Why Nigerian elite don’t want Buhari as president – APC chieftain

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, has said the Nigerian elite are opposed to the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president because they are aware he would wage unreserved war against corruption. He said as president, Mr. Buhari,

who ruled the country as a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, would rubbish the belief that there is no ideological difference between the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, by implementing the manifesto of the opposition party. Mr. Okechukwu stated this in a goodwill message at the launching ceremony of a group, Friends of Buhari, in Abuja. The group is pushing for the election of Mr. Buhari, a leader of the APC, as candidate in the 2015 presidential election. The former head of state was the presidential candidate of defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in 2003 and 2007 and that of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change, CPC. “The tiny top elite are fully aware that General Muhammadu Buhari, GMB, as a president will stridently, in line with the Manifesto of the APC, wage war against corruption,” he said. “They know he will build new refineries, having built two before as Petroleum Minister; hence putting a stop to refined petroleum products importation where they make billions without query. They know he will not carry raw cash to South Africa to buy military equipment or under fund the Army. They know that he and Tam David-West are the only former Ministers of Petroleum who neither own an oil block nor a petrol station. “They know that GMB is the face of APC, that with him as a presidential candidate, the raging puzzle debate that there is no ideological difference between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and APC will stop. That’s why they crave for PDP vs PDP presidential contest. “It is also pertinent to inform you Friends of Buhari that the Tiny Top Elite are not relenting in their bid to stop GMB from serving the long suffering, long exploited and long looted Nigerian masses.” Mr. Okechukwu who is also the spokesperson of the South East chapter of APC, said the elite had extended the battle to stop Mr. Buhari from ruling the country again to the APC. According to him, “They fought to stop the great merger by forming phantom political associations (but) they failed, as we got registered on July 31st 2013. “Secondly, they attempted to impose Chief Tom Ikimi as the Chairman of our National Executive Committee and failed. They worked hard to make sure that our ward, local government, and state congresses and national convention fail, but we triumphed. “Today, in order to Stop GMB the tiny top elite had covertly influenced the design of a Guideline for Presidential Primary that more or less catapults the APC presidential primary to a Stock Exchange where the highest Bidder will emerge.” “Methinks to be frank, that the National Working Committee of our great party is not aware that the Stock Exchange Guideline they designed is the handwork of the Tiny Top Elite, who are hell bent in stopping GMB to salvage the masses and the middle class of our dear country.” Mr. Okechukwu said if elected, Mr. Buhari would provide maximum security for Nigerians, wage war against corruption and enact a law for the devolution of power. He asked the group to continue to appeal to the leadership of the APC to either adopt Mr. Buhari as a consensus candidate for the February presidential poll or go through direct primaries where the masses that own the APC would genuinely and fully participate in electing their presidential candidate. “Anything short of this will be to the greatest advantage of the ruling political party that vowed to rule Nigeria uninterruptedly for 60 years,” he said.