Ahead of the 2015 elections, former military head of state, Major General Muhammed Buhari (retd) has warned that no party should think of rigging the election as that will be impossible.
Buhari spoke Monday at the public presentation of the book, Witness to History: ACN and the Struggle for Democracy, Liberty and Justice, written by Lai Muhammed, ACN’s National Publicity Secretary, held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
He said with the merger of opposition parties to form All Progressives Congress, APC, everyone should mobilise people in their constituency for a change of guard at the helm of affairs in 2015, adding that the All Progressives Congress, APC, had offered Nigerians the solution to their problems.
“With this merger, we should mobilise our constituency, and I don’t think that any political party along the line will attempt to rig because there wouldn’t be any need for that. Nigerians are very serious about it and we are determined to continue with our plan,” he said.
Buhari added that he and other progressives were solidly ready to ensure that the votes of Nigerians count in the next election.
“This book, I think should be in the library of most schools-secondary and university, because if we don’t read such genuine work, we will keep on repeating our mistakes. I am sure that we are coming up with the solution. And the solution is that, let all the parties, except the party in power, agree to come together and give an alternative to Nigerians,” he stated.
Buhari said the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, would be holding its convention in Zamfara State, while the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, would hold theirs in Abuja the same day with his party to formally ratify the merger into APC.
Speaking, former governor of Lagos State and national leader, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the APC is the moving storm that would eventually end the reign of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015.
Tinubu said the PDP –led government had failed the country and that 2015 is the time for change and that the APC would take over power and bring about that change.
“The ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party has been warned about the rot in the judiciary. But they did not heed. They need to go. It has been warned against insecurity and insurgency in the Niger Delta. Yet, it never listened. It is time for them to go. The storm is here. It is a positive storm. APC is the storm to effect needed change in Nigeria,” he said.
He said ACN had been in the opposition for too long, saying that “In fact, we should stop using the term opposition. We are progressives. We are government in waiting because we are progressives. We are not just opposition.
“We stand for something. It is for this reason we oppose those in power. We do not oppose for the sake of opposing. We stand for peace, liberty and justice. Let me also add that we stand for prosperity, welfare, empowerment, development, tolerance, unity, eradication of corruption and brotherly love,” he stated.
He added that the the APC was out to oppose injustice, poverty, ignorance, indifference and bad governance as well as oppose anyone in power whose activities create condition that allowed corruption, injustice, poverty, unemployment and insecurity to lives and properties to thrive.
Tinubu said whether the PDP liked it or not, “we shall always continue to oppose them for those things. Our overriding mission is to gain power at the national level from those that are there and bring about the progressive change that the party in government has not been able to achieve.”
Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola said there would be a vacancy in Aso Rock in 2015, appealing to Nigerians not to take anything for granted, urging them to discard the ruling party’s statement that there “is no vacancy in the highest office in the land. Then to what purpose are they organising election because the very notion that there is an election suggests that as a matter of law, there will be a vacancy in 2015.”
Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, who also spoke at the event, urged the people of Nigeria “to pray for the success of the merger so that we will not take things for granted in this country.
“I would like people to pray for the success of the merger so that we will not take things for granted in this country. In the United States, there are many registered political parties. But whenever election comes, it is only the Republicans and the Democrats that we know.
“When people come together it is because they share certain things in common. We need to create opportunities for people to really look at the option and say this is where we will have a better person. Let us not allow personal ambition to becloud the general goals,” he said.
