Declaration Speech by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari Let me say a big thank you to all of you brave men and women who graced our today’s declaration. You are truly wonderful people! In you I see hope for the future. For you have chosen unity over division, love over hate, and above all, you believe in a change that guarantees you a future that is better than today and that never again, never again shall we entrust our destinies and the destiny of this our great country to the hands of those who are willing to trade our peace and stability for mere political power. Your presence today is the biggest threat against injustice and bad leadership. There is nothing that our political traducers dread more than a peaceful change, a change that denies them the pretext to fight insecurity through tenure elongation. For all those years since joining active politics, we have always looked forward. We have remained true to our principles and faithful to our ideals even in the face of malicious disinformation against us by our opponents. In every election cycle, we made fresh inroads and built new bridges, and unclenched the fists of those who were ignorantly fed with a steady diet of hate and bigotry. We have helped change the political landscape by maintaining sustained opposition and drawing global attention to our poor democratic culture. The little electoral reforms that we celebrate today, the increasing citizen participation in governance, the pan- Nigerian political reorientation as represented by a mega opposition movement were all made possible by our sacrifices in 2003, 2007 and 2011. There are those who argue that change is not possible because of the powerful forces that benefit from the status quo. But as we see today, the strength of our ideals and the sincerity of our intentions are formidable enough to defeat any counterrevolutionary mischief. Some also argue that Nigeria does not deserve a change because our citizens allow themselves to be divided and ruled along primordial sentiments instead of forging a common bulwark against the clique that is holding our collective destiny to ransom. But it is ordinary Nigerians that though divided along false allegiances; are always united in grief, misery and collective suffering imposed on them by the elite few who wantonly pillage and plunder our commonwealth. And some say, in respect of my age, that Muhammadu Buhari should retire from politics. How can one retires from politics when one sees so much affluence for the rich and so much misery for the poor, when our collective destiny is being betrayed and when our humanity is being torn apart along ethnic and religious faultlines? Today the average Nigerian, whether Christian or Muslim, atheist or traditionalist, northerner or southerner; is the one that is suffering in all tribes and grieving in all religions. The poor in Bayelsa is no less Nigerian than the poor in Yobe. Nor is the encroaching desertification in the far north any less threatening than the oil spillage of the Niger Delta, or the slums of Lagos? The problems everywhere are similar, if more are dying in the northeast due to Boko Haram insurgency; more are dying in the southeast due to poor roads. We have the richest people in Africa and some of the richest in the world, yet we have the largest population of poor people in Africa and among the largest in the world. We are among the most learned national group in the diasporas yet illiteracy lingers inexorably at home. We literally export some of our best brains and talents because we failed to create an environment conducive to industrialization and technological indigenization just the same way we export crude oil and import refined petroleum products because we failed to maintain and upgrade our refineries. A great nation is not judged by its number of private jet owners, its number of billionaire politicians and public servants, or the millions that fill its churches, mosques and shrines. A great nation is judged by the welfare of its citizens, the special protection accorded to its women and children, the justice that emanates from its courts and the compassion underpinning its laws, and by the morality of its political class and the ethics of its leadership class. But here we are where villains are granted amnesty while defenseless citizens are extra-judicially harassed and at times murdered, where billionaire thieves are fined paltry sums while petty thieves are slammed lengthy jail terms, where failure is rewarded with a national award and patriotism is scorned with executive disdain and ridicule. The choice before us is never this clearer; either we unite together to pull Nigeria back from this precipice or we stay divided and watch the PDP perfects its betrayal of our collective destiny and incur the eternal wrath of generations to come. May God help us!
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 17:31:08 +0000
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