President Buhari once said he's from Niger Republic - Rtd Colonel Tony Nyiam

An old video that has resurfaced on social media has revealed President Buhari's nationality. The video showed a retired army colonel, Tony Nyiam claiming President Buhari had once publicly revealed he is from the Niger Republic.

A snippet of the video was shared by a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri. Mr. Nyiam, who is now a human rights activist was speaking on Arise TV on the recent surge in the herdsmen crisis and banditry in the country.

He claims President Buhari has declared most of his family members were Nigeriens despite owing allegiance to Nigeria. Nyiam also claimed that “General Muhammadu Buhari was my boss, the General Officer Commanding when I commanded a unit under him. He went against Shagari to defend Nigerian interests against Chadians.

“In one of the briefings, when he was briefing us, he openly told us that most of his family are from Niger and that he is a Nigerian officer and that he owes allegiance to Nigeria.

"I admired Buhari then, that a man whose family is partially from the Niger Republic and yet is loyal to Nigeria, this was against all the pressure given by other people that Shagari should pull out and allow the Chadians have their way, General Buhari refused,” he said.

“So why is Buhari now so different? Maybe his wife may answer it because the wife has been battling those who have been holding the President hostage. The President is no more General Muhammadu Buhari. Some of us knew who was a patriot,” he added.

Reached for comments by PeoplesGazette on the President’s citizenship, his media aide, Femi Adesina, did not respond to call or message. Buhari has over time claimed to be a native of Daura, in Katsina state, which is close to the border with the Niger Republic.

Controversies trailed the President’s re-election after the All Progressives Congress, a platform through which he won, claimed that his counterpart Atiku Abubakar was a Cameroun citizen.

Subsequently, reports emerged that Buhari was a citizen of the Niger Republic. A former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, in a tweet, also claimed that “When a non-Nigerian (Buhari) accuses a bona fide Nigerian of being a foreigner, you begin to appreciate why those that have insisted on calling Nigeria a zoo may have a point, Gistmania said.

“It is only in Nigeria that a man whose father was from the Niger Republic can accuse others of being foreigners,” Fani-Kayode said on his Facebook wall.