Buhari is poorer than he was in 2015 – Osinbajo
President Muhammadu Buhari may not be as rich as he was when he was first democratically elected into office, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Osinbajo, during an appreciation speech at the Banquet Hall in Abuja on Thursday, said Buhari’s honesty and integrity is unrivaled, hence the trust placed in him to keep directing the affairs of the nation.
The Vice President recalled how he discovered he was worth more than Buhari during their asset declaration in 2015.
“In any event, there are many few Nigerians who would have been Minister of Petroleum, Governor of the whole of the Northeast, Head of State, not once or twice, but thrice, and still have just one home in Kaduna and some very modest place in Daura. Very few people are like that,” Osinbajo said.
“When I looked at his assets declaration form, I was checking it in 2015, I said to him, ‘Mr President, I am so much richer than you, it is an embarrassment.’ He said, ‘I am only a soldier, you are a big lawyer so you should have more money than me.’ I can tell you that he is perhaps; even poorer than he was in 2015 when I saw his declaration of assets form,” he said further.
He also assured Nigerians that the trust placed in Buhari will not be betrayed, while highlighting the progress the current administration has made in infrastructural development.
“I was saying to someone that this same President, President Muhammadu Buhari, of the four refineries that we have in our country today, he built three of them when he was Minister of Petroleum. Then he built 3km of pipelines, how much has been added to it since then?
“So, you don’t need to be a great orator. And this is one of the responses I gave to people when they were saying – ‘oh the president doesn’t talk.’ He doesn’t need to be an orator; all he needs to do is be a doer. And that is what he is doing today.
“And what we’ve seen today is despite the fact that we are earning 60% less than the previous government, we are spending almost 8 times more especially for capital projects. Why? Because the president is not stealing the money, simple! That is why we are able to spend more,” the VP said.
