Former Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has explained why he is in the 2015 presidential race on the platform of the All Progressives congress (APC).
He said if elected president, he would galvanize the economy and provide gainful employment for the masses of jobless Nigerians.
Buhari stated this during a visit to Rivers State to solicit the support of APC national delegates in the state ahead of the party’s presidential primaries.
Addressing delegates at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Port Harcourt, Wednesday, Buhari bemoaned the infrastructural decay in the country and the poor leadership offered by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said, “my message is just to remind all of us about the condition we are in this country and that next year 2015 is another political watershed in this country, if we allow by any means, the PDP to continue, I don’t think by the end of their next term of four years even Nigerians can recognize their country, because all you need to do is to compare what state we were in 1999 when the PDP took over the centre and most of the states. “In terms of infrastructure, we used Nigerian Airways, we used Nigerian railways, we used Nigerian Shipping line, even power at that time was relatively stable, more stable than it has been now after spending twenty billion United States Dollars”.
Buhari said, “Instead of seeing improvement in infrastructure, in way of life, quality of education, healthcare that immediately concerns the people, everything is going down, so Nigerians must vote PDP out next year. It is a question of survival. If you want our country, you want your son and your grandson to get education, to get healthcare, to get drinking water, to get security, you have to vote PDP out and I am here to ask you for your understanding and support because the journey of a million miles starts from the first step.
“This is what APC is all about. We agreed to come together because we found out, no single political party could make any difference. As I said from 1999 till now, collapse of infrastructure, economy, manufacturing, therefore lack of jobs, therefore crises of all sorts”, he stated.
He accused the PDP of lacking accountability and wondered how Nigeria could progress without any accountable leadership.
“How can we go forward in this country if there is no accountability?” he queried.
Buhari lambasted the federal government for failing to arrest the insecurity in the North-East noting also, that by federal lawmakers to probe finances allocated to the country’s military were frustrated by government agents.