Article written by President Buhari's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity. Read below..
Shortly after the August 1983 military coup that brought a
40-year-old Muhammadu Buhari to power, he received a phone call from top
personnel in the United States Army. General Smith was the Commandant
of the U.S. War College from which General Buhari graduated in 1980. The
school's 1979 set had graduated its first Nigerian, General Wushishi,
who was the Chief of Defence in the just ousted Shehu government.
"Please, be kind to him," General Smith said over the phone.
The essence of the phone call was not just to congratulate Nigeria's
new Head of State, but to ensure that the first Nigerian to graduate
from the U.S. War College would not suffer any indignity under the
government of the second Nigerian to graduate from the same school.
On Wednesday, July 22, members of the U.S. War College Class of 1980
gathered at the Blair House in Washington, DC, to welcome the man they
had selected as their football team referee 36 years ago.
"Being referee all those years ago taught me to be fair and just," President Buhari said during the meeting.
Among the former classmates gathered were Lt. General Granrud
(Commander of the U.S. forces in Japan Rtd), Brigadier General Jack
Pellica, General Ronald Griffith (Former Vice Chairman of the U.S. army
central command), Colonel Lany Gordon and Colonel Paul Summerville.
General Smith has since passed on, as have all the directing staff and a
larger percentage of the old students from the set. "This just shows
that all of us are on the queue," President Buhari said, "waiting for
our turn."
The Nigerian Commander-in-Chief said he hoped that the
U.S. would continue its tradition of training Nigerians in the war
college. At the time he attended the school, he was the only African in
his class. The only other foreigners were from Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, France and Japan. The Japanese student went
on to become the head of his country's army.
President Buhari
then went on to update his classmates on his life since he last saw
them: his different appointments, his accomplishments and his family.
"I have just received my 13th grandchild," he said.
He added that
the wife they knew him with at the time had since died, and that he had
also lost a son and a daughter from his new wife.
"Of all my eight
children," he said, "only one is a boy." Some of his former classmates
were curious to know if President Buhari would place his only son,
Yusuf, in the army. "I stopped him from joining the army," President
Buhari replied.
He explained that the military he joined was very
different from what it is today, adding that he was the second Nigerian
to be sent to the U.S. War College based on his records alone, without
connections.
"Things took a wrong turn in Nigeria," he said. "Your records no longer matter."
Some of the former classmates present at the meeting stated that at the
time they met President Buhari back in 1980, they knew little about
Nigeria or Africa. They credited the Nigerian leader with giving them
their initial enlightenment about the continent. Others recalled how he
always overworked himself.
However, President Buhari described
his war college experience as being responsible for his subsequent life
of hard work, endurance and perseverance. "I contested for president
three times and failed," he said. "Then I did it the fourth time and
won."
A roar of laughter followed the president's apt illustration.
He then rendered his narrative of the collapse of the Soviet Union,
breaking into 18 republics and how that influenced his decision to join
politics.
"The collapse of the Soviet empire in 1980 without a
single shot being fired convinced that the multi-party democratic system
was the best for all countries."
President Buhari then expressed
appreciation to President Barack Obama and to the U.S. for the role the
country played in Nigeria's successful elections, recalling Secretary of
State, John Kerry's visit to him and to former President Goodluck
Jonathan, as well as to Attahiru Jega, the electoral commissioner at the
time.
"Kerry read the riot act to all of us," he said, "saying
the conduct of the election must be free, fair and in line with the
Constitution."
He added that, without US intervention, the electoral malpractices of the past twelve years would likely have happened again.
"God made me but America made me," he said. The Class of 1980 gave
President Buhari the full assurances of their support, stating that they
were willing to use their experience to assist him in any way they can,
particularly with tackling terrorism in northeast Nigeria.
They promised to put together and forward to him a compendium of their thoughts on the security situation in Nigeria.
In September, President Buhari will be meeting once again with his
former classmates, at another event scheduled to take place at the
United Nations.
-Garba is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
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