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By Nasir Kura
President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would today commence the 2019 presidential campaign in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital.
The President, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, national chairman of the APC Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, governors and chieftains of the ruling party are expected at the event which is being organised by the Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation headed by the Minister of Transportation and Director General of the campaign team Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
The President had on Tuesday hinted that the APC campaign team would commence operations ahead of the 2019 elections.
Speaking at a Christmas Homage by residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) led by the Minister, Mr. Mohammed Musa Bello, the President said his re-election campaign would focus on the scorecard of his administration in the key areas of security, economy and the fight against corruption.
He said these three overarching issues were still as relevant to the country as it was before the 2015 polls that brought the APC-led government to power.
“Very soon we will go to the geopolitical zones to remind the people of our promises in 2015 on three fundamental things: security, economy and the fight against corruption.
‘‘Unless we secure the country, we cannot manage it properly… that is why shortly after I was elected, I went to Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Republic of Benin to seek their support in the fight against the insurgency. People in the North East know that we have recorded remarkable improvement in the fight against Boko Haram,’’ he said.
The President also used the occasion to reassure Nigerians that present administration remains committed to tackling kidnapping and banditry in addition to finding a lasting solution to the conflict between herders and sedentary farmers.
He said the administration has done more work with less resources in agriculture, infrastructure and social investments, considering the state of the economy it inherited from the previous administration.
On agriculture, the President said he remained grateful to God for the bumper harvests experienced by farmers in different parts of the country in 2016, 2017 and 2018 despite devastating floods.
‘‘I am very happy that all the people who returned to agriculture have not regretted it,’’ he said.
On the fight against corruption, the President pledged that he would continue to do his best to recover what rightly belongs to Nigeria, guided by the rule of law and respect for constituted authority.
The President jocularly said people were calling him ‘‘Baba Go Slow’’ because he had jettisoned the military way of fighting corruption and opted for due process under a constitutional democracy.
‘‘When I was going fast I was arrested so why should I go fast again. It is not Baba that is slow it is the system. So whatever the case I will not stop pointing fingers at those who have illegally abused trust by taking [public] funds entrusted to them,’’ he said.
