₦airaland Forum

My president has done it again, Such a perfect man for the job.. TANoids how market for una side...

From March 26, a Thursday, and some 48 hours before the 2015 presidential election, Sunday Vanguard, working in close collaboration with the Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Organisation, and specifically the Director, Mallam Garba Shehu, we kept tab on the activities of the President and Commander-in-Chief (as President-elect). Yes, there have been one or two interviews with President Muhammadu Buhari, but when you compile the random thoughts of a President-in-waiting, it goes with the Biblical saying that “from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks”, and it presents a broader perspective because, unlike the structured strictures of an interview setting, these random thoughts were devoid of the sometimes stifling interview setting which makes an individual more guided and guarded in response.

From Buhari’s pre-election expectations, to the sound bites from his residence and his views immediately after the election, Sunday Vanguard has packaged the views of Nigeria’s fifth executive President for your reading pleasure.

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

My belief in the Nigerian Constitution

According to the Nigerian Constitution, when you lose an election, you may go to court. I was there three times and ended up in the Supreme Court. Sometimes, people wonder why I tried so hard. I tried so hard because it is a system I believe in. I believe that multi- party democratic system is the best form of governance with a big caveat that election must be free and fair.

Really, this is why I am in it. I was in APP. I joined partisan politics in April 2002 and, on that date, at my ward, I said that those who knew me, and myself, following my career and antecedents in the military, if I tell people that I will participate in partisan politics, people would not believe it and I will not also believe it. But I found myself in it and I never turned back.

Within one year, APP gave me the ticket. There were governors, senators and much older people than me, but all the same, I got the ticket. I lost; I was in court for 30 months. In 2007, we tried to have a limited merger and became ANPP and again, I participated and was told I lost.

I went to court for 20 months up to the Supreme Court and I felt that my party was not fair to me. While I was in court, the leadership of the party proceeded and took two marginal ministries in the late Yar’Adua’s cabinet and an Adviser. For that disgraceful behavior by the party leadership, I left the party and we floated the CPC.

Again, I attempted in 2011 and lost and, again, I was in court for about eight months and I contested now for the fourth time on APC’s platform having successfully gone through with the merger of the three legacy parties.

Why I love the Smart Card Reader

I think that 2015 will go down in Nigeria’s political history as a glorious year. Nigerians have deliberately understood what multi-party democracy is. But we thank God for technology – PVC and Card Reader. If not, this luck we had with technology and the insistence of constituencies to make sure they are used, in the two geopolitical zones where they were subverted, the people wanted to vote, but they were not allowed to vote.

They continued with what they used to do in their party offices or their sitting rooms, write the result, go to the radio house and television house and announce the result and say whoever does not want the result should go to court.

How many people can go to court when they are struggling to get the next day’s meal? Where will they get the millions to give to those Senior Advocates of Nigeria? I was able to do it because of the goodwill of Nigeria which again demonstrated itself this year.

People agreed that I am not a very rich man, but I was lucky that Nigerians believed in me and they put their strength together, voted and made sure that their votes counted. I say thanks to the technology.

How I became a born-again democrat

I will tell you what made me a multi-party democrat. In 1991, after coming out of detention, I was sitting at home and the Soviet Union collapsed. They were the world power fighting the western world. They had more sophisticated weapons, but something happened.

There was confusion and everybody went away. Today, there’re 18 countries in the former Soviet Union. That was when I believed that multi-party democratic system is a superior form of governance and that is why I joined democracy.

I am in politics to fight corruption, insecurity and unemployment

Now the records are very clear. Anybody who wants to study the political development of Nigeria cannot do without getting the Supreme Court’s judgments of those years, 2003, 2007 and 2011. If you could recall, in 2007, the Supreme Court was split into two. A panel of six justices was divided. One group, led by Justice Oguntade, a Christian, a Yoruba man, including Justice Aloma Mukthar, I think she’s a Muslin but a Yoruba woman and another justice from Delta State, said that election of 2007 was null and void because it was not conducted according to law.

buhari-pix1But the former Chief Justice, Mustapha, a Fulani man from Jigawa and another justice from Taraba, also a Fulani man, said the election was not flawless but, all the same, PDP won and then the Chief Justice cancelled the votes with them; so it was four against three. The point I want to make here is that the problem of Nigeria is not ethnic or religious. You know what it is.

Corruption is number three on my campaign list. The first one is security. In the North-East and the Niger Delta, people are kidnapped and ransom is demanded. This is unacceptable. The second one is unemployment. 60 percent of Nigerians are youths; most of them, whether they went to school or not, are unemployed and that is dangerous.

We have to get the issue of the economy right to make sure jobs are made available and we should try to kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria. Let us practice what we preach as well. Whoever wins as a governor too has a lot of work to do because corruption is fast becoming a culture.

My biggest message

The biggest message is to try and persuade the people that it is not possible to change the state of affairs now. It took 16 years to get to that state of affairs. Nigeria earned more revenue during that period than what it earned from 1914 to 1999.

We used to have Nigeria Airways, Nigerian National Shipping Line, Nigeria Railway. Where are they now? Where is the infrastructure that is commensurate with what we earned in-between, what is on ground? That is how efficiently the PDP managed Nigeria in the last 16 years.

We have inherited all the problems

Now we have invariably inherited all the problems, especially in the North-East. I am sure that you have heard or seen the children recovered from Sambisa forest. Only the children and women are remaining while all the able-bodied have been gotten rid of somehow. Some have been taken to Adamawa State to be resettled. A generation has been denied education and health care. Infrastructure is gone.

You can imagine what is happening on the high seas where up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil is stolen everyday with cooperation from those who are supposed to protect it. Meanwhile oil price has gone down and 90 percent of foreign exchange we rely on comes from that.

Nigerians must temper their expectations

Nigerians must know that we have virtually arrived at the wrong time and that they have to temper their expectation with some justice towards the leadership. I think whatever has to be deployed, especially in the churches and mosques, this is the quickest way to communicate this to the ordinary people. The people must be reminded of all the things I said in all the states I visited..

Obama’s phone call gave me relief

One of the reliefs I got was the telephone call I got from the President of the United States. I could feel the relief in his voice because Americans are people of conscience. Forget about religion, colour and development, they are people of conscience because they have reached a stage where they have stabilized their society and they are relatively secured materially, physically and in virtually every aspect of life. They know we were in danger. Everybody was saying Nigeria was going to the dogs in 2015, but even beyond our expectations, we have managed to sail through and we say thanks to technology for the PVC and the Card Reader because the whole exercise of writing the result, announcing them and asking losers to go to court does not make any difference. Those who defended the PVC and Card Reader made this change possible

On defection: There will be justice in APC

In a multi-party democratic system, fundamentally, it is the number that matters to the people. But to the party, what matters is the ability to manage the number so that the majority will have its way and there will be justice. No matter what remains of the PDP on May 29, there will be justice in APC.

For those coming into the APC, I have no fear because we have structure. The fact that you were a party Chairman or minister before you joined the APC, we appreciate that you remain relevant in your immediate locality. With majority of members of the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly in the states coming from our party, it means that it is with the agreement of their constituencies that the Federal Government has the power that it has. If the Federal Government is insisting on accountability and being responsible, even if they go back to their constituencies, there is nothing they can do about the decision of the government. We are banking on that. I will give you an example of my state, Katsina. In 2011, the CPC won all the senatorial and 13 out of the 15 House of Representatives seats but lost the governorship. Who did the elections?

Did people from space come for the elections? That is the bad thing about lack of cohesion in a party. Leadership at all levels must work in concert. Otherwise, what Katsina suffered, any state or the centre can suffer same. Those who were chief executives from local governments and states will be encouraged to work together. So, those that are coming in, I hope they will accept that they are coming to join those already on ground and cooperate with them. They can’t come and say that because they were once ministers under PDP, they will join APC and become ministers the following month or so. I don’t think that will be acceptable even by their constituencies.

Things must just change

It is a difficult time for Nigerians as you all know. I have said that in the last 16 years, Nigeria has never realised the amount of revenue it received. A barrel of crude oil rose to about 140 dollars and then crashed to about 50 dollars. During the 16 years, we know some big organisations that employed a lot of Nigerians and gave them training like the Nigeria Airways, Nigeria National Shipping Line. Even Nigeria Railway is managing to be on paper with some refurbished engines moving from Lagos to Ibadan and a few other places. If you go to their stations all over the country, you will realise that it is in a terrible shape.

The important thing in a country with a huge population, with youths, more than 60 percent of them under the age of 30, who are unemployed, you need these institutions to give jobs and training to Nigerians. It is very disappointing that the PDP government virtually failed to use those resources to make sure that the economy continued to grow in a sustainable way. I think the worst thing is the lack of accountability and the terrible budgetary system. Imagine that over 90 percent of the Nigerian budget is on recurrent. How can you sustain development in a developing country like Nigeria with only 10 percent of your income? Things just have to change. There must be more money available for infrastructure, for investment in getting the factories back, employment and getting goods and services for the population. I think the sins of PDP will be coming out for several years to come.

People must not benefit from being lawless

I will like to work within the system because we believe in it. I have spoken about three governors and the battle they had with the law enforcement agents in their states. We discussed and I advised them to try and document these things so that they can be taken before the court, and we will make sure that we get cooperation from the judiciary so that people who worked against the law are prosecuted, especially those who have lost their immunity, even those who think they have immunity because this is the best way to stabilize the system. People must not benefit from being lawless. You can’t be in a position by virtue of the Constitution, subvert the Constitution and continue to enjoy the privileges offered by the Constitution. I don’t think that will be acceptable by the APC. So, whether you are in the opposition or the government, you have to behave.I think that is the way we can make progress.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/we-will-get-youeven-if-you-have-immunity-buhari-speaks-on-lawlessness/

I just pity some people who dont know what is right and wrong, The whole world know that river state election was massively rigged even international observers was the first to call for the cancellation..

U235weapongrade:
Colonel's in the Nigerian Army.
PMB's ADC looks handsome#nohomo
But I enjoyed always seeing GEJ's own behind him then.
He handled it with swag.

What even happens to him now?
Does he go to Otuoke wiv GEJ or does he continue wiv NA...
Most definitely promotion awaits him to a Major.

hahaha you seem dont know much about NA.... They are Lt colonel and not full colonel.

That's m,y President, He is known to be a man of his word.. Waiting for the list his ministers.

Hahaha Fayose is trying to find support of PMB to avoid impeachment haha... this is getting interesting. truly fayose is a coward and know how to beg... OBJ said that.

What an irony, now is ADC is not behind him anymore.

That's my President,

LONG LIVE GMB
LONG LIVE NIGERIA

Wow so good and nice to see the first son.. Happy for GMB for having such a humble son... Can you guys imagine what am seeing? he is carrying his own bag by himself. humility i call this.

Goodbye GEJ

Good move my President.. 2 day to go.

luvinhubby:
Must you show your lack of home training publicly?

Are you mad? who is your mate here abi God wan punish this one.....Tell me what you dont understand about my post? have you forgotten how National Assembly. close down the same River States house of Assembly?

This Wike keep dreaming, Someone that will be sack by court in due time.

luvinhubby:
That was a foregone conclusion, with a PDP dominated house of assembly, those chairmen will not last 1 week after Wike's swearing in.

I pity the poor chairmen that will lavish their remaining money to wash their 'victory'.

And the National Assembly dominated by APC will watch PDP in rivers to disgrace there Chairmen like that? keep fooling yourself.

suolboy:
The mantle could have being transferred to the majority leader Mrs Mulikat.

PDP is not in the majority the last time i check...

Activa:
Answer this question:

What if Ihedioha had won as Imo governor? Who would Tambuwal have handed over to?

10 marks

Gbajabiamila...

OREMUSSANCTUS:
If devil(apc) give u gift wif rite hand, dem go collect am wif left hand
I hate fake "change"

Stop smoking weed.

This is a president i dream and clamour for unlike some that believe who turn themself to celebrity.

OREMUSSANCTUS:
Apc why ?

You well so? wetin concern APC with this we are not in power yet.

Eluwilussit:
Bro, my main issue here borders on claims of integrity and incorruptibility. You are either honest or you are not. There's no such thing as varying degrees of honesty. Buhari may be better than many of our politicians but he's not entirely honest. Stop painting a picture of a saint.

I want you to itemize Buhari's achievements as ptf chairman, state by state. I want you to list his achievement as head of state. Why would an honest Buhari claim that abacha didn't loot us? Why has Buhari not condemned the use of underaged voters in the north? I would expect an honest man to first acknowledge that the elections were flawed, then work to make it better next time. Buhari is a sham.

Just because he was declared the winner, the elections suddenly were free and fair. lol. Would he have accepted the result if Jona had won? I doubt it, given his antecedents. I wish Buhari a good presidency. I pray God will give him the wisdom, courage and strength to deliver. He's after all, the president of Nigeria.

Truly there's no 100% honest man on earth even our pastors and imam's but we need to commend GMB for that, since 1999 to 2011 show me any President that won and get world backing as GMB.... The world leaders are in full support of GMB even invite to the G7 meeting. ABout the PTF please go to schools, Hospitals, etc and you will get them there. Also GMB start and Supervise the 4 refineries we now have in Nigeria when he was a minister of petroleum and remember as a minister of Petroleum he never assign any oil well/block for himself. He also eradicate corruption when he was Head Of States so those alone are enough to give him our mandate..

Long live GMB
Long live APC
Long live Nigeria.

VickyRotex:
The fact that you can't trek like they did, doesn't mean you should condemn/doubt them. Learn to respect people's opinion and decision.

You asked for evidence, I took out time to get it for you, and here you are still spewing words that's uncalled for.

hahaha me trek where i wan get time for that nonsense, where i wan put my business haaha na person wey no get work dey embark on that kind useless trekking.

chukwudi44:
Your Mumu no get part two.Light de for ota ni? Nobi only to de nyash his daughter-in-laws OBJ sabi

You be fool i swear, I stay in Otta though we cannot guarantee much light but we still dey get light... and you cannot get to the Palace of Olota of Ota, Alake of Egba, Olowu of Owu etc make you no see light.

VickyRotex:
You shouldnt say something you aint sure of. Go check out their twitter handle, these guys upload pix all the time. They take pix at every junction and town they get to, and upload them. You shouldnt use the pictures you see here on NL to judge. @Bolded, check the attached images, those are the proofs you needed.

Na una sabi, boarding bus from one place to another and claiming they are trekking.

Eluwilussit:
I guess you cant differentiate what Buhari said and did from what others said about him. You even included Obasanjo's quote, really?

The fact that GMB said that Abacha didn't loot our treasury, does not mean that Abacha didn't do it. Till today, we are still recovering the loot. So anyone can say anything about anybody. Especially in Nigeria.

Go and find out how Buhari ran PTF. Guess you haven't heard that he used his brother-in-law's company(APC), to generate contracts, award them, execute them, supervise them and pay for the contracts. In other climes, that would be conflict of interests. It is a jailable offence. He was compromised.

Hey, I don't wanna keep talking about the past. We have a president-elect. In eight days, we will have a new president. Nigerians have(nt) spoken. We will all rally behind Buhari and make sure he succeeds. It is for our own good. GMB doesn't need it at 72. We do.

One thing we must not do, is to start painting GMB as a saint and a messiah. He isn't none of those. He may not be overly corrupt like most of his contemporaries, but he wouldn't accept the result of the elections, with clear evidence of rigging, if he were incorruptible. I don't believe in half measures. You either are, or you aren't. Simple.

At the bold did those contract get executed or not? do you know how many of that kinda project that got paid and not executed by GEJ administration? 2nd Niger bridge comes to mind..

Also he should not have accept the result of what election?

Omo that girl bad oooo, Anytime my mama remember say she gave birth to a wise and bad nigga she dey always happy.

This man should just shut up ang go back to otuoke jare, If him no concede defeat he will only go Gbagbo way.

Can you guys see the simplicity in the picture? look at the chairs they all sit on... GMB the most president Nigeria ever had after tafa balewa..

VickyRotex:
Trust me they are genuine. They trekked every distance. They make their movement and activities known on twitter.

@bolded, that's the route they took.

WHich kind yeye genuine trekking be that, They only show pic from border to border of each states, where are the pics when they get to those places mention above like Agbor- Abbraka- Ughelli then patani? They left Delta and appear in Bayelsa.... watching in HD

denko:
He should not tell us what we know , (according to APC), he should focus his energy on resolving the issues & if he find the problems bigger than him then he should be honorable to resign his position PERIOD.

@OP and if he eventually resign who take over the job? Fashola

I really like and commend GMB for doing that then, those politicians stealing our money mean no good for Nigerians at all... So if GMB need such act again to bring them back to book i am fully in suppurt of it...


GMB My Hero

Eluwilussit:
Do you know the meaning of integrity? Do you know what honesty means?

GMB who swore to paint Nigeria red with blood in the past? GMB who did not condemn the killing of over 800 Nigerians by his supporters? GMB who refused to appear before a constituted Oputa Panel? GMB who swore a false affidavit, thereby committing perjury? GMB who overthrew Shagari through a coup and proscribed every form of unionism and activism? GMB who jailed journalist on trumped up charges? GMB who thinks that he's above the law? GMB who once said that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north? GMB who asked the north and Muslims never to vote for non Muslims/northerners?

Dude, while Buhari may have won the election, that does not in any way make him an honest man. Unless you don't know the meaning of honesty. An honest man wouldnt accept the result of the past election, even if he won it. The election was grossly rigged by both parties, but since it was better rigged in Buhari's favour, suddenly the election was free. It was never free each time he lost.

The North would vote for a goat, as long as it is from the north and a Muslim. The same way that the south will vote for one of theirs. The problem is that we pretend a lot. Buhari is not the best the north has. Just as Jona wasn't the best that the south had. Obj and Tinubu(lol), are the architects of this mediocrity.

Hey you are telling some stories i haven't hear in decades hahaha You mean GMB overthrow Shagari? are you serious? You mean GMB promise to paint Nigeria red please tell me something..Some of you are the reason we are going backward.. Please tell me the best candidates we have in Nigeria apart from GMB... guy when GEJ won in 2011 we did he get any attention as GMB? even America are even trying to convince Obama to attend the handing over in person common what do you think about that? you see how world leaders have been respecting Nigeria since the emergence of GMB... They even invite him to the G7 meeting did that ever happen in the past? you need to read what prominent Nigerian said about the peoples General


WHAT PROMINENT NIGERIANS SAY
ABOUT BUHARI

“The army after toppling our democratic
regime have no option but to install
Buhari as head of state so as to avoid
credibility problems, especially in the
sight of the international community
because of his being an epitome of
integrity."
- SHAGARI.


“There are only 2 honest & reliable
Nigerians. Myself & Buhari. All what PDP
is saying of Buhari being fundamentalist
is mere hot lies. They just fear, let‘s go to
jail “
– OBJ


General Muhammadu Buhari as a
member of the Supreme Military Council
and as Head of NNPC was by nature
taciturn and introvert. But he took any
work that was given to him very seriously.
He is reliable as he is hardworking and
honest, his path of moral probity and
rectitude” Incorruptible
– President Olusegun Obasango , in his
book, “Not My Will”.


“Buhari was a big brother & a father to
some extent that mean nothing in life &
to the nation always other than good. So,
I fear no harm from him.“
– LATE YAR‘ADUA.


“Buhari was honest & sincere in all his
conduct that perhaps, only very few
Nigerians could match in integrity.“
–GEN. ABDUSSALAM



“Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was a true
patriot, respected former head of state &
elder statesman & a nationalist.“
-PRESIDENT JONATHAN.


“I have realized our collective mistake in
over-throwing you. I have seen the
terrible damage which our inaction
caused to the Nigerian psyche. I am most
sorry. Please, come and do what is best
known about you. Patriotic service to the
nation.“
–LATE ABACHA (PTF inaugural speech).


“If Buhari quit PTF job as he promises &
as we knew him to mean his words, all
along, I support the idea of scrapping PTF
as no one else can do the job as him.“ –
IBB


I respect Buhari. He was my Boss.He was
an honorable man. And I can say this
anywhere”.
-General Ibrahim Babangida.


“As a member PDP BOT, I decided
personally to donate the #5,000,000 to
Buhari‘s campaign organization because
of my firm believe in his ability to right
all the nation wrongs-
ALH. ISIYAKU IBRAHIM.


“Buhari is as clean as the book I am
holding”
~ Alhaji Isiaku Ibrahim, a Member of PDP
Board of Trustees @ a Book launch in
Kaduna


“The issue of Gen. The Buhari‘s
presidency was always being derided by
the criminals who looted the nation to
stupor by embarking upon a campaign of
calumny so as to smear his name with a
view to denying Nigerians having a
leader who can improve their lots.“
–PROF. DAVID WEST.


“If the truth must be said, Buhari remain
the only real threat to PDP wether he
runs for the presidency or not due to his
wider followership among the masses
that now hit the elite circle.“
-SEN. MAKARFI.

Please what do you have to say about the above statements even you GEJ commend GMB.

Eluwilussit:
Ok. No wahala, but before I go for the surgery, can you kindly tell me what GMB's popularity is based on? This is about the 4th time I am asking you slowpoke this question and you can't give me a simple answer.

He's popular in the north. Fine. What are the reasons for his popularity? Idiiot, please do you understand English?

Based on integrity, Corruption free, He is one of the most respected Northerners for now... Do i need to even tell you? GMB single handedly poll almost 13m votes in 2011 without the support of any Governor that's what we call popularity.