By Pascal Oparada
For a President who rarely grants an interview to the local press, it is expected that anytime opportunity comes to do so, he would grab it with both hands and give his best.
This is the view of many Nigerians who watched President Muhammadu Buhari’s interview on Arise Television owned by Nduka Obaigbena, also the publisher of ThisDay newspaper.
Though the interview was conducted by Arise Television’s sister publication, ThisDay, it was aired on the television station.
Nigerians on social media refused to be impressed by the President’s outing, having waited for so long for such an opportunity.
One of their grouse is that the president declined a live interview with Arise Television but instead agreed to have ThisDay interview him and that he did not use the opportunity to ‘sell himself and his policies’ considering his reelection bid this year.
Many Nigerians said after the interview, the president has no more business staying in Aso Rock, noting that he bungled the opportunity presented to him.
One of the questions posed to him was how he claims that Nigeria is now self-sufficient in food production while the country has overtaken India as poverty capital of the world.
“Well, there will be a conflict because you work with figures, I work with facts,” Buhari said. “That’s why I recommend that you see the minister of agriculture and the governor of Central Bank,” he said.
Buhari said the money allocated to import rice has reduced drastically due to his rice policy.
Some knocked him for saying he did not ask the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to free anyone who joins the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), referring to the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio who decamped from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
More reactions below: