A Presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) yesterday held a closed door meeting with Chief Chukwuma Azikiwe, the eldest son of former President, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
The meeting which lasted over 30 minutes took place at the residence of the Azikiwes in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State.
According to reports, the meeting was in connection with Buhari’s 2015 presidential ambition.
However, before Buhari went in for the meeting, he said his visit was a ‘routine practice’ which he does whenever he is in the East, adding that his visit to Onitsha was to attend the final burial ceremony of late Chief Chike Ofordile who was the Minister of Justice during his 20-month reign as Head of State.
He also spoke on his presidential ambition, saying he wasn’t “in the race to enrich himself, but to sincerely serve the nation by adequately addressing security challenges and dwindling economic fortunes.”
“I feel I have greater role to play and luckily for me I cannot be accused of being ambitious for material aspect of it.
I was a governor, I was a Minister of Petroleum, I was Head of State, but I will like to give Nigerians the opportunity this time around to use ballot box to choose their leadership and I hope the system allows the people to choose whoever they want to lead them and to represent them.
“There are two areas that are obvious to all Nigerians – the collapse of security and the collapse of the economy. Nigeria has to be secured and efficiently managed. I have said that so many times,” Buhari said.
He also welcomed Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to the presidential race.
He, however, added that the process of picking the party’s candidate must “be transparent, let it be honest that is all we want,” he stated.
Buhari also said “the social injustice and corruption of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan” should not be allowed to continue, adding that Nigeria would not survive if Jonathan and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, are voted in again in 2015. Among those on Buhari’s entourage were former Governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige; former president of the Nigerian Bar Association and governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN), in Ondo State, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu; leaders of APC in Anambra State amongst others.