President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that in all the positions he has held in the country, he has never been convicted of corruption.
He made the declaration at Abakaliki township stadium in Ebonyi State, during the All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential campaign.
“I can assure you that I, as the President today has never been in a position of abusing trust. As a governor of the whole six north eastern states, as minister of petroleum for over three years and as a former head of state. I was arrested, detained, investigated but they never found anything against me.“
The President thanked Ebonyi people for turning out in large numbers for the rally, saying that they demonstrated that they cannot be bought, urged them to hold him by his words.
Buhari recalled that when he came for campaign in 2015, he promised three things, first being to tackle the security situation in the country and that at a time 17 local governments in the north east were under the control of Boko Haram but as at today, there is no local government under the control of the terrorists.
He said, “The important thing is that, please try and hold us by our promise. When we came here the last time, we told you there are three fundamental things the country is facing. First we have to secure the country because part of the country is under threat in the north east, at least 17 local governments were in the hands of Boko Haram. Secondly, the economy. The able bodied unemployed persons in Nigeria are too many. Thirdly, to fight corruption.”
The President congratulated the military and other law enforcement agencies that today none of the local government in the north east is under the control of Boko Haram.
“They have resulted in indoctrinating young men and abducting young girls below the ages of 15, wrap them with explosives and send them to soft targets- churches, mosques, market places and motor parks. Even that is becoming rear now.”
Buhari also said that with favourable weather, Nigeria has achieved food security and no longer imports rice, adding that the money saved from importations is now being used for infrastructural development.
He added that the monies are now being channeled to building of roads, rails among other infrastructural development.
According to him, “We thank God that Nigeria prayed very hard and the three previous rainy season were good. The government realized it and asked the Central Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture to give soft loans and make fertilizer available to farmers at half the price it used to be. And every able bodied persons who does not feel too big to earn a living went back to the farm and nobody regretted it. We have now virtually achieved food security, we no longer import rice as we used to and the money we have saved are for infrastructure. We are doing the roads, the rails and we are doing the new standard gauge and we are improving power.”
He added, “the last thing is about fighting corruption and bribery. Fighting corruption is a very difficult process but we are doing our best by trying to reorganize the Nigerian police or and the judiciary itself. Because, we appointed people that went into public office without their own houses, without even maybe good cars but within three years they build houses in Abuja, open accounts in Europe or America and we cannot touch them. But when we discover what they have we take them to court and when we take them to court we hope they will be prosecuted and then we will punish them.
“I can assure you that I, as the President today has never been in a position of abusing trust. As a governor of the whole six north eastern states, as minister of petroleum for over three years and as a former head of state. I was arrested, detained, investigated but they never found anything against me. So I went through all the rigmarole that is against our development as a nation. God has given us people, he has given us resources.
President Buhari therefore urged the people to vote for him to continue with the good work his administration has started.
Leave a comment