President Muhammadu Buhari has assured members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Nigerians that he will not disappoint them if re-elected in 2019.
He gave the assurance after being declared as the APC presidential candidate at the party’s national presidential convention which ended in the early hours of Sunday at the Abuja Eagle Square.
Buhari scored a total of 14,842,072 votes at the party’s recent presidential primaries held across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as announced by Dr Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor-elect, to emerge as the party’s candidate.
The Chairman, APC Presidential Primary Committee, Fayemi, later asked the over 7,000 delegates to affirm the president’s candidacy through a yes vote, which they did.
Aside the statuary delegates, the delegates who were drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, were made up of three from each local government. They were elected at the party’s state congresses held earlier in the year.
President Buhari specifically thanked all other eligible candidates within the party who deferred their aspirations because of him in the interest of the party’s unity and overall national stability.
He appreciated the party executives, leaders and members of the party for their support, saying, “I will not let you or the people of Nigeria down.
“As I stand today before you, there is no honour greater than the confidence given to me by all of you when you affirmed my nomination.
“I accept this honour as a tribute and mark of confidence to carry the responsibility as we all join hands to continue the good work of the APC government to 2023 and beyond.”
He thanked the party members for their support and guidance and for staying committed to the change agenda.
The president expressed gratitude to the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and members of the National Convention Committee for planning and conducting the convention.
He also appreciated the chairmen of National and State Executive Committees of the APC, saying:” I thank you very much for doing a difficult job well”.
Buhari, however, noted that the result of the APC presidential primaries was different this time, because he was the only candidate.
The president, while recalling the achievements of the APC-led government, said the party was very proud of its records from 2015 to date, adding that it had arrested and checked the slide to anarchy on the security and economic fronts.
He added that Boko Haram under the government had been reduced to attacks on soft targets as normalcy had returned to much of North-East and neighbouring North-West states.
The president also noted that the country’s currency had stabilised while its reserves was now $44 billion, a lot higher than it was in 2015 when the APC Government came into power.
He said, “Power generation capacity has reached 8,000 megawatts as against less than 4,600 when we came into office.
“As we invest in new power generation infrastructure, we are strenuously working to address the legacy deficiencies and challenges of transmission and distribution networks across the country.”
