or are these what the Nigerian people should look
forward to if you win the election?
All those things you mentioned with a degree of
accuracy were what actually happened but they
were under a military administration.
When the military under my leadership came on
board, we suspended those aspects of the
constitution that we felt would make it difficult for
us to operate under the circumstance we found
ourselves.
But I think I would be judged harshly as an
individual by what happened during that military
administration, or to extend what happened under
a military administration to a democratic system.
Now that you say that you are a democrat, what do
you think you can do to combat Boko Haram and
the galloping corruption in your country?
We know how Boko Haram started. Certainly the
Nigerian military has built a reputation for
effectiveness, but it is a great embarrassment to
the country that the military has not been able to
secure Nigeria’s territory, losing 14 out of 774
local governments.
Equipment and training
I believe that it will not be difficult for an APC
government to deal with Boko Haram because we
know that the Nigerian military is competent. What
we will do is to make sure the funds voted for
equipment and training are properly utilized.
On corruption, there are complains by many
people in your country over massive corruption.
Can you face up against that? Are you committed
to rooting out corruption?
We have to because there are serious citizens of
our country who say that “unless Nigeria kills
corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.” And this
was best illustrated by the hearings conducted by
the National Assembly on the pension fund, power
sector and petroleum industry, on which the
country depends on for about 90 per cent of its
external revenue.
The National Assembly conducted the hearings
here in Abuja and the six-geo-political zones of the
country. They sent their recommendations to the
executive but they have been there collecting dust
in the last 18 months.