Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said that he exerted his best efforts during his eight years in office.
He said this in an interview with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).
Acknowledging the complexity of managing Nigerians, Buhari, in his first interview since concluding his presidential term on May 29, 2023, said Nigerians are a difficult bunch to manage because “they think they should be” in charge “not you”.
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“God gave me the opportunity to serve my country, but I did my best. But whether my best was good enough, I leave for people to judge.
“Nigerians are extremely difficult. People know their rights. They think they should be there, not you.
“So, they monitor virtually every step. And you have to struggle day and night to ensure that you are competent enough,” he said.
Questioned on the integrity of many of the people surrounding him during administration, the former president stated that “it is their problem “, querying what the persons who criticized him fiercely had done at their individual levels to fight corruption.
Buhari said he allowed people to do their jobs when he assigned tasks, stressing that if he was given the same chance he would not do anything differently under Nigeria’s current system.
The former president stated that he endorsed the controversial naira redesign policy in the twilight of his administration to protect his own integrity and to show Nigerians there was no shortcut to success.
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“Whether Nigerians believe it or not, we are an underdeveloped country. And in that sort of situation, there’s materialism and sometimes ruthlessly they didn’t care how they made the money.
“I still feel that the only way I could deprive these people was just to make sure that my integrity became unquestionable… I think as a developing country we still have a long way to go.
“The motivation (for the policy) was to try and make Nigerians believe that there is no shortcut to successful leadership,” he said.
