The statement Buhari was purported to have made was cut in half with the first theory part presented to tarnish the president’s image and the remaining cut off. Buhari was answering a question on Amnesty, Bunkering and Inclusive governance for the Niger Delta. He addressed the fears of his government not being inclusive with the purposely misquoted piece.

Buhari had said that it was fair to treat those who gave him 97% better than those who gave him 5% and that that was politics, but however he can never do that as it is against the constitution and it will violate his promise of being committed to no one or owned by no one, and committed to all and owned by all.

 

Listen:

Below is the text of the president’s statement in question. The ones in bold is the part that was deliberately left out.

“I hope you have a copy of the election results. Literally constituencies, for example, that gave me 97 per cent, cannot in all honesty be treated, on some issues, [the same way as] some constituencies that gave me five per cent. I think these are political realities. While certainly there will be justice for everybody; everybody will enjoy their constitutional rights, where the party in constituencies that by either sheer hard work made sure they got their people [to vote] and ensure their votes count, they must feel that the government has appreciated the effort they put in putting the government in place. I think this is really fair. [But] By the constitution, no state can be excluded from government, so there is no way even if I were to show gratitude to those constituencies that voted heavily for me against those that didn’t even vote for me, they have the protection of the government. And I have made an undertaking that I belong to everybody, I belong to no body. If I come clearly and marginalize a certain group because they didn’t vote for me then I have already contradicted myself and I am sure people will be quick to pick that against me.”

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Buhari was dead honest. It is fair to treat those who fought and voted for you better than those who fought for the corrupt incumbent and voted against you. That’s human, fair, political and expected. He however said luckily for them and as he has promised, the constitution does not allow that, which is the beauty of democracy and unlike his predecessors who punished opposition states, he will treat everyone equally as he has promised in his inauguration speech.

Watch the full video below for the statement: