PORT HARCOURT – The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), retired General Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday said his administration would assemble competent team to efficiently manage the country.
Buhari said this in Port Harcourt at the inauguration of the party’s presidential campaign.
He said that the team would tackle the numerous problems confronting the nation.
“The fundamental issue facing this country is insecurity and the problem of the economy, which was being made worse by corruption.
“I assure you that we are going to finally assemble a competent team of Nigerians to efficiently manage this country.
“ The damage that has been done to this country is great. The level of unemployment, the level of insecurity is intolerable.
“The damage has been done. It will take time, it will take patience, it will take
support from you to make sure that we succeed when we get there.’’
Buhari commended Gov. Rotimi Amaechi for accepting to be the Director-General of the party’s presidential campaign team.
Buhari urged the people to ensure that eligible voters collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to cast their ballots on election day.
The National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun, urged Nigerians to vote for the party to change the fortunes of the country.
‘’If you want electricity, if you want corruption wiped out, if you want indiscipline and insecurity wiped out, then vote for General Buhari and APC in the elections,’’ he said.
Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, the Speaker, House of Representatives, commended Amaechi for choosing two members of the House, Dakuku Peterside and Asita Okorie Asita as governorship and deputy governorship candidates of the party in the state.
“I thank Governor Amaechi for choosing my colleagues in the House as governorship and deputy governorship candidates. This is a national assembly project in Rivers State,’’ he said.
Earlier, Amaechi urged the people to collect their PVC and vote for APC candidates.
He said that the time had come for the people to demonstrate their love for the party by voting for all its candidates at all levels.
Meanwhile, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi yesterday expressed dismay at the increasing wave of insecurity in the state, stating that some members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, were attacked on their way to attend the Flag-off of former head-of-state, General Muhammadu Buhari’s, presidential campaign.
The governor who spoke at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, at the greater Port Harcourt City, lamented that the state that the state was gradually sliding back into the era of insecurity where ex-militants and cult groups terrorized innocent people.
Governor Amaechi recalled:” When we came, we addressed insecurity. In the past, we could not have had our rally here. We are gradually going back to that. I hear today that members of the APC from Asari-Toru (Kalabari) and Khana (Ogoni) LGAs (of Rivers State) were shot at on their way to this place (Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium).”
“The PDP members believe in guns. We believe in God and man. We shall stand and face their bullets. We shall stand and face their guns. The fact that they shot you, brings to the fore the argument we put forward that currently, the government in power cannot protect you and I. If the government could protect you and I, why were we shot at? Who bought guns for those people, who shot at our members?”
He continued: “I thank God for this opportunity. I never knew I would be governor. Today, I am governor by the grace of God. I have stayed in office till 2015. By this time last year, the men who thought they were God, thought I would have been out of office. By this time last year, men had collected money to remove us from office, but the God we worship never allowed it to happen. Now, they are the people struggling. We told them there will be this time, when they will be looking for our votes.”
I want to thank all of you and thank Rivers people, for accepting to make me your governor. I may not have been the best governor you have ever seen. I am not a perfect man at all, because I am human. I’m assuring you as your governor that I will continue to stand by you. They will do nothing, if we all stand together.”
“You know the story of the broom. You can break a broom. You cannot break them when they are together. That is why APC has brought the symbol of a broom to our party. It is not enough to gather. Go and get your PVCs and vote for all APC’s candidates, beginning from Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; his vice; Rivers governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside; and his running mate, Honourable Asita Okorie Asita. We will make sure they win.”