took a swipe at the presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), saying the former
head of state cannot remember his own mobile phone number.
The president, who spoke extempore, was apparently responding to
previous statements made by Buhari and accused the APC presidential
candidate of deceiving Nigerians by promising to revive the economy
without explaining how he would go about it.
He further wondered how Buhari, who could not develop the country's
economy when he was head of state from 1983 to 1985, would develop the
country's economy now.
"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."
Taking his attacks further against his political opponent, the
president described Buhari as belonging to the medieval age, adding
that 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".
President Jonathan not done yet, read a speech by Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida (rtd.) after he overthrew Buhari's regime through a military
coup on August 27, 1985 to justify his claim that the APC candidate is
not one that keeps his promises.
Babangida, in the portions of the address read by Jonathan, justified
Buhari's overthrow by pointing out that the latter did not live up to
the promises he made to Nigerians when he ousted a democratically
elected civilian government headed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a
military coup.
Noting that Buhari "deceived Nigerians" from 1983 to 1985, Jonathan
quoted Babangida as saying, "The initial objectives of Buhari's
intervention were betrayed as there was a general deterioration of
standard of living in the country".
The PDP presidential candidate also pointed out that Babangida accused
Buhari of being "too rigid in his attitude to national issues" and
"became alienated from the people" in the course of his stay in power.
He, therefore, challenged Buhari to tell Nigerians how he intends to
revive the economy.
Jonathan 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".
The president also reiterated his commitment to the fight against
corruption. "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.
He recalled that Buhari jailed some prominent Igbo sons while in
office as head of state, including former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme
and former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo.
Stressing that Buhari jailed politicians on trumped up charges,
Jonathan said, "You can no longer carry people and put them in prison
for 301 years".
The president also accused his opponent of having a wrong idea of
corruption because he (Buhari) believes that every wealthy Nigerian is
corrupt.
He said, "If a Nigerian businessman has a private jet, then you are
corrupt but if a South African has a private jet then you commend him.
"If you have a good house, then you are corrupt; if you have a good
car then you are corrupt - that is his definition of corruption".
In what looked like a veiled attack not only at Buhari but former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, Jonathan accused some unnamed persons of
making spurious claims against him especially as it concerned
corruption and the external reserves.
The President said, "They are saying that government is corrupt but
they are not telling us what they are going to do to stop corruption.
Let them go back to their consultants to coach them, then I will
listen to them.
"They should tell us how they are going to manage the economy better than we do.
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