Why I Want to be President – General Muhammadu Buhari

Former Head of State and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, has explained why he decided to vie for presidency;

Buhari, who would formal declare his intention to run for the presidency tomorrow, at the Eagles Square, in Abuja, in a letter he wrote to some prominent Nigerians, intimating them of his aspiration and asking for support, had this to say;

“Just before the 2011 elections, which I contested, I said publicly, in a fit of pique, that that was my last outing as a presidential candidate. Days after that statement torrents of delegations, starting with one from Niger State led by Alhaji Umar Shu’aibu, then chairman of CPC, including a serving senator, three members of each House of Representatives and Niger Sate Assembly expressing strong opposition to my intentions. Another delegation from Kano State, led by General Abdulmalik Jibrin consisting of delegates from most of the local governments in the state came to express similar views. Since then, hardly a week passes without a concerned group or individuals visiting me and arguing that I was wrong to leave competitive politics.
“The stock answer I have always given is that we should first build a bigger party, a viable political platform before I could summon the courage to change my mind. In the meantime, all the indices of good government have deteriorated: insecurity, unemployment, power, failures, educational standards, health standards, the justice system. Wherever you turn, governance has taken a turn for the worse. Above all, corruption has taken a life of its own eating into every institution and every sector. As responsible citizens all of us have a duty to contribute in whatever way we can to put our country in order.”

He lamented that things are getting worse in the country, while corruption in government is increasing:

“Since 2003, successive PDP governments, having rigged themselves into office have become bolder in trampling on the rights of Nigerians; corruption is their capital and force, their raw-material. The populace is becoming increasingly impoverished with unemployment, especially youth unemployment at an alarming rate and with the dire security situation social cohesion is under grave threat.”