Katsina governor Aminu Masari said President Muhammadu Buhari has not failed in the delivery of his mandate but has rather tolerated and taken too much ‘rubbish’ from citizens. 

Mr Masari, an All Progressive Congress member and Mr Buhari’s kinsman, said contrary to criticism of the Buhari regime, Mr Buhari has not failed the country. 

Asked about Mr Buhari’s flailing ratings during a special interview with Lagos based broadcaster TVC, Mr Masari maintained that the president and his party, the APC still enjoy high confidence among Nigerians.

“I think APC is still the strongest, most reliable and dependable party in Nigeria today. (And) I don’t think Buhari has failed us. I think he has tolerated us,” Mr Masari told TVC, “and you know we had a president, even though a civilian president, who couldn’t take all this rubbish that some people are doing. But he (Buhari) is taking everything.”

Mr Masari, a former chieftain of then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2003 during former President Olusegun Obasanjo regime.

He fell out with Mr Obasanjo and the PDP after his tenure and crossed over to the defunct CPC, and ultimately APC, under which platforms he became governor.

Mr Masari has endured incessant onslaught by bandits who have continued to ransack communities under his watch. In search of peace, he once organised a publicised parley with the gun-wielding criminals, drawing public opprobrium.

In December 2020, over 300 students of Government Science Secondary School Kankara were abducted by bandits. The students were released after many days of negotiations with the bandits.

Many times, Mr Masari had lamented breakdown of security as a result of banditry in Katsina and other northern states. 

Yet he holds that the performance of Mr Buhari and the APC  can only be assessed by the outcome of an election. 

“Anybody saying the rating of a particular political party has gone down… it can only be tested during elections. And from what we have seen in the (APC) revalidation of new members, I think you (interviewer) are getting it wrong,” Mr Masari said.