Friday 27 February 2015

Buhari at Chatham House London: No Nigerian territory ’ll be lost to enemies under my govt –Buhari

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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