The presidency on Sunday spoke on
how President Muhammadu Buhari won another term in office.
This was contained in an article
by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.
He said Buhari who had in 2015
ended 16 years of continuous rule by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
recorded yet another resounding victory to win a second term in office, leading
his closest, Atiku Abubakar, rival by a record-setting four million votes in
2019.
He noted that the All
Progressives Congress, APC, gained the highest parliamentary majority in the
Fourth Republic in the Senate and the House of Representatives, giving the
President an ample room to carry out reforms he wished to carry out, but was
outmaneuvered and frustrated by the eighth National Assembly.
It reads: “While campaigning for
the 2015 general elections, President Buhari’s All APC made promises to end
Boko Haram terrorism and secure the country for it to be efficiently managed;
to restructure the economy, halt its downward slide and create jobs and to
fight corruption because, as the president repeatedly says, “if Nigeria doesn’t
kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.”
“His climactic victory against
the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, his strong message on the three issues as
listed above, his practical and serious approach helped to awaken a nation
misled by characters who placed self above nation for sixteen years and more.
“The Buhari administration has
established for itself an anti-corruption reputation and has been in office
nearing four years without a major scandal. The African Union has on account of
this, selected the President as the continent’s anti-corruption champion.
“The Buhari administration can
pat itself on the back for this achievement when it is viewed against the established
culture in which corruption is the norm. To win the war against corruption and
institute transparency in the affairs of government, the Buhari administration
introduced a number of fiscal reforms and plugged several leakages.
“In the firm belief that the
party was not mistaken about the problems facing the country, Candidate Buhari
went into the February, 2019 campaign on the same issue platforms. The
President and his party looked certain of victory from the sea of crowds that
attended his political rallies all over the 36 states of the federation. He was
the only candidate to have campaigned at least once in each state and the
Federal Capital Territory.
“These rallies attracted large
crowds, mostly of the poor who are trusting in his impeccable qualities of
honesty and integrity, and have bought into the idea that he will quickly push
their country onto the top by lifting up the economy, creating jobs, securing
the nation and ending the nightmarish corruption which had become the order of
the day. Some of the events were marked by incidents of road accident, podium
or building collapse and stampede leading to tragic losses of life.
“At many of those well-attended
rallies, the venues fell short of the people gathered. Thousands of supporters
outside tried to barge into the inner rings of the venues. Pleas were not heard
by surging crowds which resorted sometimes to throwing chairs, sachet water and
bottles into the no-man zones in front of the stage.
“It was evident from the
commencement of the campaign that President Buhari had a a two-pronged election
strategy, one to showcase the achievements of his administration in its first
term and two, to cash in on his popularity with the lower rungs of the
population.
“The party itself doubled down on
President Buhari by zeroing in on his image as a diligent, coolheaded and
incorruptible leader. In that enduring appeal, the APC saw a trump card going
into the election. Nobody can question President Buhari’s achievements. They
are there for all to see.
“The administration has
significantly curtailed corruption to the point of abolishing what is called
“grand corruption.” Given Treasury Single Account,TSA, the Integrated Payroll
and Personnel Information Scheme, IPPS, the Bank Verification Number, BVN number
and Whistle Blower schemes, it is no longer possible for people in authority
to, for instance, request the withdrawal of millions, or sometimes billions of
Naira or US Dollars to be shared among party members as was the practice under
the past administrations. To boot, the Buhari administration has signed onto
the global Open Government Partnership, OGP.
“Reforms are being carried out in
the justice sector with a number of domestic legislations and international
agreements to facilitate the identification, tracing, freezing, recovery and
forfeiture of ill-gotten assets. The administration’s primary sectors of
agriculture and solid minerals have experienced growth of 180 and 565
percentage points respectively. Nigeria has today achieved near self-sufficiency
in rice production.
“Government has launched a series
of funding and capacity development initiatives to support Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises. The work of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment
Council (PEBEC), inaugurated by President Buhari in August 2016 has resulted in
moving Nigeria up 24 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business
rankings, and earning a place on the list of 10 most improved economies. In
this regard, the administration has issued a number of Executive Orders on
improving efficiency in the business environment and promoting local content.
“The Buhari administration has
also demonstrated a single-minded commitment to upgrading and developing
Nigeria’s transport, power and health infrastructure. Road projects are ongoing
across every state of the country, with many of these projects having been
abandoned for many years.
“The country’s narrow-gauge rail
network of 3,500 Kms is currently being upgraded; Abuja’s light rail system has
been completed and commissioned with a link to the Abuja-Kaduna rail line,
which has equally been completed and launched. The Ibadan-Lagos standard gauge
rail is being test run. Ibadan-Kano has been awarded.
“The administration has
successfully reconstructed the Abuja Airport runway, completed and commissioned
new terminal buildings in Port Harcourt and Abuja with Lagos, Kano, Enugu and
the others soon to be inaugurated.
“Several water supply projects
and dam/irrigation projects have been completed and many more on the way to
being delivered. About 100 ecological projects have been awarded and completed
in the six geopolitical zones.
“The Buhari administration has
more than doubled power generation capacity. It has increased generation to
8,100 MW and expanded transmission to more than 7,000 MW capacity, and has
successfully deployed thousands of solar power systems to rural and urban
households.
“This is an administration that
has been investing in people. It has introduced a social Investment Programme
(SIP), which so far, has four components. These are the N-power employment
scheme that is hitting 500,000 this year, the home grown school feeding program
that feeds more than nine million school children across the federation, the
Government Enterprise and Empower Program, GEEP giving out interest-free loans
to millions of market women, traders, artisans and farmers and the conditional
cash transfer, CCT which pays N5,000 monthly to the poorest and most vulnerable
households in the country.
“In dealing with security, one of
the first major steps by the Buhari administration was the revitalisation of
the Multi-national Joint Task force, MNJTF aimed at combating transborder crime
and the Boko Haram insurgency. The MNJTF has the support and participation of
neighbouring countries Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, in addition to Nigeria.
“On the day of his inauguration,
the President had directed the relocation of the command and control centre of
the Boko Haram war to Maiduguri, the epicentre of the insurgency. The military
has since proclaimed victory over the Boko Haram terrorists, following the
capture of their operational and spiritual headquarters, “Camp Zero” in Sambisa
Forest.
“So far, more than one million
displaced persons have returned to their homes and communities. About 20,000
hostages have been freed. One hundred and six (106) Chibok Girls, abducted in
April 2014 and 105 Dapchi Girls abducted in February 2018 have been released
and reunited with their families
“In the area of diplomacy and
international relations, the Buhari administration has re-established Nigeria’s
position and influence in regional and global arena.
“As a political leader, Muhammadu
Buhari enjoys three formidable assets– his record as a disciplined former Army
General, his reputation as an honest leader who has not allowed corruption to
flourish under his watch when he served as a state Military Governor, Minister
of Petroleum and Military Head of State and the public perception of his record
as one who stands for and by the truth, Mai Gaskiya.
“The main opposition to President
Buhari, the Peoples Democratic Party failed to realize how much these qualities
meant to ordinary Nigerians; they did not reckon with the disillusionment of
the citizens with their perceived acts of commission and omission for the 16
years they were in power.
“They must by now, have realized
with a with benefit of hindsight, that demonization and denigration of an individual
does not bring in poll dividends. In their campaigns, they chose to demonise
and denigrate Muhammadu Buhari as President. It did not pay”.
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