Muhammadu-Buhari-0509.jpg - Muhammadu-Buhari-0509.jpg
By Gboyega Akinsanmi

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj.-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), yesterday said electioneering messages being used to portray him as a religious fanatic and ethnocentric bigot “are wicked propaganda and lies.”
The presidential candidate stated this at a meeting with Catholic Bishops on Tuesday night at the Pope John Pall II Catholic Centre, Wuse II, Abuja alongside his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Director-General of the APC campaign council, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, among others.
At the meeting, Buhari asked Nigerians to see the continual spreading of such lies as the only option for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he said, had no credible record to campaign with.
“Because they have no record, they must seek to destroy our own; and because they have no integrity, they feel they must impugn our own,” he said, advising Nigerians to “reject those who propagate hatred, ethnicity, divisiveness, sectionalism or seek to manipulate our religious differences in such cynical fashion.”
He said PDP’s deliberate dissemination of divisive disinformation and attempt “to stoke primordial sentiments using religion or ethnicity is their strategy to prevent the inevitable change that our country and people desire and require. They have failed the standard of patriotism this nation demands of them and deserves from them.”
Buhari declared: “I, Muhammadu Buhari, as an individual, and as president of this great country by the grace of God, given the opportunity to serve, have no personal religious agenda.
“I will not entertain, consider or promote the religious agenda of anyone. I will not condone any initiative that seeks to promote one religion over the other. Neither I, nor my party, or any member of my team has any desire or plan to Islamise or Christianise Nigeria or support anyone with such intention.”
To back his claim with his antecedents in the army and during his tenure when he Head of State, the APC presidential candidate said the religion of all those he had worked with was never a factor in their progress or in what happened to them.
“All that mattered then, and should still matter today, are competence, integrity and readiness to be fair to all,” he said, claiming that “nowhere in my record of service to this nation can this false toga political opponents have tried so hard to put on me be substantiated.”
“I was recently informed that we had a balanced cabinet with key positions such as finance, energy and defence occupied by Christians. In addition, 11 of the 19 governors I appointed were Christians. My most memorable recollections of subordinate service were under Christian bosses. Indeed one of the best appraisals I received in the course of my military career was from General T.Y Danjuma.”
He said he has never belonged to any extremist group because his religious disposition all his life had been that religion must remain a private affair.
He said in fact, his records showed he has been a foe of religious extremism.
“My record is evidence of this strongly held belief. Before my tenure, the deadly and violent extremist radical sect, Maitatsine carried out terrorist activities in the north, especially Kano; When it erupted again in Yola, during my tenure, I took direct command, and personally led the successful effort to eradicate the threat to our country.
“Similarly, when some Chadian insurgents attempted to occupy Nigerian territory, I led the military confrontation that eliminated the threat,” he said, while arguing that the “role of government is to protect lives and property of citizens and to respect and protect their constitutional rights.”
Dismissing the “rumour” that he plans to Islamise Nigeria, he said: “Many of the people close to me are not of my religion. My cook and driver for 20 years are Christians, Most of my bodyguards are Christians. “If I have not Islamised these people who serve under me, how will I Islamise the likes of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Ogbonnaya Onu, Governors Rochas Okorocha, Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Amaechi or Professor Yemi Osinbajo who is a senior advocate of Nigeria and a pastor? Or how will I Islamise Nigeria?”
“Wicked propagandists continue to spread vicious lies about me for political gains, including claiming that I once asked Muslims not to vote for Christians. This must be the height of absurdity. How could I ever say that, when whoever voted for me would be voting for the Christian running with me on the same ticket?
“How could I ever say that of Christians when my own holy book, the Qur’an, tells me that in the entire world those that are nearest in love to me are those who believe in Jesus Christ? I ask, who, intending to win any election, ever does that? How can I choose southern Christian running mates (Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory, Pastor Tunde Bakare and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo) and with them by my side make such silly utterances?” he asked.
In a subtle chide of President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to prosecute perpetrators of religious and electoral violence, he said “every government must strive to protect the liberty for citizens to exercise their respective faiths in a lawful manner without fear or hindrance and to prosecute those who use religion as an excuse to destroy homes, schools and places of worship.”
“We, Nigerians, are a religious people, and the burning of places of worship constitutes one of the vilest forms of abomination to all those who believe in God. It is the duty of governments to protect this important sensitivity.”
Advising Nigerians, Buhari said the citizens should learn to live together as brothers and sisters, because the problems that bedevil the country do not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity.
“Poverty and hunger do not know or respect religion or creed. When a bomb explodes in a market, it kills and maims without regard for religion or ethnicity. The millions of the unemployed youth of our country cut across all tribes and religions,” he said.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-propagandists-spread-lies-against-me-for-political-gains/201613/
Thursday 12 February 2015
Buhari: Propagandists Spread Lies against Me for Political Gains
12 Feb 2015
Muhammadu-Buhari-0509.jpg - Muhammadu-Buhari-0509.jpg
By Gboyega Akinsanmi

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj.-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), yesterday said electioneering messages being used to portray him as a religious fanatic and ethnocentric bigot “are wicked propaganda and lies.”
The presidential candidate stated this at a meeting with Catholic Bishops on Tuesday night at the Pope John Pall II Catholic Centre, Wuse II, Abuja alongside his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Director-General of the APC campaign council, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, among others.
At the meeting, Buhari asked Nigerians to see the continual spreading of such lies as the only option for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he said, had no credible record to campaign with.
“Because they have no record, they must seek to destroy our own; and because they have no integrity, they feel they must impugn our own,” he said, advising Nigerians to “reject those who propagate hatred, ethnicity, divisiveness, sectionalism or seek to manipulate our religious differences in such cynical fashion.”
He said PDP’s deliberate dissemination of divisive disinformation and attempt “to stoke primordial sentiments using religion or ethnicity is their strategy to prevent the inevitable change that our country and people desire and require. They have failed the standard of patriotism this nation demands of them and deserves from them.”
Buhari declared: “I, Muhammadu Buhari, as an individual, and as president of this great country by the grace of God, given the opportunity to serve, have no personal religious agenda.
“I will not entertain, consider or promote the religious agenda of anyone. I will not condone any initiative that seeks to promote one religion over the other. Neither I, nor my party, or any member of my team has any desire or plan to Islamise or Christianise Nigeria or support anyone with such intention.”
To back his claim with his antecedents in the army and during his tenure when he Head of State, the APC presidential candidate said the religion of all those he had worked with was never a factor in their progress or in what happened to them.
“All that mattered then, and should still matter today, are competence, integrity and readiness to be fair to all,” he said, claiming that “nowhere in my record of service to this nation can this false toga political opponents have tried so hard to put on me be substantiated.”
“I was recently informed that we had a balanced cabinet with key positions such as finance, energy and defence occupied by Christians. In addition, 11 of the 19 governors I appointed were Christians. My most memorable recollections of subordinate service were under Christian bosses. Indeed one of the best appraisals I received in the course of my military career was from General T.Y Danjuma.”
He said he has never belonged to any extremist group because his religious disposition all his life had been that religion must remain a private affair.
He said in fact, his records showed he has been a foe of religious extremism.
“My record is evidence of this strongly held belief. Before my tenure, the deadly and violent extremist radical sect, Maitatsine carried out terrorist activities in the north, especially Kano; When it erupted again in Yola, during my tenure, I took direct command, and personally led the successful effort to eradicate the threat to our country.
“Similarly, when some Chadian insurgents attempted to occupy Nigerian territory, I led the military confrontation that eliminated the threat,” he said, while arguing that the “role of government is to protect lives and property of citizens and to respect and protect their constitutional rights.”
Dismissing the “rumour” that he plans to Islamise Nigeria, he said: “Many of the people close to me are not of my religion. My cook and driver for 20 years are Christians, Most of my bodyguards are Christians. “If I have not Islamised these people who serve under me, how will I Islamise the likes of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Ogbonnaya Onu, Governors Rochas Okorocha, Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Amaechi or Professor Yemi Osinbajo who is a senior advocate of Nigeria and a pastor? Or how will I Islamise Nigeria?”
“Wicked propagandists continue to spread vicious lies about me for political gains, including claiming that I once asked Muslims not to vote for Christians. This must be the height of absurdity. How could I ever say that, when whoever voted for me would be voting for the Christian running with me on the same ticket?
“How could I ever say that of Christians when my own holy book, the Qur’an, tells me that in the entire world those that are nearest in love to me are those who believe in Jesus Christ? I ask, who, intending to win any election, ever does that? How can I choose southern Christian running mates (Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory, Pastor Tunde Bakare and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo) and with them by my side make such silly utterances?” he asked.
In a subtle chide of President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to prosecute perpetrators of religious and electoral violence, he said “every government must strive to protect the liberty for citizens to exercise their respective faiths in a lawful manner without fear or hindrance and to prosecute those who use religion as an excuse to destroy homes, schools and places of worship.”
“We, Nigerians, are a religious people, and the burning of places of worship constitutes one of the vilest forms of abomination to all those who believe in God. It is the duty of governments to protect this important sensitivity.”
Advising Nigerians, Buhari said the citizens should learn to live together as brothers and sisters, because the problems that bedevil the country do not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity.
“Poverty and hunger do not know or respect religion or creed. When a bomb explodes in a market, it kills and maims without regard for religion or ethnicity. The millions of the unemployed youth of our country cut across all tribes and religions,” he said.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-propagandists-spread-lies-against-me-for-political-gains/201613/
Muhammadu-Buhari-0509.jpg - Muhammadu-Buhari-0509.jpg
By Gboyega Akinsanmi

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Maj.-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), yesterday said electioneering messages being used to portray him as a religious fanatic and ethnocentric bigot “are wicked propaganda and lies.”
The presidential candidate stated this at a meeting with Catholic Bishops on Tuesday night at the Pope John Pall II Catholic Centre, Wuse II, Abuja alongside his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Director-General of the APC campaign council, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, among others.
At the meeting, Buhari asked Nigerians to see the continual spreading of such lies as the only option for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he said, had no credible record to campaign with.
“Because they have no record, they must seek to destroy our own; and because they have no integrity, they feel they must impugn our own,” he said, advising Nigerians to “reject those who propagate hatred, ethnicity, divisiveness, sectionalism or seek to manipulate our religious differences in such cynical fashion.”
He said PDP’s deliberate dissemination of divisive disinformation and attempt “to stoke primordial sentiments using religion or ethnicity is their strategy to prevent the inevitable change that our country and people desire and require. They have failed the standard of patriotism this nation demands of them and deserves from them.”
Buhari declared: “I, Muhammadu Buhari, as an individual, and as president of this great country by the grace of God, given the opportunity to serve, have no personal religious agenda.
“I will not entertain, consider or promote the religious agenda of anyone. I will not condone any initiative that seeks to promote one religion over the other. Neither I, nor my party, or any member of my team has any desire or plan to Islamise or Christianise Nigeria or support anyone with such intention.”
To back his claim with his antecedents in the army and during his tenure when he Head of State, the APC presidential candidate said the religion of all those he had worked with was never a factor in their progress or in what happened to them.
“All that mattered then, and should still matter today, are competence, integrity and readiness to be fair to all,” he said, claiming that “nowhere in my record of service to this nation can this false toga political opponents have tried so hard to put on me be substantiated.”
“I was recently informed that we had a balanced cabinet with key positions such as finance, energy and defence occupied by Christians. In addition, 11 of the 19 governors I appointed were Christians. My most memorable recollections of subordinate service were under Christian bosses. Indeed one of the best appraisals I received in the course of my military career was from General T.Y Danjuma.”
He said he has never belonged to any extremist group because his religious disposition all his life had been that religion must remain a private affair.
He said in fact, his records showed he has been a foe of religious extremism.
“My record is evidence of this strongly held belief. Before my tenure, the deadly and violent extremist radical sect, Maitatsine carried out terrorist activities in the north, especially Kano; When it erupted again in Yola, during my tenure, I took direct command, and personally led the successful effort to eradicate the threat to our country.
“Similarly, when some Chadian insurgents attempted to occupy Nigerian territory, I led the military confrontation that eliminated the threat,” he said, while arguing that the “role of government is to protect lives and property of citizens and to respect and protect their constitutional rights.”
Dismissing the “rumour” that he plans to Islamise Nigeria, he said: “Many of the people close to me are not of my religion. My cook and driver for 20 years are Christians, Most of my bodyguards are Christians. “If I have not Islamised these people who serve under me, how will I Islamise the likes of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Ogbonnaya Onu, Governors Rochas Okorocha, Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Amaechi or Professor Yemi Osinbajo who is a senior advocate of Nigeria and a pastor? Or how will I Islamise Nigeria?”
“Wicked propagandists continue to spread vicious lies about me for political gains, including claiming that I once asked Muslims not to vote for Christians. This must be the height of absurdity. How could I ever say that, when whoever voted for me would be voting for the Christian running with me on the same ticket?
“How could I ever say that of Christians when my own holy book, the Qur’an, tells me that in the entire world those that are nearest in love to me are those who believe in Jesus Christ? I ask, who, intending to win any election, ever does that? How can I choose southern Christian running mates (Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory, Pastor Tunde Bakare and Pastor Yemi Osinbajo) and with them by my side make such silly utterances?” he asked.
In a subtle chide of President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to prosecute perpetrators of religious and electoral violence, he said “every government must strive to protect the liberty for citizens to exercise their respective faiths in a lawful manner without fear or hindrance and to prosecute those who use religion as an excuse to destroy homes, schools and places of worship.”
“We, Nigerians, are a religious people, and the burning of places of worship constitutes one of the vilest forms of abomination to all those who believe in God. It is the duty of governments to protect this important sensitivity.”
Advising Nigerians, Buhari said the citizens should learn to live together as brothers and sisters, because the problems that bedevil the country do not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity.
“Poverty and hunger do not know or respect religion or creed. When a bomb explodes in a market, it kills and maims without regard for religion or ethnicity. The millions of the unemployed youth of our country cut across all tribes and religions,” he said.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-propagandists-spread-lies-against-me-for-political-gains/201613/
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