Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra State and ex-Minister of Labour, has shared a lighthearted but telling memory of the late President Muhammadu Buhari that reveals his simple and down-to-earth nature, even during high-level political campaigns.
Speaking during an interview with Arise Television from 2:22, Ngige recalled a campaign moment in the southeast while he served as Deputy Campaign Director-General. The team had been traveling across states, sharing meals and enduring the rigors of the road.
According to him, “I like to remember, especially, the times we were campaigning. I was the deputy campaign director general for the southeast, and we visited all the states in the southeast with him. We roll in the same bus, and I remembered one of the days we were in the bus, we were eating maize. I went down to buy maize by the roadside. I brought it into the bus; we were hungry. As I was distributing to other people, I didn’t give him any because I felt that as a general, the man would not be eating anyhow. So he turned to me and said, ‘Where is my own maize? Where is my corn?’ I gave him, he ate.”
Ngige’s recollection highlights a side of Buhari that few Nigerians got to see—a leader who shunned formality and hierarchy when it came to basic human experiences. Despite his military background and reserved public image, Buhari was not above sharing roasted maize in a campaign bus.
Ngige noted that this attitude reflected the former president’s humility and connection with everyday Nigerians, especially during grassroots engagements.
