Bola Tinubu
A former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said that the statement of President Muhammadu Buhari that, “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” was not targeted at him.
Buhari had during his swearing in ceremony on May 29, 2015 said, “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. It was widely believed that the statement was targeted at Tinubu.
Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress(APC) stated this during the launching of a book,” Nigeria on firmer ground, towards lasting peace and progress” written on the achievement of President Buhari’s administration by presidential media team.
” Peoople have murmured his inaugural address statement that “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” was aimed at me. Well, I find that strange indeed as those words were what I wanted him to say and wanted him to be,” he said.
Represented by a former Lagos state commissioner of Information, Dele Alake, Tinubu said, “Unlike others whose stated policy is to enrich friends, Buhari took the nobler position that it was better to help the millions of hard working but anonymous common folk instead of maintaining the national economy in the status of a festive party for a select few.
“True to his word, President Buhari has achieved a lot in his time in office despite our strained financial condition due to shrunken oil prices.
“Through focused policies, the Buhari administration has set the foundation for enduring growth of a diversifying economy not unduly reliant on an increasingly unreliable foreign appetite for crude oil.”
In his remarks, Buhari urged youths in the country not to allow desperate politicians to use them to violate the sanctity of the ballot and endanger the country during the forthcoming elections.
He assured that the security agencies would be deployed to protect voters during the elections.
”As the nation prepares to give her citizens the opportunity to choose their leaders and representatives in the next few weeks, I urge all Nigerians to exercise their civic duty in an atmosphere of peace and security.
“Let us remember that elections will come and go, but we need a country in which to live. I am appealing to our youths: do not allow yourselves to be used by desperate politicians to violate the sanctity of the ballot and endanger our country. I assure you that the security agencies will protect you as you go out to vote without fear of violence or molestation,” he said.
The president, urged the electorate to give him another opportunity to govern the country, to build and consolidate on the foundations laid for the development of the country.
”Our simple message to the Nigerian electorate is to give us four more years to build and consolidate on the foundations we have painstakingly laid so that we shall all reap the benefits of what we have planted in all sectors of our society.
”We have proved better managers of our national assets and the limited resources available to us than past administrations, and we are committed to entrenching higher levels of accountability and transparency in the years ahead,” he said.
Reviewing the book, a former governor of Ogun State, Segun Osoba, said president Buhari has done creditably well and that, those calling Trader Moni vote-buying “are “fools.”
Trader Moni, is one of the social intervention programme of the present administration, being implemented by the Federal Government and the Bank of Industry to empower petty traders.
