The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has
welcomed the endorsement of former Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo, saying it will convince more Nigerians
to vote for him and his party.
Buhari said this on Wednesday night during an interview
with CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, Christine
Amanpour.
Obasanjo had on Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya during an
interview with the Financial Times of London at the launch
of his controversial autobiography entitled, ‘My Watch,’
expressed support for Buhari.
When asked by Amanpour what he thought of Obasano’s
endorsement, Buhari said, “It would certainly bring more
supporters to us and more confidence again to us for those
who are sitting on the fence.”
This, he said, was “because General Obasanjo is highly
respected and as far as the Nigerian nation is concerned,
there is no serious issue that can be discussed without
people seeking his opinion and listening to it.”
In the course of the interview, Buhari disagreed with
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic
Party on the reasons behind the postponement of the
general elections.
Although the ruling party insisted that the Independent
National Electoral Commission was not prepared for the
elections, Buhari maintained that INEC was forced by the
military to delay the elections even after insisting it was
prepared.
Despite his disappointment, he explained that since the
action was constitutional, the APC had asked its supporters
to obey the law and remain calm but resolute.
Asked about the Boko Haram insurgency, Buhari restated
his belief that the military had been unable to overcome the
insurgents because resources meant for the military had
been misappropriated.
He cited scuttled plans by the National Assembly to probe
the funding of the army over the last three years and
interviews granted to the foreign media by soldiers, who he
said, claimed that they had to fight without proper weapons,
to back his view.
He said, “The National Assembly attempted to conduct a
hearing by getting the budget approved by the National
Assembly over the last three years and inviting the service
chiefs to come and tell them why the weapons were not
procured and sent to the soldiers under competent
leadership and that hearing was scuttled.
“So, it showed the misapplication or misappropriation of the
resources provided by government and says why the
Nigerian military was unable to defeat Boko Haram.”
Regardless, Buhari said the military was competent to
tackle the insurgency.
If elected as president, he said achieving that goal would
not be “too difficult.”
“I believe this problem will not be too difficult for the APC
government because we know the Nigerian military is
competent. It is a question of making sure that the money
voted for equipment and training is properly utilised,” he
said.
The APC’s presidential candidate also said corruption had
to be tackled “because there are serious citizens of this
country that (have) said unless Nigeria kills corruption,
corruption will kill Nigeria.”
In endorsing Buhari, Obasanjo had said, “The circumstances
he (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the elections are
different from the one he worked under before, where he
was both the executive and the legislature – he knows that.
He is smart enough. He is educated enough. He’s
experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”
And Buhari expressed a similar view when asked if he had
changed.
The former military dictator, who admitted that some of the
things his regime was accused of had a degree of accuracy,
insisted that things would be different.
“I think I would be judged harshly as an individual that what
happened during military administration can be extended
under multi-party democratic system,” he said. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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