President Muhammadu Buhari has described a former interim chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC as a “perfect public officer.”
Gatekeepers News reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has described a former interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande as the “type of person he could go into the jungle with.”
Buhari said this while speaking at the public presentation of ‘‘My Participations,” the autobiography of Chief Bisi Akande.
Buhari said the author has retained his ‘‘inflexible integrity,” in and out of public office, never accepting or offering bribes.
Buhari also recommended the book to students of Nigerian politics and the general public alike.
He said, ”Chief Akande was in the thick of further attempts in 2011 and 2014 to fuse together different groups and dislodge PDP from governance.
”The key to his thinking which coincides with mine is that Nigeria can only be successfully managed by alliances between major groups.
”Although we failed in 2011 but by persistence and knowledge that PDP was driving the country towards disaster, several major parties were able to finally coalesce into APC in 2014 .
”Chief Akande was unanimously chosen as the first Chairman of this great coalition.
”Throughout the difficult negotiations, I found Akande truthful, steady and always with an eye to the ultimate goal.
”In or out of office, he has retained his inflexible integrity. On p.400 of his book, he wrote: ‘I never gave to or demanded bribe from anyone all my life.’ A perfect gentleman. A perfect public officer.”
Buhari quoting a famous Hausa proverb, ”Labarin zucciya a tambayi fuska” (loosely translated -if you want to know what is in a man’s heart, watch his face), affirmed that Akande has a permanent smile on his face, saying ”He is the type I will go into the jungle with.
”This book is a historical document. Students will find this an invaluable source of Nigeria’s politics, notably between 1999 and 2020.”
