From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
Katsina Governor, Aminu Masari, has maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari rescued Nigeria from what he described as the prevalent anarchy prior to his election.
“When this government came in 2015, you could not go to your prayer house, whether as Christian or Muslim in peace, you could not go to any public gatherings in peace without security scanning. Life was very difficult for the people and there was tension everywhere because of the security situation. A journey of two hours took a minimum of five hours because of numerous security checkpoints. But today, we thank God because there is tremendous improvement although we are not there yet.”
Masari stated this when members of an All Progressives Congress (APC) group, the Progressive Consolidation Group (PCG) paid him an advocacy visit where the canvassed support for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as successor to Buhari in 2023.
The Katsina governor said it was too early to project an APC presidential candidate insisting that members should first of all enlighten Nigerians on the achievements of the Buhari administration.
“Some critics may say that we have not made sufficient progress, but looking at history within a period of six years, I believe we have made history. It is within the period of this six years that we have the lowest revenue earning in the history of our democracy. When we took over, the revenue earning for the country went down to as low as $27 to 28 dollars per barrel of crude oil between November and December 2017. Despite all that, the Federal Governmen, states and local governments have not failed to meet the salary and other obligations to citizens.
“The Federal Government in its wisdom introduced budget support as government gave funds to states to pay all arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuity irrespective of political party differences. Moreover, the Paris Club money that was withheld since 1999 was refunded and given to states and local governments. We have various programmes of social intervention by the Federal Government as no previous governments have ever given money directly in the hands of the lowest of the low in society than the Buhari administration.
“From the time I have known political parties, no other political party has done as much as what the APC had done despite security challenges in parts of the country and most importantly the Boko Haram issue. We need to market APC more in order to counter the bashing concerning insecurity. Yes, there is insecurity, there is no doubt about but today, there are no local governments in the hands of insurgents or bandits.
“Project first what the APC has done so far and why it should be returned to power in 2023 , then who benefits comes second. “The APC should be strong enough before the elections before we can have a candidate who will be successful.”
PCG National Coordinator, Ahmed Mohammed, described Osinbajo as the best candidate to take over from Buhari.
“Looking at his experience, capacity, eloquence, credibility and above all, the need for the APC and Nigeria to ensure focused continuity in power, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will make a great leader to fly our party’s and the national flags very high,” Nohammed said.