Ngozi Okafor, London
An apparently fit Major General Muhammadu Buhari addressed the Chatham House in London pledging to personally lead a war on Boko Haram insurgents, curb wastes as well as corruption if elected president.
However, the presidential campaign organization of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pooh-poohed the pledges, linking the retired Army boss to the Boko Haram crisis that he is promising to tackle.
Buhari, whose health status had been cause for worry because he was not seen in public since arriving in the United Kingdom last week, told the packed audience at the Chatham House how he laughed off rumours that he was ill, and how a woman reportedly burst into tears in Maiduguri, Borno State, when told that he was dead.
The former military ruler, who is the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was accompanied by leaders of the party, including the national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Rivers State governor, Rotimi Ameachi; and his Edo State counterpart, Adams Oshiomhole.
Buhari who stood for much of the time the session lasted, declared: ?The corrupt will not be appointed to my government.?
On the reasons he is in the race to be president for the fourth time, Buhari said: ?I?m running to lead Nigeria to prosperity, not adversity.?
But while the APC presidential candidate was wooing hearts and answering questions from the audience, supporters of the ruling People?s Democratic Party (PDP) and those of his APC were locked in a solidarity contest outside the venue.
With various imposing and colourful banners, songs and taunts that nearly got out of hand, about 150 loyalists of both parties matched each other ?s zeal and tactics and also kept passersby and observers captivated for almost two hours, even when Buhari and his team had gone out through the back door.
On fears about his background as a former military dictator, Buhari said: ?As you all know, I had been a military head of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country. We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has shown that another and a preferable path to change is possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.?
Buhari expressed concern that the Boko Haram is wreakinghavoc on the country. He noted that the sect ?has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium.?
Buhari added: ?What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired general and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country.?
The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, faulted the posturing of Buhari at Chatham House.
Fani-Kayode, in a press statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the campaign organization declared:
?It is amazing that a man that refuses to participate in a debate in his own country is so ready to go to a foreign country to sell his message in a desperate attempt to curry favor with the people of that country.
?We wonder whether General Buhari told his foreign audience whilst he was in London how much he loves Boko Haram. We wonder whether he told them that he once said that he believes that ??an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north?? and that the Boko Haram terrorists should be appeased, pampered, resettled and paid allowances.
?We wonder if he told them that he was once nominated by Boko Haram to be their spokesman and representative during proposed negotiations with the Federal Government.
?We wonder if he told them that he was the one that ordered and organised the violent injecting, crating and disgraceful kidnapping of a former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the name of Alhaji Umaru Dikko from the streets of London 31 years ago when he was in power.
?We shall state our views about General Buhari?s stage-managed show of shame at Chatham House at a later date; and, at that time, we shall go into far more detail.
?For now, all we can say is that it is truly pitiful that a former Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria believes that it is more important to win the hearts and minds of the British than it is to win the hearts and minds of the Nigerian people.
?General Buhari can run to any foreign country in the world to say anything that he likes but at the end of the day the decision as to who will lead Nigeria as from May 29th this year will be determined by no one else but the Nigerian people. The game is on here and not in London.?