Buhari Meets A Journalist That His Military Regime Jailed

Tunde Thompson and Buhari

The military regime of president-elect Buhari 30 years ago jailed Tunde Thompson, a journalist. Mr Thompson and Buhari has finally met in Abuja. The pair has put the past behind them and moving on to the future.

Mr Thompson even supported Buhari's presidential ambition despite the bitter taste Buhari's military regime left in his mouth. In an interview with PremiumTimes earlier this year, he stated reasons when questioned about his Buhari's presidential endorsement. Buhari didn't order my arrest, he said.

“Between 2010 and 2011 people kept saying this over and over again. I think it’s now over 30 years, people should learn to be charitable; they should learn to forgive and let bygones be bygones especially when we know the truth about who did what. I will like to say that Buhari didn’t order my arrest, so I bear no grudge against him.”

“He (Buhari) never did. Even Idiagbon (Buhari's military vice) did not. It was the head of NSO that ordered our arrest. That was the file my colleague saw when he was brought in to see Rafindadi after I had briefed him. And that was an order that they complied with. Buhari was not responsible for our arrest, so I do not see why at this time, people are trying to make political capital out of what happened in 1984. Apart from that, it was an issue in 2011 election.