Segun Atanda/
A presidential aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has listed reasons why he would not want Nigerians to trust and return President Muhammadu Buhari to power again in 2019.
Speaking at a forum where he came to market himself at the Sheraton Hotel in Lagos today, Mallam Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who was Minister for Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs under former President Goodluck Jonathan, told his audience that he would beat President Buhari in Round One if given the opportunity to contest against him.
He said, “I will be frank and honest with Nigerians. A government that has lied continuously; a government that would promise and say I have not made that promise is not a government that can be trusted.
“When APC was campaigning, they said that oil subsidy was a fraud, they wouldn’t do such again; there’s still subsidy; their presidential candidate said, ‘I will abolish the office of the First Lady’, but today the First Lady is still functioning. He said, ‘I will stop medical tourism, will equip Nigerian hospitals to make sure that Nigerians stay back’. And today, who is the Number One Nigerian medical tourist? The President said on the day of his swearing-in, ‘I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody.’ Now, the everybody we know is the 95 per-centers and not the five per-centers.
“So, what happens to people who didn’t vote? Will he equally say by any stretch of the imagination that by refusing to vote you are not entitled to any opportunity in government?”
Sixty-one-year-old Turaki, a former leader of the Nigeria Bar Association is an alumnus of Barewa College that has produced five Nigerian Presidents and over 20 governors.
Notable among Nigerian leaders who had passed through Barewa College in Zaria, Kaduna State, are: the late Mallam Ahmadu Bello, Premier of Northern Nigeria; the late Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of Nigeria; Military rulers – Gen Yakubu Gowon and the late Gen Murtala Mohammed; former presidents of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Turaki spoke about reviving Nigerian economy, job creation, the rule of law, reducing tension and building trust in governance and the issue of security, which, according to him, would determine 2019 elections. He stressed the need for security, saying: “Nobody, no sensible person will come in an atmosphere of insecurity and invest his money in any country.”
He said, “We need to bring back integrity and credibility to the art of governance in this country. I can do that. I have knowledge. I have experience. I have a strong will. I have a good health and dynamism.”
When asked what makes him better than other candidates in PDP, Turaki said, “The advantage that I have over other candidates is my integrity, my credibility, my education, my youthfulness, my position as a bridge builder; I’m not fighting anybody, and nobody is fighting me.
“So, I will ensure that the polity is not overheated. And beyond this, I think the relationship I have established as a private legal practitioner, as the Chairman of Muslim Union, as a Minister, will give me that opportunity of linking up and building stronger bridges. And I come from North-West zone. Yes, most of them come from North-West zone, but the issue will be who has the capacity? Who can defeat President Buhari? And I say, more than all others, if I have the opportunity, I will beat him in Round One.”
Presenting his economic agenda, Turaki said, “Talking about employment, there’s a lot of ways where jobs will be created. We are all living witnesses of millions of jobs that Nigerians have lost during this regime, which has a lot of multiplier effects on the people of this country.
“There’s no country where you allow 2-digit inflation to thrive and expect that your country will grow. We’ll do something about that. “Already, there are critical Institutions like the Bank of Industry, like NEXIM, like others that could give soft loans to our young entrepreneurs that will enable them to begin not only to develop themselves but to grow wealth.
“So, we must liberalize the economy. We’ll look at agriculture. Agriculture has always been a great provider of employment, but the kind of agriculture we are going to do is not what has been done before. We will explore science and technology. We’ll do precision agriculture. Not only are we going to give farmers seed and seedlings, we’ll ensure that we revive the extension program so that farmers will get critical advice on everything they need, including the amount of water. It’s been done in Israel. We’ll do it here.”
He added, “As a President, what you need is a strong political will. Nigeria is well endowed with human and material resources. I can bring many experienced people home to come and serve their fatherland…
“Any leader who is educated; any leader who is hard working, will have unimpaired access to information that would enable him to lead this country.”
On the issue of restructuring, Turaki said: “The Constitution is dynamic; and in the course of this dynamism, our laws that are meant to cover human relations for maximum good, for maximum people, for greater number of people, will require changes here and there…
“Whether it is restructuring from the perspective of true federalism; whether it’s restructuring from the perspective of devolution of power, or from the perspective of resource control, regionalism or state-ism, I believe in restructuring, and I will take bold steps.”
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