I’ve fulfilled my campaign promises -Buhari

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja and Chukwudi Nweje

 President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said he has fulfilled the promise he made in his inaugural address on May 29, 2015  to stabilise the country and tackle Boko Haram.

This is as he has declared that nobody can blackmail him on inexplicable wealth and illicit enrichment while in office, saying: “I do not have one square-inch outside Nigeria.”

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, quoted the President as saying this Monday night at a state banquet, organised in his honour in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

He said at the event, the president declared that he has fulfilled the commitment made to Nigerians in his May 29, 2015 inaugural address to frontally and courageously tackle Boko Haram terrorists and stabilise the country.

He also quoted the president as restating  his vow to serve God and Nigeria until his last day in office and beyond.

The President also advised Nigerians to remain patriotic, saying: “As I said more than 30 years ago, we have no other country than Nigeria, we must all stay here and salvage it together.”

The president said the intense and widespread danger of terrorism was the biggest security issue his administration took on nearly eight years ago and expressed his delight that normalcy had restored to the affected states in North East Nigeria.

He recalled that Yobe State was among the states most heavily attacked by terrorists, and that the threat was particularly ubiquitous throughout the North East geopolitical zone.

He, therefore, declared he has fulfilled the commitment made to Nigerians in his May 29, 2015 inaugural address to frontally and courageously tackle Boko Haram terrorists and stabilise the country.

“In the North East, God has helped us to clear Boko Haram, the economy has picked up and some people are asking me about the achievements of my promise to fight corruption. “

Buhari said fighting corruption was not easy under a democracy unlike when he ruled as military Head of State.

Also,  Buhari, yesterday, asked voters in Yobe State and the North eastern region of the nation to vote the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the upcoming general elections assuring he and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, would guarantee the sustenance of progress made in the security, economy and education sectors of the country.

He spoke at the ruling party’s presidential campaign rally in Damaturu, saying a vote for Tinubu and Shettima would guarantee the sustenance of progress made in the security, economy and education sectors of the country.

Meanwhile, mixed reactions have trailed President Buhari’s claim that he has fulfilled the commitment he made to Nigerians in his May 29, 2015, inaugural address to tackle Boko Haram terrorists and stabilise the country frontally and courageously.

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Aka Ikenga,  and Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), disagreed with the president on his claim. While MBF and aka Ikenga said insecurity was still widespread in the country and that Buhari’s aides have shielded him from the true situation, CACOL noted that Buhari defeated Boko Haram as promised, though other forms of security challenges have sprung up under his watch.

MBF President Dr. Pogu Bitrus said: “Nigerians know how to answer to this claim because up till now Boko Haram is still raiding communities, so the issue of defeating them does not arise. Boko Haram attacks are still going on whether the media report them. It is unfortunate that the President is still dwelling in the past. His aides are not telling him the truth. We just pray that as he is leaving office, he will leave some legacies so that Nigeria will be kind to him when he leaves office.”

Former President of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goody Uwazurike said the president has not fulfilled any promise as insecurity has unfortunately become a way of life in the country.

 “Can you tell the man in Borno or Yobe or Mubi in Adamawa that the internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned home voluntarily and going about freely? The IDP camps have even been extended to the North West. Prison officials are now in the line of fire. Even the Kuje prison in Abuja was sacked and nothing happened to the insurgents. Today, insecurities are accepted as a way of life,” he said.

Executive Chairman Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran said that compared to other Nigerian leaders that President Muhammadu Buhari indeed fulfilled his campaign promises to Nigerians to some extent.

He said: “Campaign promises are like wishful thinking, the reality comes when the government if formed and the legislature is inaugurated; it is the legislature that will approve these wishful thinking that form the manifesto of the political party during the election.

“If you look at the issue of anti-corruption, President Buhari really did a lot in addressing corruption. This treasury single account (TSA), and biometric verification number (BVN) went a long way in addressing corruption because they consolidated public and private accounts in a way that the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), NFIU, and other financial intelligence agencies can monitor their flow. Although some of these existed before Buhari came to power, he is the one that mustered the political will to implement them.”

In the area of insecurity, Adeniran noted that the Buhari administration to a large extent defeated Boko Haram.

“ I don’t think there is any part of the country still occupied by Boko Haram. There are no doubt other forms of insecurity have sprung up but they were not envisaged in 2014 when President Buhari promised to defeat Boko Haram. It is left for the incoming government to consolidate the successes made against Boko Haram and also defeat these other forms of insecurity,” he said.