The presidential candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has asked President
Goodluck Jonathan to respect the wishes of Nigerians for credible polls.
Buhari spoke while addressing Eze Ndigbos of the 19 Northern states and Abuja at his campaign office in Abuja on Friday.
The APC candidate said he had realised
that multi-party democracy remains the best form of government since the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to him, ordinary folks did not
leave him alone to enjoy his exit from power after he was released from
detention even when they knew he was not rich.
Buhari said, “I was sitting at home
after leaving detention; I thought people will leave me alone because
they know I am not rich. I don’t even have a filling station not to talk
of oil blocks.
“So, I thought I lost their sympathy but
people kept on coming to me; there was nothing I could do. And then I
speculated that maybe if I join partisan politics, I will get into a
position to be heard.”
He, however, said democracy as the best
form of government would only make meaningful impact when the government
respects the rights of citizens to elect those who govern them.
Buhari said, “Let the government respect
Nigerians as individuals to choose those they want to represent them
and to lead them and Nigerians will be surprised to see how peaceful
this country is going to be.
“I think in a part of every human being,
there is an element of rebellion. If you try to force a human being to
do what he doesn’t like, he will develop a way of resisting it but if
you develop a system; you persuade him to accept the system, then
justice must be done and you will be surprised how peacefully you will
live.”
He said the last 16 years of Peoples
Democratic Party rule had been a disaster as public institutions
collapsed with the business community the worst hit.
The APC candidate added, “Where were we
16 years ago when PDP took over this country? And where are we now? How
much was the Naira then and how much is it now? The Naira now is about
N230 to one US dollar and I think as a community, you are hit the most
in Nigeria than anybody else.
“You are those that go out from
Singapore to China, all over the world, you order things, you don’t
order in Naira, you order them in Dollars or Pounds Sterling or Yen, now
you need trailers of Naira to maintain your businesses.”
He, however, urged Nigerians to vote out PDP for the APC to rebuild the country.
In his remarks, National Chairman of the
APC, Chief John Oyegun, urged Ndigbo not to put their eggs in one
basket as they had done with the PDP in the last 16 years.
He asked them to ask themselves what the South-East had benefitted from the PDP in the last 16 years.
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