A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai (rtd), has paid glowing tributes to the memory of former President Muhammadu Buhari between, saying he remain eternally grateful to God for serving under the deceased.
Speaking in an interview with channels television monitored in Lagos, Gen Buratai said the former President served the country with uncommon diligence and commitment with a view to keeping the nation as one entity.
Gen. Buratai who was also in Daura, Katsina State for the funeral of the late President, said, “He served this country diligently. He served with the commitment to keep Nigeria as one.
“By the time he became president and commander-in-chief in 2015, there was a general breakdown of law and order. There was bombing everywhere. From Maiduguri to Potiskum including Abuja, I’m glad I served under him as chief of Army Staff.
“During his first term as head of state, i was in school then. My meeting with him was informal.
“Immediately, he was sworn in, in 2015, he directed that the command and control of the Nigerian Army should relocate to the centre of the Northeast, where insurgents were ravaging and I relocated there. We worked tirelessly and were able to recover all the 17 local governments under Boko Haram, and the Boko Haram was degraded,” he noted.
Gen. Buratai maintained that as providence would have it, he was in Maiduguri in 2021, directing the operations when he was summoned to hand over to his successor.
Continuing the former Army chief said; “Buhari’s style was unique in the sense that once he had given you a task, he’s also given you a free hand to implement the term of reference.”
On why Buhari was adamant to act despite the calls for his replacement, Gen. Buratai said the call was political and personal and had nothing to do with the military operations and that’s why President Buhari as he was then known didn’t listen to all the cacophony of voices for our removal.
“And even when the services Chiefs were removed, Buhari ensured that we were appointed as ambassadors around the countries around Nigeria. We were always around him because he appreciated what we did.”
Buratai, who noted that the present service Chiefs were equal to the tasks, also praised the effort of President Bola Tinubu to rid the country of undesirable elements bent on causing chaos.
“We are ahead of so many countries, including South Africa, in terms of armament and warfare. The former President Muhammadu Buhari ensured that we had a professional military with equipment. “
On why the insurgency has continued to fester, Buratai said it would soon be a thing of the past going by the effort of the military.
He cited the cases of Colombia and Bangladesh, which he had visited, “Colombia has been fighting insurgency for more than 50 years now. We are lucky we won’t get that far before we rid the country of insurgency.”
