General Buhari who made this remark when leaders of the 19 northern state Igbo delegates assembly and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), declared their support for him ahead of March 28 presidential election.Buhari who spoke about the contribution of the Ibos to the economy of the North also said he had acquitted himself of the tribal and religious biases held against him.
He said, “There is no point believing in a system and conducting yourself haphazardly. I am telling you that I feel fulfilled because when I decided to join politics in April 2002, I joined APP even though there was PDP and they were in government. But I went into the opposition even though there were governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives in the party.
The following year, they gave me the ticket and what did I do with the ticket? I got the late Chuba Okadigbo to be my running mate and by that, I blew the mind of people about my tribal or religious position. In 2007, I picked Chief Ume Ezeoke and again, he was Igbo.
“So, I dispel any question about my being a religious bigot or a tribalist. Later I picked Pastor Bakare and now, I am running with a Pastor, Prof. Osinbajo.
The issue of religion has been taken into account in this country, but then, it is what human beings are worth in politics that they may be able to earn the efforts they are putting in. I am very grateful to Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu for organising this meeting.
I am even more grateful that the leadership of the Igbo community in the north decided to turn up. It is important that we continue to make sure that we are broad-minded. The beauty of this system is what I have mentioned already.
“Let the government respect Nigerians and individuals and let them choose and elect those they want to lead them. If that is done, Nigerians will be surprised about how peaceful this country will be. I think that in every human being there is an element of rebellion. If you try to force a human being to do something he doesn’t like, he will develop a way of resisting it.
Source: National Mirror
