Segun Atanda/
A former National Administrative Secretary of the defunct National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), Johnny Ucheaga, has recounted how a chance encounter with the late Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, in the early 1980s helped avert what could have been a deadly clash between soldiers and students at the University of Jos.
Speaking in an interview, Ucheaga said the incident occurred while Buhari was General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Nigerian Army’s 3rd Division, headquartered in Jos, Plateau State. At the time, Ucheaga was an undergraduate at the university, which shared a fence with the division’s barracks.
According to him, tensions flared when soldiers seized a student’s car during routine checks at the campus gate, sparking outrage among the students. Fearing that an angry mob of undergraduates could confront the armed soldiers, Ucheaga approached the Vice Chancellor and volunteered to mediate directly with the GOC.
“I told the Vice Chancellor that if students went there in anger, there would be casualties. He gave me the go-ahead to speak with Gen. Buhari,” Ucheaga recalled. “When I got to the barracks, the soldiers initially questioned me, but after hearing I came from the Vice Chancellor, they allowed me to see the GOC.”
He described Buhari as “a simple man” who was reading newspapers when he arrived.
“I apologised for the altercation and explained the need to return the car to prevent trouble. Buhari ordered his men to release the vehicle immediately and even scolded them for harassing students, reminding them they also had children at home,” Ucheaga said.
That decisive intervention, he noted, prevented a confrontation that could have spiralled into violence in Jos. From that day, he said, Buhari always acknowledged students with a wave whenever he passed the campus.
Ucheaga also weighed in on recent opposition to the Federal Government’s decision to rename the University of Maiduguri after Buhari, saying critics were ignoring the former leader’s contributions to Borno State during his time as Head of State.
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