No One Will Steal Under My Watch – Buhari

No One Will Steal Under My Watch – Buhari

Nigeria's President-Elect Muhammodu Buhari addresses a news conference yesterday vowed to make judicious use of the nation’s resources, declaring that he will neither embezzle nor allow anyone to embezzle the country’s resources.

Buhari, who made the statement during a town hall meeting yesterday in Yola, said he would give priority attention to fighting corruption, insecurity and enhancing educational development, noting that most of the social ills bedevilling the country could be traced to dearth of education.

He decried the high level of corruption in the country which he blamed for the years of decay that led to massive unemployment, and asserted that, to address the situation, he would invest massively in agriculture and exploit the mineral resources sector in order to create employment.

Buhari noted that for Nigeria to get out of the woods, the people must persevere in nation building, adding that in the face of the massive decay in the system, tackling Nigeria’s problems would be a daunting task.

He also stated that the country was endowed with human and natural resources ‘’but unfortunately the resources were mismanaged and squandered, leading to the present   situation in the land”.

Buhari, however, noted that with the support, sacrifice and resolve of Nigerians to effect change, the country will be the better for all.

He reiterated his promise that in the course of running his government, he would not favour or discriminate against anyone, but ensure that Nigeria’s resources are fairly and judiciously distributed across every nook and cranny of the land.

’We will run a transparent government and in doing so I will not favour my family,’’ he said.

The president-elect thanked Nigerians for casting their votes for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the last presidential and National Assembly polls.

The president-elect, who was accompanied by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, APC national chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Senator Olurinimbe Mamora, had earlier visited the Lamido of Adamawa, Dr Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa.

PDP decries president-elect’s indifference to national issues

…Says defectors are saboteurs

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed concern at the indifference of the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to burning national issues threatening the unity and stability of the country.

PDP national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said “while well-meaning Nigerians and the international community are celebrating the peace fostered by the patriotic action of President Goodluck Jonathan in conceding defeat, General Buhari and his party, the APC, have been moving around the country instigating division, engineering crisis and heightening tension in the polity.

“Whereas General Buhari had assured Nigerians that he would be the president of the entire nation and not of a political party, his actions in the last one week show otherwise, as he has continued to display sectionalism and insensitivity to matters inimical to the survival of our democracy and wellbeing of Nigerians.”

The PDP alleged that instead of settling down to plan a smooth transition and design ways of deepening democracy in appreciation of the mandate given to him, General Buhari had tacitly encouraged his men to foment crisis and cause panic in the bid to muzzle personal freedoms and impose a reign of terror in the land.

The party accused Buhari of remaining indifferent to the crisis in Ekiti where outgoing APC lawmakers, who are supposed to be campaigning for re-election on Saturday, had been mobilised to Oshogbo in Osun State by the APC “to perfect an ignoble plot to remove a democratically elected government in the state”.

It said: “APC’s ambition in Ekiti, coupled with its odious triumphalism in the aftermath of the presidential election, have led to avoidable confrontations and near breakdown of law and order in the state as the people rise to defend the mandate freely given to the PDP.

“In continuation of this display of arrogance in victory, Buhari’s men in Lagos have dragged the revered traditional institution into the political fray with the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, threatening death to supporters of the PDP, an action that has brought outrage from Nigerians with General Buhari playing the ostrich.

“It is indeed unfortunate that while his men are causing crisis and threating Nigerians, General Buhari, instead of calling them to order, displays his insensitivity by jetting around the country, campaigning for his party,” it said.

According to the party, if this is the sort of governance to expect in Buhari’s presidency, then nation and its people are doomed.

Meanwhile, the PDP in reaction to reports of defection from its fold, described the defectors as political Trojans, who from within have ceaselessly worked against the interest of the party and now fear that they would face sanctions for their actions.

Stating that it would not miss such fair weather members, the party commended the courage and steadfastness of all its supporters and members who have remained committed to the cause and urged them to go a step further by emulating Senate President David Mark and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu in speaking out publicly in favour of the PDP, its ideals and visions of the founding fathers.

The PDP said adequate machinery was already in motion to reorganize and to reposition the party to regain power in the next four years since it was obvious that the APC lacked the mettle to effectively lead the nation.

It, therefore, called on Nigerians to use Saturday’s election to demonstrate their commitment to democracy by voting en masse for the PDP.