Lagos agog for Buhari, as he pledges to fight corruption, insecurity

Posted by admin Lagos, Latest Politics, Muhammadu Buhari (1983-85, 2015 - 2023), Presidency, State News, Top Stories Saturday, January 31st, 2015

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, took his campaigns to Lagos on Friday amid pomp.

Buhari, as part of his campaigns, paid a courtesy call on the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, and also addressed a mammoth crowd of supporters at a rally held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.

The rally started on a peaceful note with songs and dance electrifying the venue, however, when Buhari and his running-mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN were called to the podium to make their speeches, the arena suddenly became charged and a stampede ensued. No one could tell the cause of the stampede which lasted several minutes before normalcy was restored with Buhari continuing with his speech.

Buhari, in his speech. said that the party had identified three fundamental problems that must be tackled immediately, saying they were issues of insecurity, dysfunction of economy and bribery and corruption.

He said the issue of insecurity must first be tackled before any other thing , explaining that what was happening in the North- East where hundreds of people were being killed on daily basis was not acceptable.

He said the Nigeria Police and the military were capable of bringing peace and stability into the country, but that they needed to be given leadership.

On the problem of unemployment, Buhari said it was the responsibility of the government to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the country.

According to him:“You all know what we have gone through in the last 16 years under the PDP. APC has identified three fundamental problems that have to be tackled immediately. One is insecurity, two, dysfunction of economy and three, bribery and corruption.

“Whatever we are going to do we have to secure Nigeria first. What is happening in the North East where hundreds of people are being killed is not acceptable. We know the Nigeria Police and the military are capable of bringing peace and stability into theis country. They need to be giving the leadership.

On corruption, he said his government was going to fight corruption from top to bottom, saying whatever would be saved from anti corruption would be invested in the education sector.

Buhari emphasized the importance of education, saying there was nothing better than education.

He accused the Jonathan government of incompetence, saying after spending over 20bn dollars on power, the power the country currently generated was not more than what it inherited in 1999.

He noted that the country used to have Nigeria Airways and railway but all these had been lost to incompetence fuelled by corruption from top to bottom by the PDP-led government.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to collect their permanent voter cards, PVCs and vote out PDP from top to bottom.

The rally was attended by the leadership of the party as well as the governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN); Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Rivers State?? ??Governor and Director General of Buhari Campaing Organization, Mr?? Rotimi Amaechi, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, among?? others.

Speaking at the rally, the national leader of the party, Senator Ahmed Tinubu, said Buhari was picked by the APC to rescue the country from its present crisis.

He described Buhari as a forthright man, adding that “This is what the PDP don’t understand, that it is about you, it is about your future. We brought in Buhari not because there are no?? other people. Today, we are in a great crisis, we are facing a lot of challenges Some of them don’t know that when South Africa was in great dilemma and was about to disintegrate they called on Mandela at 74 years of age. When America was in economy depression, they called on 73 years old Ronald Reagan to safe the economy because he was prudent, frugal and incorruptible,” he said.

He noted that he could also lead the nation but had to make sacrifice for Buhari to lead the party, adding that with or without certificate, Buhari would stand for the election and win.

Buhari was never stoned in Lagos — APC

Meanwhile, the APC last night accused a former MInister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro of ‘concocting a story that “the party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, was pelted with stone during the party’s rally in Lagos.”

Obanikoro had, in a statement, condemned an alleged stoning of Buhari around Idumagbo, Isale-Eko area on his way to the palace of the Oba of Lagos.

But in a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Buhari and other top leaders of the APC rode in a an open bus from the palace of the Oba of Lagos to the Teslim Balogun Stadium venue of the rally, to great cheers from Lagosians who lined the route.

“Not once was he pelted with stone during the almost two-hour ride. It is obvious that those who were paid by Mr. Obanikoro to stone the General failed to deliver. We therefore urge him to seek a refund of whatever money he paid to his hired hands to pelt Gen. Buhari with stones,’’ it said.

APC said “Obanikoro’s statement on an imaginary attack on Gen. Buhari in Lagos must be his own way of saying ‘thank you’ to his masters for nominating him as minister on Friday, as his reward for ceding the gubernatorial ticket he claimed to have won to Jimi Agbaje.”

The party thanked the people of Lagos “for turning out in unprecedented numbers to welcome Gen. Buhari to Lagos,” saying “the Centre of Excellence had never witnessed such a huge and cheery crowd.”

-Tribune

wp_posts