Source: http://gist212.com/2015/02/for-the-record-full-text-of-gen-muhammadu-buharis-speech-atchatham-house-in-london/

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.)
appeared at the Chatham House on Thursday
morning to discuss Prospects for Democratic
Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition .

The event which was chaired by former British
High
Commissioner to Nigeria, Sir Richard Gozney had
many Nigerians in attendance including several
APC
stalwarts like Gov. Rotimi Amaechi and Adams
Oshiomhole.

Below is the full text of the APC candidate’s speech :

Permit me to start by thanking Chatham
House for the invitation to talk about this
important topic at this crucial time. When
speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally
prefer to be my country’s public relations and
marketing officer, extolling her virtues and
hoping to attract investments and tourists.
But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling
with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I
do so only to impress on our friends in the
United Kingdom that we are quite aware of
our shortcomings and are doing our best to
address them.
The 2015 general election in Nigeria is
generating a lot of interests within and
outside the country. This is understandable.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and
largest economy, is at a defining moment, a
moment that has great implications beyond
the democratic project and beyond the
borders of my dear country.
So let me say upfront that the global interest
in Nigeria’s landmark election is not
misplaced at all and indeed should be
commended; for this is an election that has
serious import for the world. I urge the
international community to continue to focus
on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given
increasing global linkages, it is in our
collective interests that the postponed
elections should hold on the rescheduled
dates; that they should be free and fair; that
their outcomes should be respected by all
parties; and that any form of extension, under
whichever guise, is unconstitutional and will
not be tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the
dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse
of communism and the end of the Cold War,
democracy became the dominant and most
preferred system of government across the
globe. That global transition has been aptly
captured as the triumph of democracy and
the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our
time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of
the USSR was a turning point for me. It
convinced me that change can be brought
about without firing a single shot.
As you all know, I had been a military head
of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We
intervened because we were unhappy with
the state of affairs in our country. We wanted
to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism,
influenced by the prevalence and popularity
of such drastic measures all over Africa and
elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But
the global triumph of democracy has shown
that another and a preferable path to change
is possible. It is an important lesson I have
carried with me since, and a lesson that is
not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades, democracy has
grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once
so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the
time I was a military head of state between
1983 and 1985, only four African countries
held regular multi-party elections. But the
number of electoral democracies in Africa,
according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in
1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24
in 2005/2006. According to the New York
Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa conducted multi-party elections
between 1990 and 2002.
The newspaper also reported that between
2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African
countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and
Mali) peacefully handed over power to
victorious opposition parties. In addition, the
proportion of African countries categorized
as not free by Freedom House declined from
59% in 1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt,
Africa has been part of the current global
wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on the
continent has been uneven. According to
Freedom House, the number of electoral
democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in
2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the
percentage of countries categorised as ‘not
free’ assuming for the sake of argument that
we accept their definition of “free” increased
from 35% in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there
have been some reversals at different times
in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic,
Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and
Togo. We can choose to look at the glass of
democracy in Africa as either half full or half
empty.
While you can’t have representative
democracy without elections, it is equally
important to look at the quality of the
elections and to remember that mere
elections do not democracy make. It is
globally agreed that democracy is not an
event, but a journey. And that the destination
of that journey is democratic consolidation –
that state where democracy has become so
rooted and so routine and widely accepted
by all actors.
With this important destination in mind, it is
clear that though many African countries
now hold regular elections, very few of them
have consolidated the practice of
democracy. It is important to also state at
this point that just as with elections, a
consolidated democracy cannot be an end by
itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold
a series of elections or even to peacefully
alternate power among parties.
It is much more important that the promise of
democracy goes beyond just allowing people
to freely choose their leaders. It is much
more important that democracy should
deliver on the promise of choice, of
freedoms, of security of lives and property, of
transparency and accountability, of rule of
law, of good governance and of shared
prosperity. It is very important that the
promise embedded in the concept of
democracy, the promise of a better life for
the generality of the people, is not delivered
in the breach.
Now, let me quickly turn to Nigeria. As you all
know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its 16th
year and this general election will be the fifth
in a row. This is a major sign of progress for
us, given that our first republic lasted five
years and three months, the second republic
ended after four years and two months and
the third republic was a still-birth. However,
longevity is not the only reason why
everyone is so interested in this election.
The major difference this time around is that
for the very first time since transition to civil
rule in 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so
far from our party the All Progressives
Congress (APC). We once had about 50
political parties, but with no real competition.
Now Nigeria is transitioning from a dominant
party system to a competitive electoral
polity, which is a major marker on the road to
democratic consolidation. As you know,
peaceful alternation of power through
competitive elections have happened in
Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in
recent times. The prospects of democratic
consolidation in Africa will be further
brightened when that eventually happens in
Nigeria.
But there are other reasons why Nigerians
and the whole world are intensely focussed
on this year’s elections, chief of which is that
the elections are holding in the shadow of
huge security, economic and social
uncertainties in Africa’s most populous
country and largest economy. On insecurity,
there is a genuine cause for worry, both
within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the
civil war era, at no other time in our history
has Nigeria been this insecure.
Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the
terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of
our nationals, displacing millions internally
and externally, and at a time holding on to
portions of our territory the size of Belgium.
What has been consistently lacking is the
required leadership in our battle against
insurgency. I, as a retired general and a
former head of state, have always known
about our soldiers: they are capable, well
trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to
do their duty in the service of our country.
You all can bear witness to the gallant role of
our military in Burma, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Darfur and in many other peacekeeping
operations in several parts of the world. But
in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers
have neither received the necessary support
nor the required incentives to tackle this
problem. The government has also failed in
any effort towards a multi-dimensional
response to this problem leading to a
situation in which we have now become
dependent on our neighbours to come to our
rescue.
Let me assure you that if I am elected
president, the world will have no cause to
worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently;
that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in
West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian
territory will ever be lost to the enemy
because we will pay special attention to the
welfare of our soldiers in and out of service,
we will give them adequate and modern
arms and ammunitions to work with, we will
improve intelligence gathering and border
controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and
equipment channels, we will be tough on
terrorism and tough on its root causes by
initiating a comprehensive economic
development plan promoting infrastructural
development, job creation, agriculture and
industry in the affected areas. We will always
act on time and not allow problems to
irresponsibly fester, and I, Muhammadu
Buhari, will always lead from the front and
return Nigeria to its leadership role in
regional and international efforts to combat
terrorism.
On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has
brought our economic and social stress into
full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April
2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as
Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now
valued at $510 billion and our economy rated
26th in the world. Also on the bright side,
inflation has been kept at single digit for a
while and our economy has grown at an
average of 7% for about a decade.
But it is more of paper growth, a growth that,
on account of mismanagement, profligacy
and corruption, has not translated to human
development or shared prosperity. A
development economist once said three
questions should be asked about a country’s
development: one, what is happening to
poverty? Two, what is happening to
unemployment? And three, what is happening
to inequality?
The answers to these questions in Nigeria
show that the current administration has
created two economies in one country, a
sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a
few who have so much in their tiny island of
prosperity; and the other economy for the
many who have so little in their vast ocean of
misery.
Even by official figures, 33.1% of Nigerians
live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60
million, almost the population of the United
Kingdom. There is also the unemployment
crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready
to explode at the slightest stress, with
officially 23.9% of our adult population and
almost 60% of our youth unemployed. We
also have one of the highest rates of
inequalities in the world.
With all these, it is not surprising that our
performance on most governance and
development indicators (like Mo Ibrahim
Index on African Governance and UNDP’s
Human Development Index.) are unflattering.
With fall in the prices of oil, which accounts
for more than 70% of government revenues,
and lack of savings from more than a decade
of oil boom, the poor will be
disproportionately impacted.
In the face of dwindling revenues, a good
place to start the repositioning of Nigeria’s
economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that
have ballooned under the present
administration: waste and corruption. And in
doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way, with
the force of personal example.
On corruption, there will be no confusion as
to where I stand. Corruption will have no
place and the corrupt will not be appointed
into my administration. First and foremost,
we will plug the holes in the budgetary
process. Revenue producing entities such as
NNPC and Customs and Excise will have one
set of books only. Their revenues will be
publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The
institutions of state dedicated to fighting
corruption will be given independence and
prosecutorial authority without political
interference.
But I must emphasise that any war waged on
corruption should not be misconstrued as
settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I’m
running for President to lead Nigeria to
prosperity and not adversity.
In reforming the economy, we will use
savings that arise from blocking these
leakages and the proceeds recovered from
corruption to fund our party’s social
investments programmes in education,
health, and safety nets such as free school
meals for children, emergency public works
for unemployed youth and pensions for the
elderly.
As a progressive party, we must reform our
political economy to unleash the pent-up
ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian
people thus freeing them from the curse of
poverty. We will run a private sector-led
economy but maintain an active role for
government through strong regulatory
oversight and deliberate interventions and
incentives to diversify the base of our
economy, strengthen productive sectors,
improve the productive capacities of our
people and create jobs for our teeming
youths.
In short, we will run a functional economy
driven by a worldview that sees growth not
as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a
society that works for all, rich and poor alike.
On March 28, Nigeria has a decision to
make. To vote for the continuity of failure or
to elect progressive change. I believe the
people will choose wisely.
In sum, I think that given its strategic
importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of
democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a
starting point we need to get this critical
election right by ensuring that they go ahead,
and depriving those who want to scuttle it
the benefit of derailing our fledgling
democracy. That way, we will all see
democracy and democratic consolidation as
tools for solving pressing problems in a
sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in
Africa: Nigeria’s Transition
Permit me to close this discussion on a
personal note. I have heard and read
references to me as a former dictator in
many respected British newspapers
including the well regarded Economist. Let
me say without sounding defensive that
dictatorship goes with military rule, though
some might be less dictatorial than others. I
take responsibility for whatever happened
under my watch.
I cannot change the past. But I can change
the present and the future. So before you is a
former military ruler and a converted
democrat who is ready to operate under
democratic norms and is subjecting himself
to the rigours of democratic elections for the
fourth time.
You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a
question I ask myself all the time too. And
here is my humble answer: because the
work of making Nigeria great is not yet done,
because I still believe that change is
possible, this time through the ballot, and
most importantly, because I still have the
capacity and the passion to dream and work
for a Nigeria that will be respected again in
the comity of nations and that all Nigerians
will be proud of.
I thank you for listening.

Buhari will u accept d election result.

I will vote buhari

The speech has no fault. Buhari all the way!

GEJ till 2019

Oooh my God...
What a speech.. To promote Jonathan....
What's this man ranting.. ??
Instead of him to say what he will do well, and how he will create more revenue, his busy talking of NNPC and custom.. When GEJ is running to boost Agriculture, and develop more Sector, like Mines, railways,human capital development, Automobile, Aviation and so much more,......his busy talking of free meal to students of primary school .. When GEJ his busy working on Almajiri in his own Daura Home town......
This Old man his on a lost cause,.. Let him stop reading prepare speech to us, and attend the debates set in East/South London for him...and he should come home and face GEJ face to face on a debate.. That's the real spirit of a democrat,not hiding behind Prepare speech and ranting change..
Buhari or what his he called should not deceive the internation community and nigerians in diaspora,..
has he forgotten he threatened to pull out of Abuja Accord, due to criticisms from GEJ camp A democrat indeed.. If his GEJ, he would have jailed the whole nation...let me stop hia so that others can contribute jare....
As for me and my House Hold...the purged Party Of PDP, and President GEJ.. Willl we cast our 100 votes for... Stamped and sealed.....

.his a Stupid Idiot....

Incoming presido

Very comprehensive, very illustrative, very educational... And I dare say, very presidential.

This man know exactly what is wrong with the system and how to tackle it. He has my vote of confidence.

Let me say without sounding defensive that
dictatorship goes with military rule, though
some might be less dictatorial than others. I
take responsibility for whatever happened
under my watch.

I cannot change the past. But I can change
the present and the future. So before you is a former military ruler and a converted
democrat who is ready to operate under
democratic norms and is subjecting himself
to the rigours of democratic elections for the
fourth time.

PDP needs to start arguing with this man on issue-based stuff because the smear campaign won't get them anywhere. He is bold enough to accept responsibility for his leadership during the military era and that is what a good leader does.

?

Sai Buhari ...you have spoken well


History:

"With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the
dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse
of communism and the end of the Cold War,
democracy became the dominant and most
preferred system of government across the
globe. That global transition has been aptly
captured as the triumph of democracy and
the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our
time."

Thesis: On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a turning point for me. It convinced me that change can be brought about without firing a single shot.


Action points:

Let me assure you that if I am elected
president, the world will have no cause to
worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently;

1. that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in
West Africa;

2. and that no inch of Nigerian
territory will ever be lost to the enemy
because we will pay special attention to the
welfare of our soldiers in and out of service,
we will give them adequate and modern
arms and ammunitions to work with,

3. we will improve intelligence gathering and border
controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and
equipment channels,

4. we will be tough on
terrorism

5. and tough on its root causes by
initiating a comprehensive economic
development plan promoting infrastructural
development, job creation, agriculture and
industry in the affected areas.

6. We will always act on time and not allow problems to
irresponsibly fester, and

7. I, Muhammadu
Buhari, will always lead from the front and
return Nigeria to its leadership role in
regional and international efforts to combat
terrorism.

With the concluding lines, all I can say is that Jonathan has now lost the election without a single ballot cast yet.

Bluetooth2:



PDP needs to start arguing with this man on issue-based stuff because the smear campaign won't get them anywhere. He is bold enough to accept responsibility for his leadership during the military era and that is what a good leader does.

Totally agree with you to the elevate the debate and discussion above propaganda, and face issues squarely.

But will Buhari agree to face his opponent in an open, unscripted debate?
If he is afraid to debate GEJ, why can't he at least agree to question and answer session with journalists without those questions being submitted first for his handlers to prepare answers for him to memorise.

The Townhalls are just too scripted to get anything out of him. Besides, Fashola and Oyegun do not help matters by always stepping in to help tackle difficult questions.

GMB have my VOTE all day all night

rottennaija:




And how does gej prepared speech sound? That stealing is not corruption?

Learn.. Okay..
Learn

Lobolintin:



Learn.. Okay..
Learn

Okay, I have. I just did. But I have learnt over the past 5 years that it is insane to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result.