By FEMI ADESINA

All that some people knew about former President, Muhammadu Buhari, was his stern nature, which they mistook for wickedness. But the man had his soft side, which you never got to know except when you got close to him.

Let me tell the story of Buhari’s encounter with Dr. Marilyn Amobi, the then Managing Director of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc. She told me of her encounter with the President way before she completed her work at NBET.

“At about 1 pm on Tuesday September 26, 2017, I received a telephone call from someone who told me that he was calling from the Villa. He told me that the President was in his chambers and wanted to see me immediately. I should make my way to the clearance gate, that someone will be there to receive me and bring me straight to the President, who needed to conclude his meeting with me before he departs at about 2p.m to prepare for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting scheduled for the next day.

“I was terrified and concluded that the President was calling me to confirm the termination of my appointment. This was because earlier in the year, the Permanent Secretary of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Louis Edozien, had summoned me to his office and told me that the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo had approved the termination of my appointment on some grounds that he noted. I asked him if the Honourable Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN was aware of the development; and he affirmed it. I requested for a meeting with Mr. Fashola, SAN and a termination letter. Mr Edozien asked me to return to the Ministry at about 4p.m to see Mr. Fashola, SAN which I did. At the tripartite meeting, which held at about 7p.m between me, Mr. Fashola, SAN and Mr. Edozien, Mr. Fashola, SAN asked me to prepare a summary of the lawsuits which the distribution companies had filed against the government and to submit the said report to him the next day. I had not received the termination letter when the staff from the Villa telephoned to tell me that the President wanted to see me immediately.

“I waited briefly in an office that was shared by Ambassador Lawal Kazaure (SCOP), Mohammed Sarki Abba, and Dr. Suhayb Rafindadi, before I was eventually ushered into the Office of the President. My knees were shaking when the door to the President’s office was opened. Peering at me from his seat; it seemed to me that he noticed that I was visibly shaken, perhaps, frightened because I froze and was clearly unable to take the next step. He cleared his throat, smiling, and beckoned on me to come forward whilst asking me to take a seat that was located to his right hand, around a conference table.

“He came and sat on a chair that was to my left; and he placed some papers on the table which were in two piles. I immediately observed that on top of the larger pile was a letter to the President, on which the President appended his approval for the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) PLC to sign transaction documents on the US$10 Million partial risk guarantee (PRG) which the World Bank provided to the Accugas to supply natural gas to the Calabar Generation Company Limited (CGCL), a power plant that was in the portfolio of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited. The letter was dated the 2nd of March 2017, with reference number: FMP/9055/S.1/Vol.1/69; and the President’s approval on the said letter was dated the 27th of March 2017. This letter is entitled: ‘Approval for NBET to sign agreements relating to World Bank. Partial Risk Guarantee for gas supply to the NDPJHC-Calabar Power Plant’. The smaller pile was handwritten scribbles, which as the meeting progressed and he took further notes, I realized that it was the President’s handwriting. It seemed to me that he had made the notes from his reading of the documents in the larger pile.

“He sat down, looked at me and started laughing. I was so frightened.

“My daughter, how are you?” he asked, as he continued to laugh whilst looking at me. “I couldn’t answer.” He continued: “I hear you are fed up with your job, the job you are doing for this country. You have too many troubles.

“Whilst he continued laughing, he asked me if I had gone to jail before?

“He stopped laughing. Maintaining his smile, he told me that he was jailed because he pushed for the right things to be done. He told me to see all what I call troubles as part of the honour of serving the country and a sign that I was doing the right things. He told me that I will have more troubles, more people that I know and those that I do not know would revolt against me.

“He then went ahead to tell me why he had called me. He asked to see me before he retired to study the memos for the FEC that will hold the next day, because of the things he read in the letters that I wrote on the Accugas deal.

“He told me that the President is answerable to Nigerians about all the decisions the government makes. But many Nigerians do not know how the President makes the decisions that he makes for the country. He put it to me that in my office, where I am the MD, I have people that I trust and accept their advice to approve things or make certain decisions. He emphasized that I may find out after I have approved some things that the same people that I trusted their opinions to make the decisions, gave me wrong advice.

“He went ahead to tell me that the same way that I have people that I trust to make decisions in my office, is the same way that he has some people that he trusts their opinions to make decisions regarding the power sector.

“He told me that he was not an engineer or an expert in electricity. As the President, he approves things on works and housing; he approves things on health; he approves things on finance. The Ministers are his representatives; and he expects them to give him very honest advice that will promote the public good.

“He said that he had very highly placed people, and when they bring things to him and tell him that it is best for our country, he believes them.

“He said he had read the advice that I wrote; and that was where he made his notes from, and he felt very bad that he was misled into signing away US$10 million of Nigeria’s money. ‘I do not know why they have done this to me and to this country. This is very bad,’ he lamented.

“I called you to thank you for your courage to write against the deal. I do not know many people in the Civil Service who will do what you have done. I want you to know that the Civil Service is very well organized, and it has very good processes and record keeping. Anybody who is honest and wants to do the right thing, should write down their position like you have done. You can see now; it is because of what you wrote that I am able to know your position. These your letters will remain in the government record even after you leave the job. Nigerians will have them to refer to, when they want to know how you defended Nigeria on this matter, but some people refused to take your advice. And I approved. They will not know that they did not show or tell me exactly what you told them.

“He asked me to tell him the University that I attended; and I said that I graduated from the University of Nigeria, in Nsukka. He told me that he was aware that I had studied abroad and wanted to know where I schooled; and I confirmed that I studied at the City, University of London, in England.

“I told the President that now I had the rare privilege of seeing him, that I wanted to ask for one favour. And I told him that I was already tired of the job and was very concerned about my security and safety.

“He told me that he could only attribute the security risks to the incorruptible positions that I had. He assured me that it was very important to him and Nigerians that I am protected. He told me that on behalf of Nigeria, it is his duty to see that I am safe and that I always feel very secure. He assured me that he would deal with the issue of my security with military dispatch.

“In closing, the President told me that whenever I needed to contact him, I should do so by sending him a message through Mohammed Sarki Abba and Mallam Adamu Adamu, the then Minister of Education. Both of us laughed when I said something like: Your Excellency, are they your human telephones; and still laughing, he said yes!

“The President then prayed for me. When he finished, I asked him if I also could pray for him too; and he said I could. I thanked God for lifting him up as our President. I reminded the Lord that except He (the Lord) raises a ruler over Nigeria, that no other person can do so. I told God that since He had set Mr. President over us, may He bless him by granting him the lucidity of thought, divine wisdom that he needed to rule over Nigeria. I reminded the Lord that by His stripes we are healed; and pleaded that He accelerated the full manifestation of the healing of Mr. President; that He would grant Mr. President the strength that he needed to cope each day and grant him long life. I ended by saying: In Jesus name. Both of us said: Ameen together.

“When I opened my eyes and looked at his face, I was shocked and touched to see that Mr. President’s eyes were filled with tears.

“When I finished, he looked at me, thanked me for the words of the prayer that I shared with him. He said that he was happy with the prayer, but that my prayer should include a request to God to bless Nigeria with more honest and courageous people like me, in government because that is the only way by which he felt that we can rescue the country.

“The President invited me to have dinner with him on the Thursday. On the planned day, I was contacted to reschedule to the following weekend. We rescheduled again because I had to take a staff of NBET who had brain aneurism abroad for treatment; we met after I returned from the medical trip.

“The President did not know me before he appointed me. Following his discovery of the position that I took regarding the Accugas transaction, which he did, from the letters that I wrote, he scheduled a meeting with me; and gave me unrestricted access to him. I did not experience any hatred of any form from him. On a personal note, I do not bother to argue with anyone who plays the Igbo hatred generalization anthem against the President. I love to speak about my own experiences, which influences my thoughts and processes. I am not and refuse to enroll for qualification as a generalization apostle.” (THISDAY)

• Adesina was Special Adviser on media and publicity to President Buhari, 2015-2023.