Social media influencer Reno Omokri has extolled former president Muhammadu Buhari for carrying out meaningful developments in the southeast during his eight-year tenure as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In a statement on Saturday, Omokri, the staunch critic of Buhari, berated the ex-president for excluding people from the southeast from occupying key positions during his time as president.
Omokri noted, “In hindsight, I still stand by my opposition to the Buhari administration for its treatment of the Southeast, which Buhari shut out of Nigeria’s National Security Council for the eight years that he held sway.
“Whether knowingly or unknowingly, he was not trusting of the Igbos in his military and paramilitary appointments, which is why I fought him for eight years.”
He alleged that Buhari’s “nepotism was on steroids, with Northern Muslim males heading the Three Arms of Government under him.
“The President, Senate President, and Chief Justice were all from Arewa, as were the Ministry of Defence, the National Security Adviser’s office, and the heads of the Army, Air Force, Police, DSS, DMI, DIA, NIA, and the EFCC.”
However, the former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan lauded Buhari for completing the second Niger Bridge and for going “far in constructing the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Rail Line.”
“However, to his credit, Buhari did not cheat the Igbo in infrastructure. He could have done better (the government is perfect). Still, at least while others delivered a beer brewery in eight years in office, Buhari was able to deliver the Second Niger Bridge, comprising the Main Bridge across the River Niger and 10km of a six-lane motorway, in Onitsha and Asaba.
“He also began work and went far in constructing the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Rail Line, linking the Southeastern States to the North, with some portions already in use,” Omokri stated.
He added that “if only he had been less paranoid about trusting the Southeast with some meaningful military positions as President Tinubu has now done, he would have had a better postscript as a leader.
“But in hindsight, he did not do so badly in the area of infrastructural development in the Southeast. I just have to be fair and give him his due.”
