By Alltimepost.com
The Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari disclosed to FREE PRESS in an exclusive interview recently, in Yola, Adamawa State capital, that he has activated his 2011 campaign platforms which earned him more than 12 million votes.
His total votes polled in that election represented half of President Goodluck Jonathan’s 22 million votes, in less than four months after the registration of the now defunct Congress For Progressive Change (CPC) – the party that gave him the presidential ticket.
The former Nigeria Military ruler, known for his no-nonsense posture and zero tolerance for corruption challenged president Goodluck Jonathan to show his scorecard of stewardship to know what he has done with the people’s mandate in a country, which according to him, has so much, but where Nigerians are still sleeping without light due to large-scale corruption.
Power generation, he continued, is paramount to national economic growth, promising that if elected, his administration will generate 20,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity in the first four years to surpass Nigeria’s consumption level of around 15,000mw.
“After Sixteen years, the PDP was only able to generate 1,400 megawatts, with hundreds of billions of dollars gone down the drains,” he bemoaned.
General Buhari warned that even though he will restrain himself from running a witch hunt government, he will not hesitate to deal decisively with cases of blatant impunity and corruption.
Excerpts:
The frenzy attending your campaign rallies across the country is monumental, how did you arrive at it?
The movement you see; because I call it movement, why others call it GMB fever; is a combination of the activation of my 2011 campaign strategies and the motivation of the indomitable campaign tactics of Senator Bola Tinubu, the leader of our great party the, APC, and other political war horses across the country, and the very ordinary people on the streets, the artisans who have joined the liberation movement.
The awareness is very high and the change we are talking about is so palpable that you can almost touch it.
Just now, we’re engaging the Nigerian electorate in Town Hall Meetings across the country, which proved to be more infective in 2011 when the agencies that put up the Presidential Debate then were not literally eviscerated and badly compromised like the ones we’re having now.
The truth is that Nigerians have finally realized that this election is about their wellbeing, about their progress, about keeping this nation together as united entity, and about the future of their unborn children.
They have realized that there is no other country they can call their own. The other issue has to do with the failure of the PDP-led government that has become motion without movement in the last sixteen-year at the saddle.
The PDP never infected any minimal impact on the nation’s economy, aside, of course, the brazen corruption that’s become synonymous with the state officialdom.
President Goodluck Jonathan administration has become the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
He told Nigerians that Boko Haram has infiltrated his government and that sooner or later he would let Nigerians know the names of sponsors of the bloodcurdling militias.
That’s the same president pointing accusing fingers at me as a divisive politician. Nigerians are tired of the PDP and President Jonathan’s non-committal and evasive leadership style that blames opposition for every failure of his policy or directionless ‘Transformation Agenda’.
The crux of your campaign has been based on your puritanical disposition towards corruption and your ability to contain a similar Islamic insurrection in 1984, called Maitatsine. How about the moribund economy and the free fall of the naira?
The major crises plaguing this nation today are insecurity, mega-corruption, power generation, education, job creation for the youths, decayed infrastructure, and the primitive economy system itself.
And of course, you know the president had just devalued the naira. President Jonathan government has left no single dent in these areas.
Instead, we’re witnessing a measure of gloating and persuasive gimmicks and excuses as to why Mr. President was incapacitated. It’s a constitutional duty on the president to secure lives and property of Nigerians on this nation’s space.
Otherwise, he has no business being president of Nigeria, to start with. All my suggestions to him in the past on how to tackle Boko Haram insurgents have never been heeded.
Is it not an irony that the same government often turns around to label me an Islamic fundamentalist?
If elected as the Commander-in-Chief, I will like to hear from commanders what problems they are dealing with so that they can be solved.
No country can achieve results in its counter-terrorism efforts when there is no transparency in the management of huge resources for the purpose.
Take the issue of corruption for instance. The reason why hundreds of trillions of dollars was invested in power sector and Nigerians are still sleeping without light is sheer corruption.
Those who have swindled the nation of its resources are not only the spokespersons of the PDP today, but they’re the ones using Fuel Subsidy scam money to place adverts against me in favor of the same president.
Yet, Nigerians could not benefit from the promised presidential palliatives which puts trillions of dollars in the pockets of the money bags!
Nigerians are asking, what happened to the 100 buses promised to be bought and distributed amongst the 36 States of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory inclusive? Where are the buses?
Interestingly, Nigerians are now asking, show us what you have done with all the oil and tax monies you have collected in the last six-year.
Nothing to show for it. Any self-respecting president should engage the people with his scorecard of achievements, detailing how he has used the resources he holds in trust on their behalf to better their lives.
Governance is not when you use the common till to sponsor fake and devilish documentaries against your political opponent.
You earn the respect and votes of your people when they can see, feel and touch the goods of your government.
What is your agenda for the power sector and the economy?
Power generation is paramount to national economic growth. We will generate 20,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity in the first four years of our administration to surpass Nigeria’s consumption level of around 15,000mw.
After Sixteen-year, the PDP was only able to generate 1,400 megawatts, with hundreds of billions of dollars gone down the drains.
Even though I will restrain myself from running a witch hunt government, I will not hesitate to deal decisively with cases of blatant impunity and corruption.
As for the economy, we will stem the free fall of the naira, which President Jonathan devalued, by reinvigorating the private sector and investing in agriculture massively which used to be the nation’s economy mainstay before the discovery of crude oil.
Now, oil prices have fallen across the globe and oil producing nations are reducing their prices for the benefit of their people.
In Nigeria, we only got “N10 Change”. That is not the change we want. Nigeria beyond oil remains the only hope of our survival and altruistic development. That is the change Nigerians want!
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