It has being tough for me, I’m eager to go—Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday told Nigerians that it has being tough for him as the nation’s president adding that he is eager to go out of office come 2023.

He stated this in Daura when he received some APC chieftains who paid him sallah homage.

Buhari told his guests that he had not been to his house in Daura for close to a year because of the demands of office.

“The observation that I abandoned my base was made by the Emir of Daura, Dr Faruk Umar Faruk, at the Eid prayer ground.

“He held the microphone and told everyone that the last time I was in Daura was during the Eid-el-Kabir of 2021,’’ he mused.

President Buhari said he would retire to Daura and not to Kaduna, where he has a better house.

“In 10 to 11 months; time, I will come here (Daura). I have a better house in Kaduna, but it is too close to Abuja,’’ he said.

The president explained that his schedule of work was so heavy that he sympathised with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, who had to be away from his family most of the times.

He urged the APC stalwarts to keep working for the good of the people and that of the country.

“We are a lucky people. We need to reflect more on where we are coming from.”

The president said relative to the resources available, and compared to the preceding administration, government had done well in many areas, particularly in infrastructure.

“I wish the person who is coming after me the very best,” he said.

On security, the president said the Northwest had posed more challenges, while some success had been recorded in other regions; the Northeast and South-South.

Buhari also admonished agitators in the South-South to stop vandalising national assets, an action which, he said, also affected their livelihoods.

“I am eager to go. I can tell you it has been tough. I am grateful to God that people appreciate the personal sacrifices we have been making,’’ he said.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Kebbi’s Gov. Abubakar Bagudu, thanked the president for his leadership role in improving the nation’s economy and the many successes recorded by the APC.

According to him, such successes include two conventions to produce the party leadership and the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“We will work hard to ensure the success of our party. We have reasons to work very hard,’’ he stressed.

He noted that favourable weather conditions supported the vision of ensuring food production and making agriculture a priority with clear results in rice pyramids in various states.

“In spite of attacks by renegades, our country remains self-sufficient in food production. We have seen investments that were not there before you (Buhari) came into power.

“Not less than 20 states now have agriculture processing zones. We have rice pyramids in Ekiti, Gombe and Niger states, while maize pyramids were revived in Katsina and Kano states,’’ he said.

He added that more than 54 rice meals were inaugurated in various states, and 57 fertiliser plants were revived, or built afresh.

“All these were achieved because of your commitment and patriotism,’’ the governor told Buhari.

Bagudu also appreciated the president for providing ease of access to governors and political leaders, noting that the opening of the National Economic Council for more fluid exchange of ideas greatly helped in improving the economy.

APC governors at the lunch were Aminu Masari of Katsina State; Malam Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, Hope Uzodinma of Imo, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa and Abubakar Bello of Niger.

Others were Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Simon Lalong of Plateau and Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi.