Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday in Enugu urged the youths not to be deceived by the anti-corruption posture of the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Jonathan, who spoke at a campaign rally organized for him by the Enugu State Government at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium said Buhari and his APC had not exhibited knowledge of the true meaning of corruption.
He said, “if you own a private jet, they will say you are corrupt; if you buy a good car, they will say you are corrupt, but if somebody from South-Africa buys a private jet, they will say it is hard work”.
He, therefore, tasked main opposition party, the All Progressive Congress, (APC) to come up with a blue print for revamping of the economy and tackling corruption.
Jonathan accused the APC of playing politics with corruption in order to get into power.
He recalled that the candidate of the APC in the 2015 General Elections, General Mohamadu Buhari jailed prominent sons of Igboland during his military regime including former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme whom he said was innocent.
He insisted that the best way to stop corruption was to use technology, insisting that one cannot no longer jail people or dump them in prison without trial.
He challenged the APC to emulate the peaceful nature of the PDP presidential rally instead of deceiving the people by telling them that the party when elected into power would fight corruption and revamp the economy.
Jonathan assured that he was fully committed to moving Nigeria forward, recalling that when he became president, he insisted that Nigeria must move forward.
The number citizen of the country expressed optimism that he would emerge victorious in the presidential election in 2015, promising that he would run Nigeria based on global best practices.
Reacting to the allegation that his administration is corrupt, the Nigeria’s President said he was surprised at Buhari,s allegation during his declaration that he was commending people for having private jets.
He defended some private owners of private jets, saying some of them were wealthy businessmen whom other countries appreciate.
According to him, “You can be running with us, you can be running after but you cannot beat us. People want to use their promise to fight corruption to deceive young Nigerians. Somebody tells you he wants to change the Nigeria economy, is he changing it from high tech to analogue. They tell us that they want to change our economy, they should tell us how they want to change our economy”.
Present at the occasion were President Goodluck Jonathan, his vice, Architect Namadi Sambo, former vice President, Alex Ekwueme, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Governors of Enugu, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Sullivan Chime, Theordor Orji and Godswill Akpabio, PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu among others.
