Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)
PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the All
Progressives Congress for the February 14 election, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari (retd.), has said that campaigns should focus on national
issues and not on his state of health and dead Nigerian leaders.
Buhari’s advice came a day after some
members of the Peoples Democratic Party raised doubts about his health
status and after an advert by Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose warned
Nigerians against voting for a 72-year-old man.
In the said advert, Fayose claimed that
since three ex-leaders from the North-West had died in office, it would
not be wise for Nigerians to vote for Buhari “because we are tired of
state burials.”
Buhari, in a message on his official
Twitter handle said, “How can his (President Goodluck Jonathan) campaign
be talking about ex-dead leaders, jogging around the stadium and
outright lies about health?”
How can his campaign be talking about dead ex-leaders, jogging around the stadium and outright lies about my health?
— Muhammadu Buhari (@ThisIsBuhari) January 19, 2015
Also, the Buhari Support Group Centre on
Monday condemned what it described as an orchestrated campaign of
calumny and character assassination directed at the APC candidate.
It specifically expressed displeasure with the Fayose’s advert, saying it was not decent.
“In line with the Abuja Accord signed by
Gen. Buhari and President Jonathan, the advert in question is to say
the least, in bad taste.
“Is it to say that our opponents have a
death wish for our candidate? Political campaign should stick to issues
and be decent,” the BSGC Director of Publicity, Chidia Maduekwe,
said in a telephone interview with reporters on Monday.
The Buhari Support Organisation,
meanwhile, said it had started a sensitisation campaign to ensure full
compliance with the no-violence accord signed by presidential candidates
in the February 2015 general elections.
Several groups, under the aegis of BSO, urged politicians to adhere strictly to the letter and intent of the accord.
State coordinators of the various groups said this at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday.
Addressing state coordinators of the
groups, in Abuja, on Monday, the Chief of Staff to Buhari, Col. Hameed
Ali (retd.) said Nigerians had had enough of election related violence
since 1956.
He said all hands must be on deck to stop reoccurrence.
“We must change the way the world sees
us and this 2015 election offers the rare opportunity to showcase our
desired new direction,” Ali said.
Also, a former acting National Chairman
of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, said the advert by
Fayose was against the non-violence accord signed by all presidential
candidates.
In a statement on Monday, Baraje, a
chieftain of the APC, said the Fayose advert allegedly wished for the
death of Buhari, who was military head of state between 1984 and 1985.
Baraje, a chieftain of the APC said that the advert credited to Fayose was capable of causing anarchy in the country.
He said, “One would have expected that
at the second coming of Fayose as governor he would be more careful and
have outgrown his alleged carelessness and irresponsible motor park
attitude which is not expected of a governor.
“It is regrettable that barely a week
after all political parties, the Independent National Electoral
Commission and other stakeholders met to agree on conducting an
issues-based and non-violent campaign, a senior member of PDP, who is
meant to be the leader of an entire state, could stoop so low to wish
death on anyone, not to talk of a presidential candidate.
“The failure of President Jonathan and
the leadership of the PDP to distance itself from such comments and call
Mr. Fayose to order is a direct indication that they are in support of
Mr. Fayose making a mockery of the dead and trying to play God as only
Allah is the one that knows the time of the passing of any individual.”
Meanwhile, Buhari, in continuation of
his campaign on Monday, told the electorate to defend their votes in the
February elections and give no room for any manipulation.
“Do not leave the polling units until the result is declared,” Buhari, who spoke in Minna, Niger State, said.
According to him, anything that may jeopardise the result of the election should not be allowed to take place.
“Where ever you are, defend your votes during the February elections,” he stressed.
The APC presidential candidate also
assured the people of the state that he would provide enough electricity
to enable businessmen and women to carry out their businesses in a
well- dignified manner.
He said if voted he would improve the
agricultural sector in Niger State, given the status of the state as one
of the food baskets of the nation.
Speaking at the rally, APC National
Leader and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, said President
Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had been characterised by lies,
saying that was why the country could not move forward.
“Six years ago, he promised us that he
we will step down and will not re-contest, but today the reverse is the
case, putting the country into economic mess,” Tinubu said.
He urged the electorate to get their
voter cards ready for the elections, saying the cards would bring
development to the nation.
At the rally were chieftains of the APC
nationwide, including the APC presidential running mate, Prof. Yemi
Osinbanjo; Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi; and a former
governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki.
The deputy governor of Niger State, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, who defected from the PDP to the APC on Monday, was also at the rally.
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