President Buhari replies those calling him “Baba Go Slow”

President Buhari today blasted some elites who he said were silent and allowed the mismanagement of Nigeria.

He said this during a meeting with the Nigerian community in the United States of America on the margins of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The President who hailed ‘ordinary Nigerians’ who stood by him blamed the elite that allowed Nigeria to be mismanaged for 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration without as much as raising a voice in consternation.

“They didn’t say a word.

“Under the PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund, of which he was Chairman), we did roads from Lagos to Abuja, to Onitsha, to Port Harcourt. Since then, the roads were not done, between 1999 and 2015, yet the elite did not say a word,” Buhari noted in a statement signed on Friday by his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

The President also took a swipe at those who referred to him as ‘Baba Go Slow.’

He further blamed elites who he said had remained silent since 1983 when corrupt politicians that were jailed by his administration were later set free after he was put in detention.

“I was called Baba Go Slow. Those who were going fast, where did they get to?

“In 1983, military officers gathered and made me Head of State. I packed the politicians into jail, told them they were guilty until they could prove their innocence.

“We seized what they had looted, but after I myself was put in detention, the politicians were given back what they had looted. How many elites complained about that?

“Three times I contested elections; three times I went to court after the elections were rigged against me. No justice, but I said ‘God dey.’