The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu
Buhari yesterday said that he will always lead from the front and no
inch of Nigerian territory will be lost to the enemy.
He said Boko Haram crisis has “sadly” put Nigeria on the terrorism
map, stressing that “what has been consistently lacking is the required
leadership in our battle against insurgency.” Buhari made the
declaration in an address he delivered as a guest speaker at Chatham
House London yesterday.
He argued that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has
not done enough to halt Boko Haram militants. “The government has
failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this
problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on
our neighbours to come to our rescue.”
He wondered how Nigeria could degenerate to this level, considering
the “gallant role of the nation’s military in Burma, Congo, Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in
several parts of the world. “Apart from the civil war era, at no other
time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure,” he said.
He believes that Nigerian soldiers have not performed to full
capacity because of the failure of the government to give them the
necessary support and required incentives to tackle the insurgents.
But what strategy does Buhari hope to adopt to address the problem.
He said: “We will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers
in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and
ammunitions to work with.
“We will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke
Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on
terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive
economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job
creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas.
“We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly
fester, and I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and
return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international
efforts to combat terrorism.”
One of the most flaunted credentials of Buhari is his anti-corruption
crusade. It has been reported that some of the people opposed to his
presidential ambition fear that he will send them to jail over
corruption. But Buhari is not afraid of this bloc.
He said if elected president, there would be no confusion as to where
he stands. “Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be
appointed into my administration. He gave insight into some of the
measures he will adopt to stem corruption in the country, particularly
in government quarters.
“First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the budgetary process.
Revenue producing entities such as NNPC and Customs and Exercise will
have one set of books only.
“Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The
institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given
independence and prosecutorial authority without political
interference.”
Buhari is mindful of likely accusation of witch-hunting his opponents
under the guise of fighting corruption. His words: But I must emphasise
that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstructed as
settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I’m running for President to lead
Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.”
His opponents have repeatedly warned that as a military dictator, he
will rule with dictatorial tendencies under a civilian government
platform. But he dismissed this insinuation in his address. “Let me say
without sounding defensive that dictatorship was military rule, though
some are less dictatorial than others,” he said.
“I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch. I cannot
change the past but I can change the present and the future. So, before
you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to
operate under democratic rules.”
“I will, if elected, lead by personal example,” he said. On his
health, he said he was “fit as a fiddle” jus as he warned that further
delay of the election would not be tolerated. “Any form of extension is
unconstitutional and will not be tolerated,” he said.
On the rumours that the government wants to sack the chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission, Buhari said, “Jega was
appointed constitutionally, let the president’s supporters react
(within) the constitution of the country. If they react
unconstitutionally we’ll take them to court.”
With the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria’s mono-economy following the
fall in prices of oil, how does Buhari hope to revive the economy and
give lifeline to Nigerians.
He drew attention to the rebasing exercise in April which put Nigeria
over South Africa as Africa’s largest economy and concluded that all
the claims by the ruling party that the economy is being repositioned to
create wealth and employment for Nigerians? “is more of paper growth.”
“Our GDP is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th
in the world. Also, on the bright side, inflation has been kept at
single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of
seven per cent for about a decade. But it is more of paper growth, a
growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, has
not translated to human development or shared prosperity.”
In what sounded like a tutorial, Buhari said: “A development
economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s
development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening
to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?
“The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that the current
administration has created two economies in one country, a sorry tale of
two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in their tiny
island of prosperity: and the other economy for the many who have so
little in their vast ocean of misery.”
Buhari said that “even by official figures, 33.1 per cent of
Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million, almost
the population of the United Kingdom,” adding that “there is also the
unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at
the slightest stress.”
According to him, officially 23.9 per cent of the adult population
and almost 60 per cent of the youths are unemployed. He was emphatic
when he said that Nigeria has “one of the highest rate of inequalities
in the world.”
He assured that hid government will use savings that arise from
blocking leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund
social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such
as free school meals for children, emergency public works for the
unemployed youth and pensions for the elderly.
PDP, APC supporters clash
The chaos trailing the 2015 presidential campaigns yesterday berthed
in the British capital London as both supporters of the Progressive
Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress stormed the Chatham
House premises where the APC presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu
Buhari was a guest speaker.
Expectedly, the PDP supporters were at the venue to stop Buhari from
delivering his address while drumming support for the PDP presidential
candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan.
Earlier, yesterday, some local newspapers in Nigeria had reported
that there was a plot by a hired group in London to disrupt the event.
According to the reports, the Buhari’s campaign organization had raised
the alarm that the presidency has mobilized certain Nigerians in the
diaspora to organize a rally to embarrass Buhari. The plot was
discovered following a leaked letter, entitled, Re: “The Chatham House
Rally, March Against Dictator.”
In one of the reports, APC had alleged that the Director of Media and
Publicity for the PDP presidential campaign, Femi Fani-Kayode was the
brain behind the plot. But Fani-Kayode denied the allegation via
twitter.
Daily Sun could not verify if the group that staged the anti-Buhari
rally at the venue of the event was hired. However, agency reports said
members of the group, made up of mainly young men wore branded shirts
with the inscription: “DIASPORA SAY NO TO TYRANTS.”
Some of their placards read: “Buhari belongs to the past,” “The past
can’t belong to our children today,” and “A dictator hiding behind a
pastor cannot be a democrat.”
Interestingly, the anti-Buhari group and the pro-Buhari group did not
only stand poles apart facing each other but were peaceful. One of the
placard of the pro-Buhari group read: “Buhari will fight corruption.”
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