Igbo leaders yesterday in Onitsha tabled their requests before President Buhari to facilitate his re-election bid.
The demands include the appointment of someone from the Southeast as the Inspector General of Police; putting a final end to Boko Haram insurgency and other clashes; and address marginalisation of the region.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) took the presidential campaign to Onitsha in Anambra state, where the President inaugurated the Mausoleum of the First Republic President, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, in Onitsha. The monument was completed by the Buhari-led administration.
The President was received by the state Governor, Willie Obiano, after which he had a stop at the palace of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Achebe, who prayed for Buhari’s success, and tabled the request.
Reiterating his campaign promises, the President said the APC administration had so far addressed the security situation in the country, regional development and equal ministerial appointment.
Read also: Fayose left Ekiti in debt of N155.79b, Fayemi reveals
The President added that the economy was recovering and the country on the track of development.
“The larger population is made up of youths between the ages of 35 and below. Nigeria has lots of work to do, to get you employment,” Buhari added.
“We have stopped spending our foreign reserve to import rice; there is sufficiency in rice and we now produce it locally, including the Anambra rice.”
Buhari noted that he requires the support of Nigerians for peace and economic development, assuring his hosts that his administration would use all recovered looted funds for the well-being of the citizens.
Buhari said: “The anti-corruption fight is difficult in the current democratic dispensation, compared to the period I was a military Head of State, when those who looted the economy were arrested and prosecuted.”
He also noted that he had reached an agreement with militants in the Niger Delta on how to protect and ensure safety of natural resources.
Also speaking, the APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, said that the claims by the PDP that they were ready to change from their old ways of fraudulent administration were all lies.
Urging the mammoth crowd not to vote for the opposition party, Oshiomole said: “With what I have seen here today in this light of the nation state, the APC has already won the general elections.”
“I am, therefore, calling on you to ensure that you vote for all of the candidates of the APC from top to down during the general elections.”
APC Campaign Council Director-General Rotimi Amaechi urged the electorate to vote the party all through to ensure a smooth running of the APC administration.
He said: “Whereas the PDP was in power for 16 years, the APC in power for three years had accomplished far more, including rail, roads and fiscal prudence”.
In his contribution, the minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said Nigerians needed a stable and people-focussed government to develop the country forward.
“Join us in this journey to the ‘Next Level’ of a prosperous, strong and stable Nigeria.”
“We have worked hard to fulfil our promises and while the road may have been difficult, over the last three and half years, we have laid the foundations for a strong, stable and prosperous country for the majority of our people,” the minister added.