President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that Nigerians voted for him overwhelmingly during the March 28 presidential election because they were tired of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Buhari made this observation in Johannesburg on Monday when he met Nigerians residing in South Africa.
He said: “Government is determined to secure the country, manage the economy, create employment and fight corruption. Some articulate writers have said if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. This APC administration intends to kill corruption in Nigeria. We will do our best; I assure you.
“We are getting the facts and logistic requirements together,” he assured,
He called on Nigerians resident in South Africa to be good ambassadors of the country, stressing that Nigerian and South African leaders will soon meet to discuss several issues bordering on their relationship.
“Those of you who have the opportunity to come here and represent us, make sure that you are representing Nigeria, you are all ambassadors of Nigeria. This means a lot of patience, restraint, self respect and pride. You must have all these,” the President stated.
He said: “But I assure you that after being in the military for 25 years, and getting to the highest rank and becoming head of state and under unusual circumstances. As head of state I went straight to detention for three and half years, so those who are accusing me of locking them up, I too have been locked up, so what.”
He said: “They remember me more as chairman of PTF than as a former head of state, than a governor or a minister of petroleum. Despite the fact that it was during my time that I signed the contract for Warri refinery, Kaduna refinery, more than 3,500 pipelines and more than 20 depot. We got the tankers off the road, we saved lives, we saved fuel, we save the road itself. But from 1999 till date PDP has messed it up. That is why Nigerians decided to vote me.
“Despite the fact that they say money is working from primaries to my election is a proof that Nigerians know what they want once they make up their minds. You can give them the money, some refuse to take it, some took it and said it is our money and they do exactly what they wanted to do.
“So, why did I join partisan politics in spite of that? When I went home people knew that I have no money, I thought they will leave me alone, but they didn’t they were coming to me asking me to do this and do that. And I found that the only way I could do it is by joining partisan politics. And maybe if I speak even if I’m not a member at any level, people will listen to me.
“The second that happened that finally convinced me to join partisan politics was what happened to Soviet Union. You know the Soviet Union was an empire in the 20th century and it collapsed without a shot being fired. Everybody went home, there was confusion.
“Now, there are 18 countries out of the old Soviet Union. They were more advanced than the western countries in science because they wanted to go to space specifically in 1957, and they had more nuclear war heads and delivering system than Warsaw”.
