Buhari Was A Slow Leader – Garba Shehu Admits, Defends Ex-President’s Style

Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has admitted that his principal governed with a noticeably slow pace during his time in office.

Speaking in an interview on Arise News on Tuesday night, Shehu explained that Buhari’s slowness was largely due to his transformation from a former military ruler into a committed democrat who chose to respect due process, even in the face of national impatience.

“Was he slow? Yeah, he himself had joked about all of that,” Shehu remarked. “When he first came as military head of state, he was brash, did things on impulse and ordered people locked up. But as a converted democrat, he insisted on following the processes prescribed by law. What’s wrong with that? Nigerians are very impatient, we like to rush things, but he chose to uphold democratic norms.”

While many Nigerians believed that the former president was unaware of the realities under his administration, Shehu argued otherwise. He described Buhari as possibly the most informed and aware leader Nigeria has ever had, emphasizing that the ex-president deliberately allowed his work to speak for itself rather than seek media praise.

“This idea that Buhari was unaware is totally misplaced. If you ask me, I would say he might pass as the most aware president Nigeria has ever had,” Shehu stated.

Buhari made history in 2015 as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president, ousting Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to assume office on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, his eight-year tenure was marked by economic policies that attracted widespread criticism, with many Nigerians still blaming his administration for the country’s current economic challenges and hardships.