Buhari who spoke while receiving members of the Buhari Media Support Organisation at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, however, did not disclose the reason why he believed it was difficult to defend him and his government.
But he said members of the group, who have been defending him and his government, had been doing so as a sacrifice.
This he said was because members of the opposition were in possession of what he described as incredible resources that the ruling party could not match.
According to him, this is why the opposition has been sponsoring mischief that his government cannot stop.
Buhari said, “I don’t think I can thank you enough for your steadfastness under very difficult circumstances. It is not easy to defend this administration and more in particular to defend me. But your consistency has given me a lot of confidence.
“I know you are doing it as a sacrifice: physical, mental and material, because as I keep on saying, the oppositions now are sitting on incredible resources which I am afraid we might not match it at all.
“For that reason, the opposition is sponsoring mischief from different angles which, in spite of the incumbency of government, we cannot absolutely stop. It is you that are fighting it and I cannot thank you enough for that.”
The President restated his earlier position that most of the people he jailed when he was a military head of state had been given back all that were seized from them before he was jailed.
Buhari recalled that he spent 18 months in detention and luckily, nothing was found against him.
He said because he was released to go and bury his mother who died while he was in detention, a journalist wrote that his mother had to die to save him.
The President explained, “So I can imagine what most of you here sitting, the sacrifices you have made in terms of materialism, even losing friends to continue to support me. I have been here for three years. You have proven to people that you are not here for material things. Your opinion is out of sacrifice and the strength of the moral courage you have is the strength of the physical, it is the strength of losing the friends you have.”
He added, “I am sure you are being asked: ‘this support you are busy giving Buhari, what the hell do you get out of it?’ That is why I commend your steadfastness and I am very grateful for it.
“And in this country, whether people like it or not, they will remain grateful for your courage because you have the courage to do the research, take your time to reply mischievous representation and we are very grateful.”
