2015: How I Hope To Handle Insecurity, Corruption, Says Buhari ift.tt/1vzf9tI It was a mammoth crowd that witnessed the declaration on Wednesday by a leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, for the presidential election in 2015 as the former army general said he has what it takes to tackle insecurity and corruption, the two main problems that have taken over the entire nation.Buhari, whose declaration took place at the Eagle Square, Abuja, under tight security, said he chose to be the medium through which his party is desirous of bringing the much-needed change to the country as the citizens of the country have suffered since 1999 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held sway at the presidency. He added that it was time to focus on real development and protection of lives and property as the major task of the government in the countrys constitution.According to Buhari, since 1999, the PDP had presided over the country’s decline.Nigeria, in my experience, has never been so divided, so polarised by an unthinking government hell-bent on ruling and stealing. Adding that corruption had spread blatantly and as a result, Nigeria is now known as the home of corruption, Buhari said.He promised to diversify the economy of the country as Nigerias over-dependence on oil has done more harm than good.He expressed concerns about the impact of insecurity in the country, saying he shared the feelings of all those who have in one way or the other been affected by poverty and Boko Haram’s terror. He also thanked Nigerias law enforcement agencies and the countrys military for the sacrifice they have made in keeping the country together.Huhuonline can report that prior to Buhari’s arrival, chieftains of the APC from all parts of the country had held the crowd excited with renditions of Buharis positive past and their belief in him.While speaking at the event, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state, who spoke for other governors of the party, said he was happy that the party was making good its promise for change. He added that he felt this by the growing number of governors now in the fold.Change is in the air because today, you see 14 governors. The other party doesnt have any candidate like Buhari, but if they have even half let them show us, Amaechi said.Concerning how Lagos State and Rivers State tackled the Ebola crisis, Amaechi said it was very wrong for President Goodluck Jonathan and his government to take credit as the only role the federal government played was to announce the number of casualties and those being saved.While reminding the PDP and Jonathan that the three heavily populated states of the country including Kano, Lagos and Rivers are in the hands of the opposition and thus wondering how they think they can win the 2015 election, he called on all members of APC and other Nigerians to ensure they all have their voter cards so that any of the candidates that emerged among the aspirants of the party would be overwhelmingly voted for. While listing the failed promises of the current president, Amaechi recalled that in 2013, the president said though he was the most abused of all presidents in the world, things would change in 2014. But the situation is even worse now because the people have not seen any changes in their lives.In his own comment, the coordinator of General Muhammadu Buhari Campaign team, Audu Ogbe, disclosed that he, Buhari and others discussed the crisis of the youths in the country the previous night and that the government of Buhari must find jobs for the youths of the country.He said, against rumours, Buhari is never a religious fanatic, adding that if he was one, Christians like Amaechi, Oshiomhole, Oyegun and even himself would not decide to campaign for him. He said instead, Buhari had been a quiet and rational person who thinks before acting.While commending those fighting to stop the Boko Haram terrorists and the#BringBackOurGirls campaigners, he said the government has constantly engaged in propaganda.We understand the government is planning to take them to court, let the court room be large enough to accommodate all of us, Ogbe, a former National Chairman of the PDP, said.Professor Isa Odidi, who spoke on behalf of APC members in the diaspora, said Nigerias problems were extra-ordinary and thus needed extra-ordinary solutions and that only the extra ordinary qualities of Buhari’s as a person can change.Senator Olorumimbe Mamora, who spoke for the elders of the APC, said the APC has become an idea whose time has come as nobody can now stop the wind of change. To him, Nigeria can no longer afford to continue with all the challenges facing it even in the presence of a supposed government.Senator George Akume, a former governor of Benue State, said members of the National Assembly under the APC had a sweet session with Buhari and were convinced that he was the one needed for the turn-around that the country is yearning for recalling that after Buhari told them what was happening in the oil sector, some of them were weeping.He said the APC is a party of peace; this is evident in the fact that the aspirants are all going about their activities maturely and without bitterness, he added.Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, who gave a welcome address at the event, also said Nigerias economy is heavily challenged and needs a total overhaul. He complained that the countrys security situation needed to be worked on. He lamented the government’s failure in every area, saying Buhari is the man that can turn it around.He said Buhari was not running for himself but because of Nigerians some of who convinced him to take another shot at the presidency. He said they were happy that he had decided to step out of his retirement to help stabilise the country, so that the younger ones can carry on with the development of this nation, adding that Buhari was coming with his integrity and experience.Dino Melaye, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the PDP has damaged the country, reminding Nigerians to check out the states governed by the APC and how they have transformed those states. He said the APC was going to stop those who said there is a difference between stealing and corruption.We are here to stop those who said they had no shoes just to deceive Nigerians, he said, adding that by Gods grace, the APC would take the government away and rescue the country from the PDP which he called the Poverty Development Party.He assured President Goodluck Jonathan that his tenancy at the Villa would expire by 29th May 2015 and that Nigerians would vote and protect the votes.Also speaking for the youths, Comrade Jasper noted that the various promises of employment since 1999 have failed.He recalled how Buhari had built Nigerias refineries while he was Head of State and how the refineries had generated employment. He also recalled that President Jonathan promised three refineries asking where he had built them since making the promise.He said instead of more refineries, the government has killed the existing ones. He therefore urged the youths to vote for Buhari to redeem the country.He also noted that most roads in the southeast are eyesores and that Jonathan laid foundation for the second Niger bridge two times but that even at that, there was no single block to show that work would soon commence. He ended his comments by saying, all these things you are doing to us Jonathan, there is God oh!While speaking for the women in the party, a top female member of the party, Rabi Ishaq, said Nigerian women also yearn for change and that she and others attended the event to endorse Buhari. She noted that the mistake Nigerians made in 2011 was that they voted for rulers instead of leaders. She added that Buhari would change the system.Giving the vote of thanks, Senator Abu Ibrahim, lamented that nobody was now bold and excited to call himself a Nigerian outside the country. He also said those within the country were living in fear and can no longer sleep with eyes closed as insecurity has reached its peak.He said Nigeria urgently needed to be rescued and that Buhari was the one to meet the challenge.According to him, the APC has decided to focus on areas other than petroleum. He also harped on free and fair elections in 2015. CNPP PLEDGES SUPPORTWhile Osita Okechukwu, spokesman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) attended the event, the chairman of the CNPP in Benue State, Mr. Baba Agan, declared that the body would back Buhari to secure victory in 2015.He said Buharis antecedents speaks for him any day and time and that he is the one Nigeria urgently needed at this critical period. He assured that CNPP’s decision is collective and it was premised on Buhari’s track-record, saying his exemplary leadership qualities stand him out as incorruptible. In fact, at this time of our development as a nation, we need a morally strong leader like Buhari to place this country on the pedestal of faster growth and development, hence our decision to queue behind his aspiration,” Agan said.The truth is that his election come 2015 would be some sort of a mass movement of all Nigerians who are craving for change in our country. Already, the subtle mobilisation of market women, civil servants, artisans, religious groups and the political class has fully commenced and there is no doubt that Nigerians earnestly desire a change for the better. BUHARI, ATIKU WOULD CONTINUE TO FAIL-PRESIDENCYWhile Buhari campaigned at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the presidency said it was not scared of the mammoth crowd and the perceived support for the retired General, calling him and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar serial failures.Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, who spoke with journalists, also said Jonathan was not planning to elongate his tenure with the excuse of insurgency in the north.He said the president was still consulting and would make his intention to contest known soon, as many people are pressuring him to contest.Okupe said: you know Yoruba people have one proverb which says: it is the biggest masquerade that comes out last. The declaration by the opposition is not really something new. Most of the candidates of the opposition are serial failures. Atiku has tried twice and has failed, Buhari has done it four times and he has failed.If you present yourself for an election, first, second, third and fourth times, what new things are they bringing? Have they gone to school or are they bringing new things. We are absolutely unperturbed.The President is going to contest against serial losers, people who never win elections, people who have no leadership quality. It is even now worse for them because this president has been given four years, a platform which he has demonstrated his administrative capability, efficiency and delivery.It is unarguable that with these people in the APC, it is a new and good party, but they would become relevant from 2019 upward, not now.In order that the world is not misled, I want to state categorically here that there is no iota of truth whatsoever in that statement (that the President wants to retain office with the excuse that insurgency was high in the country). There is nothing like that.And this is not the president that would do a thing like that and there is no reason whatsoever for this president to do that. This is the same president that, as you must have heard recently, over 12 million Nigerians have signed asking him to come out and run.All the stakeholders in his party, the PDP, have endorsed him and are actually asking him to come out and make his declaration to run and it is quite a logical thing to do because there is no reason of changing the winning team.Again, the issue also is that as it is everywhere in the world, endorsement itself is not undemocratic because it is a normal pattern in democratic parlance that when you have a sitting president. ift.tt/eA8V8J
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:43:07 +0000
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