The presidential candidate of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), on Tuesday gained an unusual support as the Islamic Terrorist group in the Northeast, Boko Haram, pledged its total support for the former military ruler.
Boko Haram, in a lengthy press statement circulated through email by its spokesperson and a copy made available to The Nation Newspaper, Abubakar Shekau, anchored its decision on the need to deliver Nigeria, especially the northern region, from the crunching effects of poverty, underdevelopment and insecurity.
It also lamented the unconcerned attitude of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration at the unrelenting degradation of the northern region environment, taking a hard stance also on the increasing insecurity in the northeast.
President Jonathan, according to Boko Haram, does not deserve a second term in office.
The Islamic terrorist group also commended Buhari for proposing to stabilize the oil market and scrap the office of the First Lady - which it considered to be a drain on the nation’s resources and a conduit through which corrupt government officials stole across all levels of government.
It said, “Boko Haram has, upon careful consideration of the state of the nation, endorses and fully supports the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Gen. Mohammadu Buhari.
“Our decision to throw our full support on Gen. Mohammadu Buhari stems from the pathetic state in which the country has been put by the government of Goodluck Jonathan and our strong believe in Buhari as the man and change the country needs.
"We have been putting our trust in Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as our spiritual leader to show us direction. This was one of the reasons we nominated him as our mediator, but as usual, President Jonathan rejected this wonderful proposal."
"We urge every Nigerian to vote for APC and Gen. Mohammadu Buhari. He is the only person that can end this disease in Nigeria called corruption. As a human being, we are aware that he made several mistakes in the past such as ruling for 2 years as a Head of State without a legacy or a single project to his name and government. He also jailed innocent Nigerians such as Alex Ekwueme, Ambrose Alli, Tai Solarin, Sam Mbakwe, Jim Nwobodo etc. He also used retrogressive laws to kill Nigerians and clamped down on the Press – where Journalists were jailed. Anybody can make these mistakes. He is not God that can’t make mistake.
Buhari is the right man for the top job especially for us northerners because he will develop our region for good, not this ‘cosmetic development’ being executed by Jonathan. As a PTF Chairman, Buhari executed 80% of the projects in the north - which show that he has the interest of his people at heart. Buhari and Abacha also made sure that the north benefited from the sharing the national cake. Due to Buhari’s love for his people, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was not jailed but his Vice, Dr. Alex Ekwueme was sent to Kirikiri maximum prison. Buhari also didn’t touch our brother, Ibrahim Awwal – who was caught at Heathrow airport London, with 14 million pounds. These are the things that make us to love Buhari. He has our interest at heart.
“Under Buhari's watch, N25 billion disappeared from PTF accounts and found its way into the pockets of our brothers in the north. Abacha also freely shared the Nigeria's resources with our people and Transparency International was jealous as they listed Nigeria as the most corrupt country in the world in that period. This is just pure jealousy and envy. Abacha never stole money, even Buhari can attest to this.”
“Our main reason of supporting Buhari is because he’s a typical example of what we’re preaching: ‘Western education is sinful.’ This, he has demonstrated as no single educational qualification can be traced to his name, yet he reached the apex of his military career and ruled the country. Is this not a proof that Western education is bullshit? A man without a certificate ruled the country and wants to rule it again, yet those with numero [truncated by WhatsApp]