Nyiam said this in an old interview with Arise TV , in which a snippet was shared by a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri .
Col Tony
Col Tony Nyiam
Col Tony Nyiam , one of the few surviving men , who staged a coup against the regime of former Military President , Gen Ibrahim Babangida ( retd ) has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had publicly opened up that he is from the Niger Republic .
Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast , Chad to the east , Nigeria to the south , Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest , Mali to the west , and Algeria to the northwest . Nyiam said this in an old interview with Arise TV , in which snippet was shared by a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri .:VAR(olajibson); The retired military officer , now a human rights activist , while speaking on the surge in herdsmen crisis , maintained that Buhari , who he admires , was his boss.
He also revealed that the President had declared that most of his family members are Nigeriens even though “ he owes 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 interest against Chadians .
:Var(ad); 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 . 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 .