The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has said his desire not to be hostage to anyone was the reason behind his decision to rely on the sacrifices by ordinary Nigerians to fund his campaign.
Buhari said this at a press briefing on the General Muhammadu Buhari Crowd Funding Platform, in Abuja, yesterday.
This is even as he announced that the sum of N54, 415,386.70 has so far been received as donations through direct deposit and sale of cards to the First Bank account number: 2026724405.
He expressed confidence that the financial support he was receiving from ordinary Nigerians will see him through the campaign period.
According to him, his supporters who floated the platform drew inspiration from President Barrack Obama’s campaign.
The candidate noted that when Obama first came on the scene, he did not enjoy the support of big corporations for a variety of reasons, but that he was able to surmount this challenge when he turned to ordinary American’s who shared his dream.
He said the Buhari Support Organisation currently has 82 registered support groups with over 475, 796 coordinators and total membership in the region of 8, 492,226 across the length and breadth of this country.
Buhari explained that the organisation intends to use the registration and donation cards to enlist the members of the groups as volunteer change agents and also capture the spatial distribution of its donors.
He used the occasion to debunk the well publicized N27.5 million loans he allegedly obtained to pay for his nomination forms.
Buhari said, he made attempts to get the leadership of the APC to reduce the amount payable for the forms but did not get support.
Meanwhile, running mate to All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said Muhammadu Buhari will oversee the defeat of Boko Haram, should he win next year’s election.
Answering questions on Twitter during a specially-arranged question-and-answer session, Osinbajo said Buhari would end the corrupt management of defence funds, which is responsible for the ill-equipment of the military.
He also spoke on APC’s strategy for reducing the bite of unemployment on youths, acknowledging that 80 per cent of fresh graduates are unemployed. “The focus of APC is on jobs jobs jobs! The question we ask about every policy is: how many jobs will this produce.
Osinbajo dismissed claims that his party and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were no different in ideology. “The APC in an ideological sense is left of centre. In other words, its focus is on policies that will impact the lives of the common man,” he said. “We have social programmes such as social welfare (first in Africa), free education, mass employment, universal healthcare insurance and free meals programme in primary schools.

Executive Director, MCC Nig Ltd, Mr Nelson Jaja (left) having a handshake with Chief Nabil Saleh during the Garden City Corporate Award, in Port Harcourt, recently. Photo: Egberi Sampson