Politics
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Muhammadu Buahri, a retired general and former head of state, formally joins Atiku Abubakar, former vice president, in seeking to be the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress in the next general elections
| By Olu Ojewale | Oct. 27, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
AT 71, it is, perhaps, his last chance to be elected as a Nigerian president. Not minding his previous failures, Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and former head of state, is not willing to let the opportunity slip by. Hence, the three-time former presidential candidate, on Wednesday, October 15, formally declared his bid for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Buhari, who addressed a large crowd of supporters and members of the APC in Abuja, said he decided to contest to bring about a change in the polity and remove poverty from the land. He noted with great concern, the reign of insecurity in the country which he attributed to the “godless Boko Haram” group, kidnappers and other social miscreants, and said he had decided to offer himself to salvage the country.
The former head of state said: “Since 1999, the PDP has presided over our country’s decline. Nigeria in my experience has never been so divided, so polarised by an unthinking government hell bent on ruling forever. We, in the APC, are resolved to stop them in their tracks and rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of PDP.”
He promised to do things differently from the PDP presidents if elected, and outlined a nine-point agenda to achieve this. His agenda includes; protection of lives and property; pursuing economic policies for shared prosperity and giving immediate attention to youth employment; quality education for development, modernity and social mobility as well as agricultural productivity that would take millions of Nigerians out of poverty and ensure food security.
His programmes would also involve reviving industries to generate employment; developing solid minerals exploitation to attract employment and generate revenue for government; restoring honour and integrity to public service by keeping the best and attracting the best to the service and tackling corruption which has become blatant and widespread in the country.
While promising to ensure the protection of the lives and property of Nigerians, he empathised with Nigerians who, he said, were suffering deprivation on a daily basis. According to him, millions of Nigerians are grappling with extreme poverty and barely eking out a living.
Buhari accused the PDP government of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. “The economy continues to deteriorate while government continues to announce fantastic growth figures but manufacturing is down, agriculture is down, commerce is down simply because you sell oil and steal part of the money. That does not entitle you to cook figures and announce phantom economic growth when all the major indices namely, employment, manufacturing, farming, trading are demonstrably on the decline,” he said.
Earlier, Chibuike Amaechi, chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, said the 14 governors on the party’s platform had resolved to support whoever emerged as the party’s flag bearer. “The governors in the APC are determined to work together for this change. In all our meetings we insist that whoever emerges as the party candidate will be supported. You know our dear General Muhammadu Buhari is one of the aspirants for the ticket of the APC right? And you know he is a material they don’t have in the other party. If they say they have a material like him they should show us somebody who is anti-corruption like Buhari. The APC provides an alternative for the country. We are tested and we will never disappoint Nigerians.”
In his speech Audu Ogbeh, a former national chairman of the PDP, debunked claims in some quarters that Buhari was a religious bigot. “I am a Christian so is Adams Oshiomhole, so is John Oyegun, so is Rochas Okorocha. Those calling him a fanatic are no more Christians than we are. We don’t want to call them Pharisees and Sadduces, claiming they are more holy, more catholic than the pope,.
Timipre Sylva, a former governor of Bayelsa State, while praising Buhari’s commitment to the country, said his decision to contest was a sacrifice he was making for the younger generation. Chiding those who said Buhari was too old, Sylva said: “Buhari is not in this race for himself. He is in this race because of us, the younger people. We are very happy that he has decided to come out of retirement to help us stabilise this country so that you and I, the younger ones can carry on with the development of this great nation.
“And people even say General Buhari is too old. To them, I will only quote the words of the former president of America, the late President Ronald Regan who said, ‘we are not going to make age an issue in this campaign because we do not want to be accused of taking advantage of the inexperience of our opponent.’ General Buhari brings experience to this campaign. He brings integrity to this campaign.”
The PDP, while congratulating and wishing Buhari well on his ambition, Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the PDP, in a signed statement, said that Buhari’s criticism of Jonathan on economy was faulty. “It is incontrovertible that in the last 15 years of the PDP leadership, especially the last three years of dynamic and purposeful administration provided by President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s economy has become the largest in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Similarly, our foreign reserve is now over $39bn, and our foreign debt reduced to less than $7bn from $36bn. Besides, Gen. Buhari also told supporters that Nigeria’s agricultural sector has gone down under the PDP, a statement which also does not reflect the reality on the ground,” Metuh said.
In any case, for Buhari to get the APC ticket he needs to contest and defeat the likes of Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president who earlier declared his interest in the party ticket to contest the next election. At his declaration, Abubakar also gave his audience the benefit of having a glimpse of his programmes of action if elected president.
But as it is, the contest is not limited to Buhari and Abubakar alone. Rabiu Kwankwaso, governor of Kano State, has declared his intention to contest for the same party ticket. It is also believed that other personalities who may be interested in the contest will soon signify their interest.
From the current development, it appears that the APC is assuring the nation that a keen contest is in the offing. Some political observers say the real contest will be between Buhari and Abubakar. But sadly, the emergence of either of them may not guarantee that any of them can defeat the PDP candidate when he emerges.
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