President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed fear ahead of the
2019 election over what he said is the enormous resources at the
disposal of the opposition which he said the ruling All Progressives
Congress, APC, may not be able to match.
According to Daily Sun,
speaking while receiving members of the Buhari Media Organisation who
paid him a courtesy visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari
commended the group for their sacrifices even as he sympathised with
them for losing their friends in a bid to support him without any
financial benefit.
The Buhari Media Organisation was the media outfit of the APC
campaign team in 2015 which was named Buhari Media Support Organisation.
Buhari said, “I don’t think I can thank you enough for your
steadfastness under very difficult circumstances. It is not easy to
defend this administration and more in particular to defend me. But your
consistency has given me a lot of confidence. And I know you are doing
it as a sacrifice both physical, mental and material. Because, as I keep
on saying the opposition now are sitting on incredible resources which I
am afraid we might not match it at all. For that reason the opposition
is sponsoring mischief from different angles which in spite of the
incumbency of government we cannot absolutely stop.
“It is you that are fighting it and I cannot thank you enough
for that. Most of the people I jailed had given back all what they have
taken before I was jailed. I spent 18 months in detention and luckily
they did not find anything against me and I was released. But my problem
was that there was a journalist from Edo State, I have forgotten his
name now, he wrote that my mother had to die to save me. Because I was
only released when my mother died to go and bury her, of course you know
according to the Muslim tradition you are buried where you die.
“So I can remember most of you here sitting, the sacrifices you
have made in terms of materialism even losing friends to continue to
support me. I have been here for three years, you have proven to people
that you are not here for material things, your opinion is out of
sacrifice and the strength of the moral courage you have is the strength
of the physical, it is the strength of losing the friends you have.
“I am sure you are being asked, this support you are busy
giving Buhari what the hell do you get out of it? And that is why I
commend your steadfastness and I am very grateful for it. And in this
country whether people like it or not, they will remain grateful for
your courage because you have the courage to do the research, take your
time to reply mischievous representation and we are very grateful.”
In his remark, Chairman of the Buhari Media Support Organisation,
Austin Braimoh said the main objective of the organisation is to promote
and defend the programmes of the Buhari administration.
Braimoh, who said the group has been making credible interventions
in the media to further project President Buhari, said a second term of
office for him is well deserved.