Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
Spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo (SAN), on Thursday, said the president is confronting the wheelers and dealers of the Nigerian society to protect the poor, the weak and vulnerable and is taking the ‘bullets’ from those not disposed to the President’s commitment to the vulnerable.
He said the president’s move has given rise to cheap blackmails and fake news to discredit his government.
Keyamo said this, in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, in a lecture organised by the Kwara State chapter of the Buhari/Osinbajo Project 2019.
Keyamo added that President Buhari had taken the bullets from the rich to protect the poor in the last three years of his administration, urging the people to reciprocate the gesture in 2019.
The senior advocate of Nigeria added, “Some elements have accused us of not fulfilling our promises of making ‘Nigeria heaven on earth.’
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“But the ultimate end of any struggle is to establish a system that will make a deliberate effort to confront the wheelers and dealers of the society; to protect the poor, the vulnerable and the weak.
“I can tell you that there is no government in the history of this country since 1960 that has compensated the poor, the vulnerable in the last three years than this government.
“There is no government that has gone after recovering what belongs to you with serious-mindedness more than this government in the last three years.
“I am sure you were all living witnesses to the humongous amount of money recovered in pit latrines, wardrobes, in villages, water tanks and even graveyards. Whilst this was going on, the blackmails, the fake new was so intense.
“What Buhari has done in the last three years was to take the bullet from the rich in order to protect the poor.
“Previous governments sold our people out for political correctness, but Buhari refused. For six months they refused to pass the budget. He was looking at them, they were looking at him.
“When they were tired, the same bad eggs who left us in this state were the champions of those forces. So you have a president who has fought for you, why can’t you fight for him.
“This is the time he needs you more to fight for him. It is reciprocal and that is why we must remind ourselves today why we must stand firmly behind him.”
Keyamo said described those that defected as self-serving and having no interest in the masses.
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He continued, “Most of those bad eggs that left us complained of inclusiveness. Inclusiveness is a euphemism for sharing formula.
“And that was the system of governance that was established before 2015; before President Buhari came on board.
“That is the system that the president has struggled to change in the last three years. This has not gone down very well with so many people.
“Those bad eggs that have left us, rather than accept that we should invest money on infrastructure they would rather the money is shared among themselves, the system we had before 2015 was the one that denied physical infrastructure in this country.
“The country earned humongous amount of money from oil, our mainstay, in the 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s rule.
“If you compared what they achieved with the monies with what President Buhari has done in the last three years, you will see the amount of colossal stealing that happened in the last 16 years.
“For example, in the whole of the South East, do you know that for 16 years, the only major road that was done in the region was Onitsha-Owerri road.
“In the last three years from the N16.6 billion that was allocated for the region, they have done two major roads and the project is ongoing now. They are the Enugu-Port Harcourt and Enugu-Onitsha Expressways.
“This is how they deceived us in 1985. They said if you fight corruption it will fight back. This is the genesis of the fake news you are hearing.
“They see that they cannot confront him on the issue of integrity. While they are abusing him at home, the African Union (AU) said the president should come and lead them in anti-corruption crusade in the continent. Also President Donald Trump adjudged as the most honest man from Africa. But here they are abusing him because of politics.
“Remember after Buhari was overthrown in 1985 we went through the worst period in our history in terms of corruption. Corruption became an institution since then. If it happens again we might not survive as a nation,” Keyamo concluded.