Gen. Buhari, who was receiving a Taraba State delegation, led by the All Progessives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Aisha Alhassan, said the people sacrificed a lot to achieve the success being celebrated across the country.
Acknowledging the fact that some people lost in the process, the President-elect said: “We will never betray the people because they have risked everything. Some even lost their lives in this cause to make sure that APC succeeds and that we have a leadership in place that they trust. That is what multi party democracy is all about.”
Gen. Buhari promised a broad-based government, saying: “I assure you that the government of the APC, when eventually put in place, will be a competent Nigerian government.”
Explaining his belief in multi-partly democracy, the president-elect said: “I will tell you what made me a multi-party democrat. In 1991, after coming out of detention, I was sitting at home and the Soviet Union collapsed.
“They were the world power fighting the western world. In technology, they were the first to go to space and they had intercontinental war heads than NATO. They had more sophisticated weapons, but something happened. There was confusion.
“Today, there’re 18 countries in the former Soviet Union. That was when I believed that multi-party democratic system is a superior form of governance and that is why I joined democracy.
“We have made a big stride this year and I assure you God willing, if we survive the next four years, Nigerians will be in a position to confidently raise their heads up and elect their own representatives and leaders.
“They will choose those they want as their representatives from local government, states, to the centre. I will fight for free, fair and credible election because that is why I remained in politics. I thank you very much for the sacrifices you have made to make sure we succeeded.”
Gen. Buhari went on: “I think that 2015 will go down in Nigeria’s political history as a glorious year. Nigerians have deliberately understood what is multi party democracy. But we thank God for technology-PVC and card reader.
“If not this, luck we had with technology and the insistence of constituencies to make sure they are used, in two political zones where they were subverted, the people wanted to vote, but hey were not allowed to vote.
The Nation
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