between 1983 and 1985, Peter Onu of Nigeria was Acting
Secretary-General of the OAU. At the 1985 Summit in Addis
Ababa, statesmen like Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania,
lobbied for his election as substantive Secretary-General.
However, there was a major stumbling block to Peter Onu’s
candidature: his Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, was
campaigning against him.
Buhari claimed: “This generation of Nigerians and indeed
future generations have no other country than Nigeria.” But
when the crunch came, his allegiance to Nigeria disappeared.
In the election of the OAU Secretary-General in 1985, Buhari
voted against Nigeria and for Niger instead.
He secured the election of Ide Oumarou, a Fulani man from
Niger; as opposed to an Igbo man from Nigeria. By so doing,
Buhari became the first and only Head of State in the history
of modern international relations to vote against his country
in favour of his tribe.
Years later, General Buhari marched all the way from Daura
to Ibadan to demand of Oyo State Governor, Lam Adeshina:
“Why are your people killing my people?” Again, he was not
referring to Nigerians as his people.
Instead, he was an advocate for the rights of murderous
Fulani herdsmen who killed Yoruba farmers that objected to
their cattle grazing on their land and damaging their crops.
This same Buhari who voted against Nigeria in 1985, and said
in 2003: “Muslims should only vote those who will promote
Islam,” is now shopping for votes nationwide. He should be
rejected outright.
Ignorance Running Riot
If APC had wanted to be taken seriously, it would have come
up with a better presidential material than Buhari. There is
something anomalous about a party whose mantra is change,
recycling a 73 year old man as its candidate for the president
of modern Nigeria. Buhari has little or no understanding of
public policy. That is why APC will always come up with
some excuse or the other not to have him participate in a
debate with Jonathan. Buhari fought corruption by imposing
ridiculous 300-year sentences on offenders. He fought exam
malpractices by imposing 24-year prison sentences on
school children.
He dealt with indiscipline by flogging people to queue at bus-
stops. He dealt with food shortages by sending soldiers to
break into private warehouses and shops. He fought trade
imbalances by taking Nigeria back to the stone age of trade
by barter (counter-trade). He sought to extradite a Nigerian
from Britain by drugging and crating him.
There is so much about Buhari ending the Boko Haram
insurgency as he did the Maitatsine insurgency in the 1980s.
But the General needs to be advised that Boko Haram is not
Maitatsine. Maitatsine was in two towns: Boko Haram is in
three states with spillover effects into others. Maitatsine
fought with bows and arrows: Boko Haram fights with
sophisticated weapons. Maitatsine was a local insurgency,
Boko Haram is an international phenomenon.
Anti-Corruption Hypocrisy:
Buhari does not know what corruption means and how to
fight it. He became Nigeria’s Head of State through the
corruption of a coup d’état and he then tried to fight
corruption with corruption. Imposing retroactive decrees and
killing Nigerians under them is corruption. Putting an Igbo
vice-president in Kirikiri, while placing the Fulani president
under palatial house arrest, is corruption.
Detaining people like Michael Ajasin in jail, even after they
were discharged and acquitted by kangaroo courts, is
corruption. Jailing journalists for telling the truth is
corruption. Putting pressure on a judge in order to jail Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti is corruption.
Shepherding 53 suitcases of contraband unchecked through
Customs during a currency change exercise is corruption.
Swearing an affidavit that your school-leaving certificate is
with the military when it is not, is corruption.
Transforming Nigeria:
Buhari’s shameful past is dwarfed by the achievements of
Goodluck Jonathan. Under Jonathan, Nigeria has emerged as
by far the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $503
billion; nearly double the previous estimates. South Africa
now comes a distant second with $350 billion. With the
unbundling of PHCN after 52 years of gridlock, and with now
the realizable target of 20,000 megawatts of electricity by
2020, Nigeria’s GDP will soon double that of South Africa.
CNN Money projects that the fastest growing economy in the
world in 2015 will be China (7.3% growth rate); followed by
Qatar (7.1%); and then followed by Nigeria (7%). This belies
all the misinformation about the Nigerian economy dished out
by the APC and attests to the astute management of the
economy by the Jonathan administration. The seemingly
ambitious Vision 2020, proclaimed under the Abacha regime
to make Nigeria one of the 20 largest economies in the world
by 2020 is now well in sight. Today, Nigeria is already the
23rd largest economy in the world. Kudos to Jonathan, we
have overtaken such European countries as Austria and
Belgium.
Life Expectancy:
In 2010, when Jonathan became acting president, life
expectancy in Nigeria was 47 years. Today, it is 54 years; an
improvement of seven years. Adroit application of SURE-P
funds has reduced the maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria by
26%. Under Jonathan, Nigeria has become Guinea Worm-free;
a disease previously affecting 800,000 Nigerians yearly. In the
last six months, there has been no new case of polio in
Nigeria. If this goes on for another two and a half years,
Nigeria will be declared polio-free.
Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, hailed Nigeria’s fight
against polio as one of the great world achievements of 2014.
He said: “The infrastructure Nigeria has built to fight polio
actually made it easier for them to swiftly contain Ebola. The
fact that Nigeria is now Ebola-free is a great example of how
doing the work to fight things like fighting polio also leaves
countries better prepared to deal with outbreaks of other
diseases.”
Investors’ Haven:
In the last three years, the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has ranked Nigeria as the
number one country for foreign investments in Africa. We also
receive more home-remittances than any other African
country; a vote of confidence in our economy by Nigerians
living abroad. They remitted $23 billion in 2013, a figure far
more than the $18 billion received by Egypt; the country with
the second highest home remittance in Africa. It is a
testament to Goodluck Jonathan’s adroit management of the
Nigerian economy that the richest African is now a Nigerian.
In 2010, when Jonathan came to power, Aliko Dangote was
the 463rd richest man in the world, with a total fortune of $2.1
billion. Today, he is the 23rd richest man in the world, with a
total fortune of $25 billion. Dangote’s billions are “made in
Nigeria.” Indeed, under Jonathan, Nigeria now has the fourth
highest rate of returns on investments in the world, according
to UNCTAD.
Crisis of Unemployment
The big challenge has to do with jobs. Every year, another 1.8
million people are offloaded into the job market. However,
while the APC says Buhari will create 720,000 jobs a year if
elected, Jonathan created 1.6 million jobs in 2013. He has
established such innovative programmes as Nagropreneurs
and YOUWIN that support young farmers and entrepreneurs
with grants, training and mentorship. He has also instituted
internship schemes to enhance the capacity of university
graduates to secure gainful employment.
The unemployment problem is compounded by the more than
doubling of the education budget under Jonathan. Every
Nigerian child now has the opportunity to go to school.
Indeed, there has been a 10 million increase in school
enrolment in Nigeria under this government. There has also
been a 75% increase in O’ Level credit pass in Maths and
English. Jonathan established 125 Almajiri schools in 13
northern states. He also established 14 new federal
universities. There is now a federal university in every state.
Indeed, the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls derives from
the disenchantment of the Boko Haram that many Northern
girls are now going to school.
Dealing With Corruption
According to Transparency International, Nigeria has not
become more corrupt under Goodluck Jonathan. Out of 178
countries ranked in 2010, Nigeria was the 134th most corrupt
country. In 2014, Nigeria was ranked 136th. Unlike Buhari,
Jonathan understands that corruption has to be attacked
institutionally, from the roots. Therefore, he proposed the
abrogation of the petroleum subsidy; one of the biggest
avenues for corruption in government. However, Nigerians
refused. Jonathan has sanitized the corruption in fertilizer
distribution. The Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina,
lamented that between 1980 and 2010, Nigeria lost 776 billion
naira to corrupt fertilizer racketeering.
Fertiliser Racketeering:
That effectively came to an end under Jonathan. Through the
innovative e-wallet system, farmers are given cell-phones
through which they now have direct and easy access to
government-provided fertilizer, chemicals and seedlings.
Jonathan has also sanitised the banking system by removing
dinosaur managing directors, recovering indigent loans and
using AMCON to mop up bad loans. By instituting e-payment
systems, he sanitized the civil service by removing 50,000
ghost-workers in one fell swoop. He has equally got rid of
ghost voters from the electoral register; over 1 million ghost
voters were removed from the Zamfara INEC register alone.
Under Jonathan, we have had free and fair elections one after
the other; in Edo, Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun.
Agriculture has been transformed under this administration.
Thanks to Jonathan, agriculture now accounts for 22% of
Nigeria’s GDP, more than oil and gas which only account for
15.9%. Under Jonathan, Nigeria has recorded a more than
50% reduction in food imports. Prior to his presidency, we
had a food import bill of 1.4 trillion naira. But now, it is less
than N700

come Feb14 or any day inec is ready me and my street will vote for Gej...so help me God

sai GBM

"Under Gej Nigeria is Guinea worm free"



I don't even need to counsel you on the baseless jargons you put up there, op



Voting is your choice
The idiocy of that choice is your own to bear


#smh

SMH.....ko kan aye

lacasa:
"Under Gej Nigeria is Guinea worm free"



I don't even need to counsel you on the baseless jargons you put up there, op



Voting is your choice
The idiocy of that choice is your own to bear


#smh

And the choice cum idiocy of voting an illiterate cattle rearer is yours too.

lacasa:
"Under Gej Nigeria is Guinea worm free"



I don't even need to counsel you on the baseless jargons you put up there, op



Voting is your choice
The idiocy of that choice is your own to bear


#smh

ur Pvc is not my Pvc....u don't need to cry.....