President Goodluck Jonathan had on Friday, January 9, 2015 taken his re-election rally to Enugu State.
During the rally, President Jonathan who represents the ruling People’s Democratic Party said that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), cannot remember his own mobile phone number.
Jonathan, whose unscripted address was mostly a response to previous statements made by Buhari, accused the APC presidential candidate of deceiving Nigerians by promising to revive the economy without explaining how he would achieve the feat, according to a report by Punch.
The President wondered how Buhari would develop the country’s economy, a feat he could not achieve while he was in office as head of state between 1983 and 1985.
“Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his own phone number that he can change the economy of the country.” Jonathan quizzed.
President Jonathan stated that he detests to “go personal during campaigns,” but that “sometimes circumstances demand that certain things must be said.”
He further noted that Buhari is an old man and intends to rule Nigeria as a medieval king.
He said, “We cannot run the government as if we are in the medieval age; we cannot run a government where somebody said he would throw people into jail.
“You are not a medieval king – a medieval king can throw you into jail but we have to follow the rule of law because we cannot go back to the old days.”
President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday during a rally in Enugu said that the All Progressives Congress candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), cannot remember his own mobile phone number.
Jonathan, whose unscripted address was mostly a response to previous statements made by Buhari, accused the APC presidential candidate of deceiving Nigerians by promising to revive the economy without explaining how he would achieve the feat.
The President wondered how Buhari would develop the country’s economy, a feat he could not achieve while he was in office as head of state between 1983 and 1985.
“Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his own phone number that he can change the economy of the country.” Jonathan asked.
The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate said that although he did not like to “go personal during campaigns,” “sometimes circumstances demand that certain things must be said.”
Jonathan said that Buhari belonged to the medieval age, adding that he (the APC candidate) intended to run the Federal Government as a medieval king.
He said, “We cannot run the government as if we are in the medieval age; we cannot run a government where somebody said he would throw people into jail.
“You are not a medieval king – a medieval king can throw you into jail but we have to follow the rule of law because we cannot go back to the old days.”
In his bid to justify his claims that Buhari was just making empty promises, President Jonathan, read the speech made by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) after overthrowing Buhari’s regime through a military coup on August 27, 1985.
A part of the speech stated that Buhari “deceived Nigerians” from 1983 to 1985. “The initial objectives of Buhari’s intervention were betrayed as there was a general deterioration of standard of living in the country.”
He further said, “They are telling young Nigerians that they are going to change the economy but they have not told us how they want to manage the economy more than us.
“If they say they want to change agriculture, they should tell us the weak links in the agriculture value chain and what they want to do about it.
“I said in Lagos that I want to work with young people, not to deceive people.
“I am not going to run the government based on my habits, I am going to run the government according to global best practices.”
“There is no government that has fought corruption more than we do,” he said, noting that some previous administrations pretended to be fighting corruption while oppressing their enemies.
