God used IBB to overthrow Buhari, says FFK

Femi Fani-Kayode, director of media and publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign organisation, has described Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as an affliction to Nigerians.

Commending Ibrahim Babangida, former military president, for ousting Buhari, he said Buhari has a lot of questions to answer.

Fani-Kayode was speaking at a press conference in Umuahia, capital of Abia state, on Sunday.

“We thank God for the courage of General Ibrahim Babangida and all those that risked their lives and saw fit to remove Buhari from office in 1985,” he said.

“Nigeria was turned into a massive slave camp in which many were tortured, brutalised, humiliated, killed and sent to jail without any due process or evidence of wrongdoing under Buhari between 1983 and 1985.

“That is his legacy to the Nigerian people. Yet today, General Muhammadu Buhari, that same man that staged a coup d’etat against a democratically-elected president in 1983, that same man that was himself removed from office in 1985 by another coup d’etat and that same man after whose removal our people rejoiced in the streets now wants to be a democratically-elected president himself.

“He has tried three times before and has failed yet he keeps trying. We consider it as part of our job to stop him from achieving this ambition because we regard him as being nothing but a plague and an affliction to the Nigerian people.

“We intend to continue to subject General Buhari to public scrutiny and we will not derail in keeping to that standard until our candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, a man of destiny, compassion and character, wins the coming presidential election.”

He appealed to Nigerians to support President Goodluck Jonathan and not allow Buhari to take over the leadership of the country through the “back door”.

“Our drive in this regard is to help obviate a catastrophic political future for Nigeria simply by ensuring that a wrong candidate does not ride on the crest of crass propaganda to become the president of this country,” he said.

“It behoves on us and other well-meaning Nigerians to ensure that a man whose health status, academic records and mental state are shrouded in secrecy does not crawl into power through the back door to lead Nigeria.

“We can assure you that our campaign, since we started, has been issues-based. In this regard, we believe that Buhari himself, his utterances, his persona, his actions over the last few years and his record in public office are in themselves major and relevant issues.”

Fani-Kayode wondered how Buhari, who had not been able to establish a sachet water company despite the gratuities that he has been receiving over the years, would turn around the fortune of the country for better.

“We would also like to express our doubts about his ability and competence to manage the economy of our country if elected president,” he said.

“We say this because we are mindful of the fact that he has repeatedly failed to display the discipline, acumen and creativity that is required in starting and managing a personal business for survival, years after leaving office as head of state.

“We allude to this against the background that other retired generals and heads of state that we know in Nigeria, including General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and others have been investing in farming, tertiary education, oil and gas and other enterprises.

“If General Buhari has been receiving pension, gratuities and other financial benefits like other  retired Generals from different quarters since he left government, he should tell the Nigerian people which business venture he has ever set up for his own well-being and that of other Nigerians.

“We believe that our dear General would have done himself proud even if all he could do was to set up a pure water manufacturing business that could keep younger Nigerians around him in gainful employment. Yet even this he failed to do. This is a man that wants to be elected president of a country that has the largest economy in black Africa.”