‘The Old Buhari Will Never Come Back’ – Fani-Kayode

Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, has claimed that the President Muhammadu Buhari who returned from London on August 19, is not the same as the old Buhari who ‘was a hero of Chad’.

“The Buhari that we saw before was a man of courage, strength, hero of Chad and a man that we all respected and revered. He led our troops to Chad in 1979/1980 and gained a lot of ground.”

Fani-Kayode described the “new Buhari” as a man who “could not go to his office because they claimed that rats and rodents have taken over the office”.

“The old Buhari would not run away from rats, the new Buhari does,” he said in an interview with PUNCH.

The former minister, who noted that he was unapologetic about the things he has said about Buhari in the past, maintained his position that the president cannot return in active capacity.

“The Buhari that we knew before was a man that vied for the Presidency on three separate occasions, kept coming back and succeeded on the fourth attempt. He was a man of courage and strength; but the Buhari that came back is not the same man.

“Having been away for a 104 days; instead of standing his ground and taking care of his health, he scampered back the following morning because he couldn’t take the criticisms and the embarrassment before the international community. That is the new Buhari, not the old Buhari.

“The new Buhari arrived in Nigeria. We saw him alight from the plane, waved to the crowd, got on the podium and they played the national anthem but he didn’t have the strength and wherewithal to inspect the guard of honour that was mounted for him.

“That is the new Buhari. The following thing that happened was this: He promised Nigerians that he would do a live broadcast in which he would tell us a number of key issues but the new Buhari could not do a live broadcast.

“He did a recorded broadcast because he was too weak and feeble to do a live broadcast. And it didn’t stop there; the new Buhari could not go to his office because they claimed that rats and rodents have taken over the office.

“Finally, a day after that, the Federal Executive Council, the most important that runs the affairs the nation, the new Buhari called off the weekly FEC meeting because he said he was receiving a report.

“Maybe the rats have penetrated the council chambers as well. The old Buhari has not come back and will never come back. This man is not well. It is not his fault and it’s nothing that anybody should gloat about,” said the former minister.