According to Tarfa, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate has never been a religious bigot, as alleged by some, but a disciplined man.
He also addressed allegtaions about Buhari lacking the required education certificate explaining why they were baseless.
See his story published in full on The Nation:
“I had the same Principal with General Buhari in person of Mr. West. I stand up here to say a few words about General Buhari because I am one of those who know him most.
“We met in 1963 as cadets and we shared one thing- discipline, punctuality and purposefulness.
“Like him, I heard erroneously that I am a fanatical Christian. I don’t know if I am, but I am a Christian to the letter.
“I remember that Buhari used to say that following the tenets of Islam does not make one a fanatic. If I read my bible before I sleep, does it make me a fanatical Christian?
“In addition to what has been said, I want to say that in 1984 when he was the head of state, I was posted to the Nigerian Army Ordinance Corps in Lagos from the Command and Staff College in Jaji. The Nigeria Defence Academy was on its way to becoming a degree awarding institution. I was in Lagos for only three months and there was a reshufflement and I was asked to go back to Kaduna.
“I reported to him that I had just come here and so, let me stay here. He said no, in the first place, your posting to the Ordinance Corps is wrong. I want you to go to the Defence Academy because I want our future officers to take after your character. So, I took my wife and family and returned to Kaduna.
“On my first week in the academy, I blew what we called the tattoo. Tattoo means blowing horn at 12 midnight or after to make sure you catch those who are not in their dormitory.
“Before then, Gen. Buhari had heard that our cadets were sleeping in surrounding villages. Some were going to Zaria to come back early in the morning, looking sleepy and not concentrating.
“When we blew the tattoo, everybody had to come out, even if you were sick and you had to be carried to the parade ground. When we counted, there were about 48 cadets absent that night. They were in the villages with prostitutes.
“I was with Prof. Ukpabi, who was then the Academy Provost. I said the number was too much for me to dismiss even though they were supposed to be dismissed.
“Out of the 48 errant cadets, about 32 were from the North, and out of these 32, the majority were from the far North. In other words, they were Muslim cadets.
“I flew to Lagos and met General Buhari and told him, ‘this is what you said we should do, bug look at the number.’
“Even though majority of them were Muslims, he said,’ dismiss them all.’ I told him that the number was too much and that if I did that, our Muslim brothers in Kaduna would kill me. He said, ‘They won’t. If these people become officers, they will not be good for us. There was no such thing as this during our time. We will not have half-baked officers, whether they are Christians or Muslims. If they are not good, it does not matter. So, dismiss them all.’
“When I came back, Prof, Ukpabi and I decided to dismiss the very bad ones and keep the good ones. That was how we restored discipline in the academy.
“What I am trying to say is this. where is the fanaticism here. He didn’t say because they were Muslims, we should leave them.
“This has been the character of General Buhari. If it is right, it is right.
“I am not trying to praise him, but to bring out the qualities in this man. A vote for General Buhari is a vote for change.
“People are thinking whether it is a do or die. To him, it is Nigeria first and not Buhari first. So, I believe a vote for Buhari is a vote for change; change for good.”
Regarding Buhari’s education, Tarfa disclosed:
“Buhari’s principal was my principal. From their school, the principal, Mr. West was sent to our school.
“In those days when Nigeria was Nigerianising its military, many of the officers that you see today did not even have their school certificates until long after.
“When we were invited to go to Kaduna, we were given qualifying examination in English, Mathematics and General Knowledge, even before we took the school certificate exam. Some did not even wait to take their school certificates because vacancies were already waiting for them.
“It was after that qualifying exam that we were recruited into the army. By the time some had their school certificates, they had become officers.
“For example, Gen. Babangida never saw his school certificate until when he was head of state. I got my school certificate long after I became an officer.
“But there was officer cadet qualifying examination. About 240 of us sat for that exam in Kaduna.”
Paul Tarfa was economical with the truth...I can go as far as saying he was lying.
ReplyDeletePaul Tarfa was known in Kaduna at that time as a sub-standard general and a drunk who served under his juniors and equals. He was known for using his rank and appointment as NDA commandant to get contracts in many Kaduna offices including beer allocations from the Nigerian breweries.
He said it himself, when Buhari asked him to dismiss all cadets, he claimed to dismiss only the really bad ones - that happened to include mostly Southern Cadets including a very fine army cadet and one of the best air force cadets at the time. Everyone knew he had a side discussion with Buhari and he was also seriously influenced by the Hausa/Fulani hegemony on the dismissal exercise, then there is the fact that he is a scared coward who was worried about being retired if he dismissed some influential northern cadets.
The most powerful official in that exercise was not Tarfa, it was the cadet brigade commander (CBC) Lt. Col (later gen) Sarki Murhtar, a known Fulani northern fanatic. Tarfa did not sound any tattoo, it was the CBC who did it. Tarfa was always drunk and could not have been at the NDA that late. The powers of the CBC was such that he could not dismiss any cadets but can reprimand them. The deputy commandant could not either but can relegate (repeat a term), the CBC and deputy commandant can refer your case to the commandant if they want you dismissed rather than be punished lightly. That was how fanatic Muhktar rounded up many southern cadets for Tarfa to dismiss, offenses of these southern cadets range from reading books about biafra, discussing tribalism and not making friends with hausa cadets.
The deputy commandant, Air commodore Gbolahan Mudasiru (despite being a 1 star general and superior to the CBC) had the fear of the north put into him that he could not free these cadets with lighter sentences before reaching the commandant, what he was told by Mukhtar and his response was so disgraceful to be written here. Tarfa was no different.