Presidency: 'President Buhari,like old wine,that has got "tastier" '

The presidency wednesday faulted reports in some newspapers that credited President Muhammadu Buhari as stating that he was too old to rule Nigeria, adding that at 72, the president, like good wine, could only improve with age.

The clarification was contained in a statement issued by the president’s media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina.
He said: “On Monday evening, President Muhammadu Buhari spoke with the Nigerian community at the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“Speaking extempore, because according to him, he wanted to ‘speak from the heart’, the president urged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, a country he went to the warfront to keep together.

“Still extolling the virtues of our country, Nigeria, the president, who had served as a military governor of the then North-eastern State at 33 years old, declared: ‘I wish I became head of state when I was a governor. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do’.”

Adesina said Buhari’s remark was reported by some newspapers to mean that the president was saying he was too old to cope with the demands of his office, adding: “Far from it.”

As the saying goes, the statement continued, “Old wines are tasty” and the president we have today is a man, like old wine, that has got “tastier”.

“At 72, though the president could not be called a youth, but has in quantum the wisdom, the patience, temperance and forbearance that age brings,” he said, stressing that all these virtues “Buhari has brought to the presidency with a view to making a difference in our national life”.

He added that Buhari assured the Nigerian community in South Africa that his administration would make a positive impact on the country, and as such would keep the promise.

“Insecurity as symbolised by the insurgency will be brought to an end, corruption will be fought to a standstill, employment will be created for the teeming army of unemployed, the economy will be revived, and the quality of life of Nigerians will take an upward swing again,” Adesina quoted the president as stating.

“These will not come by a sudden flight, but they will happen in the life of this administration.

“At 72, the Buhari persona has not changed. He remains the simple, honest, incorruptible patriot he has always been. And because Nigerians earnestly desired change, that was why they voted for him overwhelmingly at the general election in March, this year.
“All the virtues and values of the Buhari persona will be deployed into governance in the weeks and months ahead.

“The Nigerian community in South Africa was enthralled as President Buhari spoke with them on Monday. In fact, leaving the venue was an effort, as they swarmed round the president, who shook hands with as many of them as he could.

“They took his message well. That is the essence of good wine. It gets better with age. And it is a message for all Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspora,” Adesina said.

But even before the presidency could provide clarification on Buhari’s statement, a group parading itself as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Media Watchdog and the Labour Party expressed outrage over the president's limitations to govern due to his age, with the former calling for Buhari’s resignation.

However, the PDP swiftly disowned the group for calling for Buhari’s resignation. In a statement issued yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, the opposition party said: “This group is absolutely unknown to the PDP and has no connection whatsoever with our party at any level, neither is the content of their statement a reflection of the position or stance of the party.

“For the avoidance of doubt, our great party has not authorised this group to use its name, acronym or logo to issue statements or make public pronouncements on any matter and we caution those behind them to henceforth desist from such immediately.

“The PDP therefore distances itself from the embarrassing statement by this group wherein it called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign and went ahead to use offensive and denigrating language on the person and office of the president of our great country.”

The opposition party termed the stance of the group “completely unacceptable and against the posture of the PDP to engage only as a robust and credible opposition while constructively offering alternatives to the programmes and policies of the APC-led government, preparatory to our return to power in the next four years”.

“We note with dismay that the attitude of this group is a direct consequence of the approach adopted by the APC in denigrating and insulting our immediate-past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

“Though we know that former President Jonathan suffered such fate in the hands of the APC, we shall not repay them in the same coin as such is not part of our tradition and value as a party.

“Furthermore, recall that the PDP had earlier informed the public and the media that only statements issued by the National Chairman, the National Secretary, the National Publicity Secretary or any other officer of the party authorised by the National Working Committee (NWC) should be regarded or reported as the position of the PDP on any matter.

“In this regard, any group or individuals seeking to use the identity of the PDP on any issue should approach the leadership for authorisation. We urge the media and the general public to be guided by this always,” PDP said.

Similarly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday took a swipe at the group for demanding that Buhari should resign on account of his age, describing the call as a product of poor thinking and deliberate mischief.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said if the authors of the statement had understood simple English, taken the pains to engage in deep thinking and contextualised the comments, they would not have rushed to the press to ask the president to resign.

“What President Buhari was saying, which was lost on those who issued that jejune statement, is that only his love and passion for the country could have made him, at his age, to come out of retirement to seek the office of the president, over 30 years after he presided over the affairs of the country.

“For 16 years, Nigerians gave the PDP the benefit of the doubt to move the country forward, but instead, the party put Nigeria in reverse gear at high speed, spinning it towards a doomsday that was only averted when Nigerians showed the PDP the red card.

“This is what necessitated President Buhari to continuously seek the country's highest political office, so he can help put the country on forward march again. Nothing else matters, not for him the excitement of an office he previously held and the quest for personal accomplishment.

“If the country had been well managed, President Buhari will not at 72 be crisscrossing the whole world seeking solution to Nigeria's problems,” it said.

APC said within three weeks of his inauguration, Buhari had succeeded in returning Nigeria to the comity of nations, to such an extent that world leaders are now so eager to engage him on how to assist his country in key areas, including security and the fight against corruption.

“Within three weeks of President Buhari's inauguration, he had done what the PDP government could not do in six years: Invigorate the fight against Boko Haram by rallying a regional and global front against the terror group.

“Today, the US has pledged to give $5 million for the fight against Boko Haram, in addition to other material support. This is apart from the support that has been pledged by the G-7 for Nigeria's efforts to quell the insurgency.

“Thanks to President Buhari's shuttle diplomacy, the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) that the PDP government could not bring together for all of six years is ready to deploy next month, while the president has ordered the release of $21 million to facilitate the establishment of the headquarters of the force in N'Djamena, Chad.

“Since assuming office about three weeks ago, President Buhari has visited Chad, Niger, Germany and South Africa, winning support and friends for Nigeria all over again and returning the country to the comity of respected nations.

“Those who were put off by the PDP government’s resort to politicising the fight against Boko Haram - even as the insurgents grew stronger - are now joining President Buhari to battle the terrorists. In no distant future, the results of his tireless efforts will begin to show.

“On the domestic front, President Buhari has been handling pressing issues far away from the klieg light, and his efforts to assemble a first class team to implement his change mantra, which he is personally driving, are continuing apace.

“We in the APC, and we are sure most unbiased Nigerians, are very proud of President Buhari and the vigour he has shown in governance, the kind of vigour we did not see in the immediate past administration that was presided over by a far younger man,” the party said.

It said only anarchists and non-democrats would ask a president who has not spent one month in office to resign, adding: “It rankles when those making these calls are from the ranks of the party that failed to avail itself creditably in 16 years.”

APC said it had deliberately refused to join issues with the PDP, which has been issuing a series of insipid press statements that show clearly that the party is not ready to provide a robust opposition to the APC-led federal government.

“For the umpteenth time, we say that the PDP and its satellite bodies must realise that in order to be relevant, credible and to make the necessary impact, they must pick on real issues and articulate them intelligently, rather than latching on to trite matters. This very amateurish display won't get them anywhere,” the party said.

culled:ThisDay