Buhari Pledges to Make Naira at Par with Dollar

Nigerians agonising over the crashing value of the naira relative to the dollar may soon have cause for cheer. That is, if the pledge of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, is anything to go by.
Buhari has also made a passionate plea to the South-East electorate not to cast their votes for President Goodluck Jonathan on sentiments.
But a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Imo has dismissed the APC as a party doomed to fail.
Speaking during the South- East presidential rally of the party at Dan Anyima Stadium, Owerri, Imo State, Buhari pledged to bring the naira at par with the dollar when voted in.
“It is sad that the value of the naira has dropped to more than N230 to one dollar; this does not speak well for the nation’s economy,’’ he said.
He urged the people to vote for APC, noting that he would also ensure that corruption was tackled headlong.
Earlier, Governor Rochas Okorocha had urged APC supporters to vote for the party’s candidates at all levels, noting that a vote for Buhari only without support from other levels would amount to nothing.
Okorocha said Buhari would address the problem of electricity, bring back the kidnapped Chibok girls and promote industrial growth.
He said Buhari was loved by the people in the region and urged them to elect him and other APC candidates during the March 28 and April 11 general election.
Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Chinwoke Mbadinuju and former Minister of Education, Chinwe Obaji, were also formally welcomed to the APC at the rally.
The rally was attended by APC supporters from Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and Imo.
Also on Monday, Buhari made a passionate plea to Ndigbo not to cast their votes for President Jonathan on sentiments.
Buhari, said a vote against Jonathan and the PDP would be in the best interest of Nigerians as only such action could save Nigeria from imminent collapse.
The APC presidential candidate who made the plea while addressing political and religious leaders from the South East at a Town Hall meeting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, stated that no amount of sentiment would justify the re-election of President Jonathan.
He further noted that Jonathan had already spent six years in office but lacked the vision and political will to solve the problems of corruption, insecurity and high rate of unemployment.
According to him, the economy of the country, is in a state of near-collapse because of corruption.
He said, “I am here for the second time to appeal to you that it would not be justified for the people of the South-East to vote President Jonathan back to power based on sentiment.”
He added that the PDP had failed to deliver on its promises for the past 16 years and if voted into power for another four years the country would totally collapse.
“No security, no jobs for our youths and today the naira has terribly depreciated to a terrible state. It is in the best interest of Nigerians and Ndigbo to sack the Peoples Democratic Party at all levels.”
Governor of Lagos state, Mr Babatunde Fashola, in his remarks, said that President Jonathan’s touted performance was largely driven by propaganda and deliberately designed to mislead the people.
He dismissed as false, claims by the Jonathan administration of having created over two million jobs and constructed about 25,000 kilometres of roads across the country.
Also speaking, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State alleged that the PDP had perfected plans to rig the election by changing all the heads of the security agencies in the state and charged the people to resist any attempt to manipulate the results of the polls.
“If the PDP thinks that they can rig the elections by changing all the heads of the security agencies in the state, then they don’t know what they are up against because the people of the state are battle- ready to resist them against any manipulation.”
But responding, the PDP dismissed APC as a party doomed to fail. “Okorocha is aware that he has failed the people of Imo State and would be issued his well-deserved red card on the 11th of April and the honourable thing to do is to begin to pack out of Government House and not to incite the youths and his thugs against constituted authorities.
If he wants our children to tout for him in the election, he should also bring out his children on the streets. 2011 was a political error that would not happen again.” The former publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Enyinnaya Onuegbu, said in a statement.
Present at the event were General Muhammadu Buhari, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon . Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi; Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Senator Chris Ngige, Chief John Oyegun among others.