President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday urged eligible voters in Yobe State and the northeastern part of the country to ensure that his party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is elected in the forthcoming general elections.
Speaking at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally at August 27 Stadium in Damaturu, the President said a vote for Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, would guarantee the sustenance of progress made in the security, economy and education sectors of the country.
He spoke as Senate President Ahmad Lawan bemoaned the fate of the northeastern flank in the hands of the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in the country.
The Senate President said: “PDP mismanaged and mal-administer Nigeria for 16 years.
“When Boko Haram started in the northeast, in Borno state, the then leadership of PDP said it was not true. There was nothing like Boko Haram and Boko Haram blossomed. Boko Haram flourished and Boko Haram gained ground and took root.
“Your Excellency, Boko Haram caused maximum, devastating impacts in our lives here. Your Excellency, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa particularly, we were under a state of emergency for 18 months.
“For 18 months, the Federal Government then, stopped our statutory allocations to our local governments. We suffered, our people suffered. No developmental projects going on at all until you came in 2015. That was the salvation moment.
“We are indeed very grateful to Almighty God that the APC, that platform and the people of Nigeria needed a change. They needed a leadership that will care. They needed a leadership that will not segregate and that leadership is your leadership.
“During that time, even the ecological fund or stabilisation account was based on party. They will give to only PDP states. They will not give other states that were in opposition.You came, you changed all that.
“Your Excellency, today, we have 41 million registered Nigerians as APC members. All we need to do is mobilise our base.
“Your Excellency, Yobe State is an APC base. Infact at the risk of sounding controversial, I there say that there is no state in Nigeria that is more APC than Yobe State. We are going to deliver every contestable seat to APC in Yobe State.
“Your Excellency, you have been in the seat of leadership in this country. For the seven and half years, you have done wonderfully well.
‘They lied. And lied and lied. They want us to believe that they did something. Infact PDP should be ashamed of itself. They destroyed this country. They should have no chance to go round this country, seeking the support of Nigerians.
“You have provided security. As far as we are concerned, the new insecurity that we are seeing, we have acknowledged that it is true and that is the beginning of the solution and we are all working hard to ensure that before you leave, before Asiwaju takes the oath of office on the 29th of May, 2023, the security situation would have further improved.”
President Buhari vowed that following the victory against terrorists in the region, the APC-led government is more than ever before energized to defeat whoever threatens the unity of Nigeria.
The President, who addressed the mammoth crowd in Hausa language, recounted how Boko Haram inflicted damage on the people, their property and the economy, before their decimation by Nigeria Armed Forces and security agencies.
Emphasizing the need for education in countering the despicable ideology of Boko Haram, the President told parents and guardians in Yobe:
‘‘Make sure you send your children to school and make them understand that whatever you have in this world can be taken away from you except the knowledge you have in your head.
‘‘I was an orphan; I did not know my father. I spent nine years in a boarding school and because of education, I was enlisted into the Nigerian Army.
‘‘I want you to strengthen your faith, try your best to uphold the children and family God has entrusted to you. Do not betray that trust’’
To the APC flagbearers in the forthcoming general elections, President Buhari challenged them to ensure good governance when elected and not to disappoint the electorate.
He declared that the governing party has done its utmost in the last eight years at the Federal level and would continue to ensure the progress, prosperity and stability of Nigeria.
In his remarks, the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urged Nigerians to reject the lies peddled by the opposition parties on the Buhari-led administration.
‘‘This government is a government of progress, integrity and honesty,’’ he said.
The APC Presidential candidate, who lauded Buhari for the return of peace and normalcy in the Northeast region of the country, promised that his government would turn the region into the Agro-allied processing Centre of Nigeria.
‘‘We will give you good jobs that you can depend on. Agriculture will come back. Hunger will go away. We will give you what is necessary, consumer credit to build houses and roofs over your heads,’’ he said.
Tinubu also promised to make the perennial ASUU strikes history, adding that undergraduates will not need to spend extra years in the university beyond the standard duration of course of study.
He, therefore, urged the people of Yobe and Northeast Nigeria to vote APC candidates in the general elections, assuring that Nigeria economic prosperity will blossom under his watch.