Maj-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (retd.)
The All Progressives Congress
presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), on Thursday,
ruled out amnesty for Boko Haram insurgents if elected President on
March 28.
He said the activities of the sect which
has so far killed over 13, 000 people since 2009, had become a source
of worry to many people within and outside the country.
Buhari was at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, Chatham House, London, where he addressed the
world on various issues concerning the rescheduled general elections.
He said, “I think I will not go to
that office with that promise. I have said in my address how, at least
13,000 Nigerians have been killed by Boko Haram, how millions of them
have been displaced and are now kept in different camps called
Internally Displaced Persons camps.
“Schools have been burnt, there is so
much disruption to normal life; people cannot farm and where they are
able to farm, they cannot harvest. So, granting amnesty to Boko Haram
will be unfair to the system.”
Buhari, who described himself as “a
former military ruler and a converted democrat,” however stated that any
insurgent caught would “be given the chance in civil courts to be
properly prosecuted.”
He added, “We will secure Nigeria. At no
other time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure. Boko Haram
has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of
our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a
time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What
has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle
against insurgency.”
He accused the current administration
of allowing Boko Haram to operate with ease by failing to provide
what he described as “a multi-dimensional response” to its activities.
“In the matter of this insurgency, our
soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required
incentives to tackle this problem,” the former Head of State said.
Asked how he planned to tackle the
violent sect if elected President, Buhari said his government would “pay
special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of
service, give the military adequate modern arms and ammunition and
improve intelligence gathering to choke its financial and equipment
channels.”
The former Head of State also said his
regime would look into the root causes of insurgency “by intiating a
comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural
development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected
areas.
The APC presidential candidate gave
assurance that the world would have no cause to worry about Nigeria any
longer if given the mandate to rule the country by Nigerians.
He said, “Nigeria will return to its
stabilising role in West Africa, and no inch of Nigerian territory
will ever be lost to the enemy.
Buhari also said the global interest the
Nigerian general elections had generated was not misplaced. He
therefore urged the international community to continue to focus on the
country at this very critical moment.
The Katsina State-born general expressed
the view that the elections should be conducted on the rescheduled
dates of March 28 and April 11 and that their outcomes should be
respected by all parties.
He, however, warned that any further extension of the elections under whichever guise would not be tolerated.
The APC presidential candidate also
flayed President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration for the poor
management of the country’s economy.
According to him, waste and corruption thrive under the Jonathan administration.
Buhari, who expressed his distaste for corruption, promised to run a transparent government.
He said, “There will be no confusion as
to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not
be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we will plug
the holes in the budgetary process.
“Revenue producing entities such as the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Customs and Excise will have
one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and
regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting
corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority
without political interference.
“But I must emphasise that any war waged
on corruption should not be misconstrued as settling old scores or a
witch-hunt. I am running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and
not adversity. Nigerians can be respected again.”
He said the rebasing in April last
year which rated Nigeria’s economy 26th in the world did not affect the
lives of ordinary Nigerians .
Buhari said, “After the rebasing
exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s
largest economy. Our GDP(Gross Domestic Product) is now valued at $510bn
and our economy rated 26th in the world.
“Also on the bright side, inflation has
been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an
average of seven per cent for about a decade. But it is more of paper
growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and
corruption, has not translated to human development or shared
prosperity.
“A development economist once said three
questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is
happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three,
what is happening to inequality?
“The answers to these questions in
Nigeria show that the current administration has created two economies
in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who
have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy
for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery. Even by
official figures, 33.1 per cent of Nigerians live in extreme poverty.
That’s at 60 million, almost the population of the United Kingdom.
“There is also the unemployment crisis
simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest stress,
with officially 23.9 per cent of our adult population and almost 60% of
our youths unemployed.
“We also have one of the highest rates
of inequalities in the world. With all these, it is not surprising that
our performance on most governance and development indicators (like the
Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and the UNDP’s Human Development
Index) are unflattering.
“With the fall in the prices of oil,
which accounts for more than 70 per cent of government revenues, and
lack of savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be
disproportionately impacted.”
He dismissed the persistent report by
the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, that he was not fit to
rule, saying that his doctors had declared him healthy.
According to him, the
development(fitness) will prompt him to carry out a final onslaught on
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
Identifying joblessness among Nigeria’s
youths as one of the issues that would grab his attention, Buhari said,
“Sixty per cent of Nigerians are youths and most of them are unemployed.
This is a problem we will tackle.”
Buhari also promised to provide robust security for investors to do their business.
When asked his position on Sharia, he
said, “The Nigerian constitution is superior to any other law. Sharia is
on the same level as customary laws. Sharia is limited and anybody who
wants to change this will need to change the constitution. ”
The APC presidential candidate, who had
been variously be accused of dictatorship, said he took responsibility
for whatever happened under his watch as the head of state between 1983
and 1985.
He said, “Standing before you is a
retired general, but now a converted democrat I cannot change the past,
but I can change the present and the future. Standing before you is a
retired general, but now a converted democrat.
“Nigeria lacks the right leadership. I,
Muhammadu Buhari will lead from the front. I’m running for President to
lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.”
Pro and anti-Buhari supporters almost clashed outside the venue of the event but for the intervention of policemen.
Both groups arrived the arena with placards expressing their opinions of the presidential candidate.
The anti-Buhari group, which called
itself Civil Society and Support Groups-Diaspora, was said to have
been bribed with $20,000 by a force against Buhari’s bid to wrestle
power from Jonathan.
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