Ebun Francis || President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said he doesn’t make decisions hurriedly because he is guided by historical antecedents.
The President gave the explanation at dinner with Chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja.
The President said, “I felt I had to invite you to let us eat together and I tell you that I am sitting here very much aware of the problem in this country. I will always reflect on historical antecedents.
“I decided to drop the uniform and come back here (to be President of Nigeria), so I have gone through it over and over again. This is why I am not in a hurry to do anything. I will sit and reflect, and continue to (operate) with my clear conscience,” he said.
The President also informed his visitors that he went “temporarily into a comma” when former President Goodluck Jonathan called him to concede the 2015 election.
He praised the former President’s decision to concede defeat and acknowledged the role played by Pvc’s.
The President said, “The PVCs worked well in 2015. That was why when the former president rang me, I went temporarily into a coma.”
“I will never forget the time. It was quarter past 5 pm and he said he called to congratulate me and that he had conceded.
“He asked if I heard him, and I said yes. I thanked him for his statesmanship.
“The truth is after being a deputy governor, a governor, vice-president and president for six years, and he took that decision is great. He could have caused some problems. He had stayed long enough to cause problems.”
Responding on behalf of the group, John Odigie-Oyegun, the party’s national chairman, urged the President to seek reelection 2019.
Oyegun said anything to the contrary would be counter productive.
“We are firmly, totally and completely behind you and when you make up your mind soon as I hope you will, you will find an army behind you,” Oyegun said.
“Those who wish you well are already working and it is my hope that you will agree eventually that continuity is important and critical. Otherwise, all what you have struggled for will come to nothing.
“You have said it that you are not an ethnic jingoist. I know this because I have known you for a very long time.
“For some of us, when these things are said, we find it painful but I hope there will be proper rendition of what you said today and it will start clearing the air.
“The only thing I will add is that you have had a most challenging 2017 in every respect, including your son’s predicament.
“It is our prayer that all the struggles you have been through, all the efforts you have put in for this country, the mind that you have to improve the lot of the ordinary man of this country, that we will begin to see results in 2018 and see the essence of the man, Muhammadu Buhari.”