E X C L U S I V E I N T E R V I E W The Buhari you didn’t know

Weekly Trust: It’s about a week to the inauguration and we believe you are terribly busy, but you still had to come back home. What does Daura mean to you?  
Muhammadu Buhari: This is where I was born and raised. I have nieces, nephews, cousins, first and second generation and I have schoolmates here. I believe after the inauguration there will be a lot of work and maybe for several or many weeks, I may not be able to come here even if I wanted to. I have my farm, orchard and animals that are very dear to me, that I would like to say goodbye to.
WT: You are talking of weeks, which suggests that every few weeks you will want to come home and reconnect with your roots?
Buhari: Especially when Ramadan is a few weeks away, yes. Normally, while I was busy in Kaduna, I always visited Daura on the first week of Ramadan. I don’t spend Eid-el Fitr here but always come at the beginning and the end of Ramadan. I don’t think being the president would stop me from doing that.
WT: You must have a routine when you come to Daura. We understand you have a sister you visit and obviously your orchard as well. Do you also go round and visit friends?
Buhari: I used to, but recently it has become difficult. I sometimes wonder why children don’t sleep early enough these days. I normally want to go visiting before 9:00pm, but if I go children are still awake, and they keep on shouting my name. And by the time I come out from any of the houses, there is always a crowd – mostly children – outside shouting my name. I only visit a few places, my late brother’s house to visit one of his widows and of course, my sister and sometimes my sister-in-law and then I head home.
WT: This suggests that there is a big weight on you, as you are popular at home and certainly in the rest of the country. Do you feel it is too much responsibility to be this popular?
Buhari: I don’t know. I suspect it must have been earned over time, right from when I was in school. When I come on holidays, my colleagues used to come and stay, spend the evening up till midnight sometimes. Other than once in 1956 when I was in form six, I never spent my holidays outside my hometown.
After I left school and because of my military career, I didn’t have time. I joined the army and I was commissioned in 1963. My first posting was to Abeokuta and from there I went to Zaria, came back for another course in Kaduna, then back to Zaria. I went back to Abeokuta, the 2nd Infantry Battalion, then I was posted to Lagos Garrison to be in charge of transport when I was still a lieutenant. From there I was posted to Apapa, then went back to the 2nd Battalion after the coup in January 1966. I then came back to Kaduna with the battalion I started with in Abeokuta. Then I fought the civil war, after which I went to Staff College in India, came back, got posted to Port Harcourt under General Theophilus Danjuma. I was then posted back to Lagos as Commander of Transport in Apapa. So it went on and on. But whenever I got time, I always came back home.
WT: What is the longest time you have stayed in Daura, especially when you were Head of State and afterwards when you settled in Kaduna?
Buhari: I don’t think I ever spent more than three weeks at a stretch in Daura. Even when I come, surprisingly, I go to Zinder in Niger Republic if I want some peace and quiet, because people don’t know me there. And sometimes I drive to Maiduguri, because then I wasn’t known there. I could recall one of the times, Ismaila Gwarzo was either the commissioner or deputy commissioner of police, I drove there to the Rest House in Maiduguri and there was no accommodation. Gwarzo was there with his wife, so he gave me an apartment of his. I don’t stay more than three weeks at a time because it would be too much for me after I was commissioned.
WT: For the period when you were Head of State, did you find the time to visit Daura?
Buhari: Don’t forget I was Head of State for only 20 months. I was removed and detained for about three-and-a-half years. After detention, I had to stay home.
WT: Should the people of Daura expect any favours from you?
Buhari: I don’t think they would, because even when I served under the military, if they expected favours they were disappointed. Nobody in Daura got an oil bloc. I think they have agreed to live with it. And they have been very kind and understanding, because when I came out of detention nobody came and demanded anything from me. Basically they know what I have – my farm, the few animals I have and so on. They didn’t notice any difference while I was Head of State, so when I came out of detention they knew I didn’t try to help myself, so nobody was expecting anything from me.