PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, said the All Progressives Congress would not have lost some states in the 2019 election if, as a ruling party, it had resorted to the use of force to retain those states.
Buhari, who acknowledged that the APC made some mistakes that cost it some states, noted that if not for its impartial stance, the ruling party would have used “Army, Police and all of them to overrun” the opposition parties.
He spoke during a meeting with the North East Governors Forum and security heads at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari, however, assured Nigerians that the current administration was doing its best, in view of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to solve security and other issues.
He said, “We have problems of resources and security. You know what we inherited. The people of the North East will appreciate what this administration has done. The general report I am getting, apart from the conventional ones from the intelligence sources, is that the Army should do better and this is the truth.
“It is so often coming to me that I have to believe it…I assure you that the government is doing its best. Lack of resources has hit us very hard. COVID-19 is a phenomenon. It has no respect for colour: you can’t smell it, you can’t see it, you can’t hear it. America and us are the same. I think we should all go back to God.”
The President added, “I assure you North East governors, especially the Governor of Borno, that we go to bed and wake up thinking about you and how to secure our country. That is the fundamental responsibility of a government – security. In our party, we recognise this. We campaigned on three fundamental issues – security, economy and fighting corruption.
“Nigerians, we thank God, understood us and they voted for us. In 2019, we went round the whole country, saying the same thing and apologising for not doing better, but we are doing our best. I think Nigerians believe us and we did our best.”
While pointing out what he described as the impartial nature of the ruling party, Buhari said, “It is true that we lost some states as a ruling party in a developing country, which is normal. I am proud of that because we are impartial. That is why, as ruling party, we lost some states. That means we have our own mistakes.
“Some of those that defeated us are sitting here. We know we are a developing country but we respect our country, otherwise, with the use of Army, the police and the rest of them, we could have overrun you. We just wanted to show that we are humane and we are Nigerians. We will continue to do our best.”
