‘Playing with straw horses our favourite game as kids’

Weekly Trust: What are your fondest memories while growing up with president-elect Muhammadu Buhari?
Sani Abubakar Dan Kurma: We played with sand together and rode straw horses. Our homes were close, so we have been together right from time and have never lost touch because of his sterling character. He has never looked down on us despite the status God has bestowed on him. Yesterday we went to his place and he immediately welcomed us with both hands. We sat down and said we came to greet him.
And because we are now old, our mobility is limited. Unlike back then, wherever he governed, even when he was in the military, I must go. When he was in Jos, we were with him, same for Ibadan, Lagos and Maiduguri. Now that he has become the president, I’ve gone to see him.
WT: How would you describe the man he is today?
Dan Kurma: May God bless him. God has given him good character and endurance. Right from when we were children, he had a good heart, always shouldering other people’s burdens.
May God make this reign of his peaceful. Our prayer is for God to surround him with people who will give him good advice. Taking the burden of the people is not any easy task. But he’s capable.
WT: What will you all do if you see he is derailing?
Dan Kurma: With God in control, if it comes to that we will give him counsel. We’re all human and anything can happen. People think he doesn’t listen to advice, but that’s because they don’t know him.
WT: As an old friend, can you share with us a striking memory you have of growing up with him?
Dan Kurma: There was this time when we were children and we went to the outskirts of town to play our version of polo with straw horses and sticks, hitting a ball made from Goruba. It was our favourite game then. As we played, I hit him with the dum-palm seed which served as a ball and he fell down. I consoled him fervently, assuring him it was a mistake, so much so that he also began to console me. That’s his character; He was the wronged party, yet he was telling me sorry.