The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to respect the wishes of Nigerians for credible polls.
Buhari spoke while addressing Eze Ndigbos of the 19 Northern states and Abuja at his campaign office in Abuja on Friday.
The APC candidate said he had realised that multi-party democracy remains the best form of government since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to him, ordinary folks did not leave him alone to enjoy his exit from power after he was released from detention even when they knew he was not rich.
Buhari said, “I was sitting at home after leaving detention; I thought people will leave me alone because they know I am not rich. I don’t even have a filling station not to talk of oil blocks.
“So, I thought I lost their sympathy but people kept on coming to me; there was nothing I could do. And then I speculated that maybe if I join partisan politics, I will get into a position to be heard.”
He, however, said democracy as the best form of government would only make meaningful impact when the government respects the rights of citizens to elect those who govern them.
Buhari said, “Let the government respect Nigerians as individuals to choose those they want to represent them and to lead them and Nigerians will be surprised to see how peaceful this country is going to be.
“I think in a part of every human being, there is an element of rebellion. If you try to force a human being to do what he doesn’t like, he will develop a way of resisting it but if you develop a system; you persuade him to accept the system, then justice must be done and you will be surprised how peacefully you will live.”
He said the last 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party rule had been a disaster as public institutions collapsed with the business community the worst hit.
The APC candidate added, “Where were we 16 years ago when PDP took over this country? And where are we now? How much was the Naira then and how much is it now? The Naira now is about N230 to one US dollar and I think as a community, you are hit the most in Nigeria than anybody else.
“You are those that go out from Singapore to China, all over the world, you order things, you don’t order in Naira, you order them in Dollars or Pounds Sterling or Yen, now you need trailers of Naira to maintain your businesses.”
He, however, urged Nigerians to vote out PDP for the APC to rebuild the country.
In his remarks, National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Oyegun, urged Ndigbo not to put their eggs in one basket as they had done with the PDP in the last 16 years.
He asked them to ask themselves what the South-East had benefitted from the PDP in the last 16 years.
