SAN FRANCISCO, September 07, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday raised hopes that the current economic downturn in the country would not last for long, disclosing that the federal government under his watch was doing everything possible to pull the country out of the recession the economy had entered.
He stated this while addressing the mammoth crowd that converged on the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City during the closing rally of the All Progressives Congress to canvass support for the APC candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.
The president, who used the event to reassure citizens on the nation’s failing economy, said Nigerians must be aware that they were the only ones who could salvage the country, warning them there was nothing for them elsewhere.
“We are a nation of great human and material resources especially the youth. Please sit down, reflect and remember what I said 30 years ago. We have no other nation like Nigeria, no matter where you go. We may as well remain here and salvage it together.
“No matter where you go, you may defy the Sahara Desert or the Mediterranean, if you are lucky and not killed by drought. But what you get there, the mere colour of your skin will be a problem for you,” he said.
Buhari had, in his 33-year-old coup day speech upon ascension of office as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, asked Nigerians not to despair in the face of prevailing economic adversities, stressing that in spite of the rot that the President Shehu Shagari democratic government had created, Nigerians had no option other than to stay in the country and rescue it.
“This generation and indeed future generations of Nigerians have no other country they can call their own. We must stay here and salvage it together,” he had said in December 1983.
Speaking at the APC rally on Tuesday, he continued: “I assure you we are going to get out of these our economic doldrums soonest,” adding that: “We are almost out of our insecurity problems and we are going to make Nigeria great again. We are going to be very proud of our country and our size and our resources will not be for nothing.”
The President further congratulated his party’s candidate, Obaseki, on his nomination as the standard-bearer of the APC, telling the people of the state to elect him as their next governor.
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