Buhari: insecurity, economy will be our focus The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign was in full swing yesterday – 24 hours after its launch in Port Harcourt. On day one, the party campaigned in Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and Uyo (Akwa Ibom State). Yesterday, the train moved to Calabar, the Cross River State capital and Warri, the economic nerve centre of Delta State. The presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, accompanied by campaign Director General and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, also visited Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha in Owerri. In all the places, Gen. Buhari made promises to deliver on good governance, fight corruption and secure the people - if elected. Gen. Buhari promised to develop Southeast infrastructure, which he said President Goodluck Jonathan had neglected. Thousands of APC members and supporters gathered at the Government Secondary School, Mayne Avenue in Calabar South to recieve Gen. Buhari. Officials of the party said they were denied the use of the stadium for the event, but this did not deter enthusiastic supporters who filled the school’s football pitch, spilling onto adjoining streets. Addressing the crowd, Gen. Buhari said the APC would tackle two fundamental problems - insecurity and the economy. He said: “The situation in this country is of genuine concern to us. We have two fundamental problems that the government of APC would attack head-on, which are insecurity and the economy. Because if there is no security, there is no way the economy will be vibrant. If there is corruption from top to bottom, a vicious cycle is established. You either kill corruption or corruption will kill the country. We are determined to make sure that the tendency to steal and misappropriate and misapply government resources is discouraged. Our main objective is to make sure that agriculture and other minerals exploitation and development are given priority. This will give immediate relief to the large number of able bodied unemployed – whether they had the opportunity to be educated or not. “The biggest asset you can give a people is education. When you allow schools to be dilapidated and equipment are not available and there is paucity of qualified teachers, then you are digging a grave for the failure of the nation. “I promise we will secure this country. We will provide employment through agriculture. We will build infrastructure to make sure industries are resuscitated. Our industries are dying and will continue dying, unless we get supply of power correct. Because without power, they cannot break even. They cannot be competitive for foreign cheap products to be flooded into Nigeria. Whether the naira is high or low, foreign goods will still come, unless we resuscitate our industries, give our people jobs, then we provide goods and services and then the economy will move again.” Gen. Buhari urged his audience to vote on February 14. “My advice is that you get your permanent voters card and on the election day, come rain, come sunshine, try and put up with any problem put before you. Go and vote and make sure your vote counts. If we collectively make the mistake of allowing the PDP to continue I think in four years’ time, we won’t be able to recognise each other again. This is extremely serious.” Amaechi urged the people not to based on sentiments that President Jonathan is their brother. He said, “Our President is from this our zone. The fact that he is from the Southsouth does not mean we should vote for him. The first term of the president was on the basis that he was our brother. This second term is based on merit and achievement and he has not achieved. “If he has achieved, he should fix the road from Calabar to Uyo. And from Calabar to Ogoja. Calabar to Bakassi also. So tell me why you need to vote for the president, when there is a Buhari who says when he becomes president, he will reconstruct those roads. Deceit would not work this time. You cannot tell me you are my brother. “So I am here to tell people from Cross River not to listen to that story of ‘he is Our Brother’. Our brother who has refused to do roads for us or send us to school is not our brother. My brother is the man who makes things happen for me.” The highpoint of the occasion was the handing over of the party flag to the governorship candidate, Odey Ochicha, by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. In Warri, Gen. Buhari advised Nigerians not to make mistake of allowing the PDP continue running their nation as indications have shown that should the current misrule continue, there may be nothing left of the nation. The chairman reeled out some of the party’s programmes, aimed at bringing a better Nigeria, especially the programme for the youth and the elderly. The rally, which took off late; starting off with the arrival of the leaders at about 6:15pm, started with a brief speech from Amaechi. Gen. Buhari described the main problems facing the country as insecurity and the destruction of the economy. He said the APC government would work tirelessly to turn the tide in all areas where the wheel of progress had been impeded, adding that the best hands would be employed to manage ministries and parastatals. Gen. Buhari said: “The issue facing this country, we all know, is mainly security and the destruction of the Nigerian economy, but our objective is absolutely clear, we intend to secure this country as soon as we can and efficiently manage it. We do not like the unemployment, the suffering, the low standard of education, the lack of healthcare and the destruction of infrastructure, I assure you, what the chairman has told you about our manifesto, we will apply ourselves to it and make sure we succeed within the shortest possible time. “The APC government will look for competent, committed Nigerians to lead ministries and parastatals so we can make rapid development. The cooperation we’ll need from you is to make sure you get your permanent voters cards and on the election day you come out en-mass and make sure you vote for APC and its candidates. You’ll also make sure that your votes count.”
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 05:32:05 +0000
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