Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has recalled how former President Muhammadu Buhari was afraid that he would be kidnapped by militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region when he offered to negotiate a peace deal with them.

Speaking during the launch of the book entitled ‘According to The President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman Experience’, written by Mallam Garba Shehu, he remarked that Buhari told him he could not afford to pay a ransom to kidnappers in the event he fell into their trap.

He explained that it is to the credit of former President Buhari that he was able to ramp up oil production from 800,000 to 2 million barrels per day after he brokered the deal with the militants, with the support of the late Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).

“When we assumed position, militancy had so ravaged the oil sector that we were producing about 800,000 barrels and barely meeting the sustainability of the country. And so I went to him one morning and said, ‘Look, we’re not going to be able to solve this problem unless I take a tour and go out to the hinterlands and to the forest and meet some of these militants.’

“And he said, ‘Ibe, are you alright?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘What if when you get there, they kidnap you and hold you to ransom?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t think they would.’

“Eventually, I went there and spent two nights in the forest with them. And ultimately, that led to the PANDEF ceasefire agreement that we had. So that was the nature of the person that he was.”

He disclosed that former President Buhari subsequently met with the PANDEF leadership after he, alongside former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, persuaded him to fulfill his fatherly role.

Kachikwu, who prayed to God to grant the former President good health, insisted that he gave his best in the service of the country while he held sway between 2015 and 2023. (The Guardian)