God Made Me But America Made Me – Buhari

While speaking at his U.S. War College
reunion during his recent trip to
America, President Muhammadu Buhari
stated, that God made him, but
America also made him.
According to ThisDay , Buhari’s Senior
Special Assistant on Media and
Publicity, Garba Shehu , wrote the
article below to emphasize that “US as
the architect of his (Buhari’s)
presidency sits well within reason.”

Here is the article:

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
Quote
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.