.Buhari must discharge doubt surrounding his certificate scandal with proof before contesting
.APC has ran Nigeria into debt crisis
By Daniel Kanu
Assistant Politics Editor
Presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 election, Engineer Martins Onovo, has said that Nigerians would dump President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 because of the rising poverty in the country.
He also predicted that even the blind would lead Nigerians to kick Buhari out of government.
Besides, Onovo said, for Buhari to realise his second term bid, he must douse the fear of Nigerians on his past personal profile.
“Buhari must discharge the doubt surrounding his certificate scandal in a verifiable manner before making any official declaration,” Onovo said.
The activist also claimed that Buhari’s tenure has been catastrophic, arguing that the president has failed in all promises made during the political campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The petroleum engineer-turned politician noted further that opinion poll shows that Nigerians do not want Buhari.
Onovo told The Niche in an exclusive interview that Nigerians have been pushed to the wall with the present harsh reality and the only alternative left for them is to remove Buhari.
Onovo’s words: “Nigerians will make a change one way or the other because they are the same people who were buying a bag of rice for N7,000 and now have to buy it for N15.000, depending on where you are buying from because it could be higher in some places.
“It is the same Nigerians that bought a paint of garri for N250 and now N800. So it’s not an issue how intellectually developed Nigerians are because you know that the education sector has collapsed; it is a question of a stark reality that is visible even to the blind and Nigerians will make a change.
“The ruling party knows that Nigerians are poised to make a change and they are not planning to win any election; they are planning to rig the election and we have their format for rigging.
“They have planted their fanatical supporters in INEC to help them manipulate the election; they have looted the economy to influence the outcome of the election through bribery. They have turned the security agencies to partisan establishment to support their party during the elections. So we know their plans and we will confront them and we will defeat them”.
On the legality of Buhari to run, Onovo explained that “the first thing is that I am not sure that his intention to run is legitimate because the Nigerian constitution requires a minimum of school certificate or its equivalent for anyone to qualify to run for the Presidency and you know the controversy about whether Buhari has a school certificate or its equivalent.
“Until he discharges that doubt he is not qualify to run; he cannot even aspire until he is able to discharge that suspicion in a verifiable manner. So for now his aspiration remains unconstitutional until we are clear that he has a verifiable school certificate record or its equivalent.”
Assessing the performance of the Buhari-led government, Onovo said, “The economy has been completely destroyed and the future in addition has been destroyed. The economy has been destroyed because all economic parameters have gone south.
“The GDP, inflation, unemployment, exchange rate etc. and when you say gone south, not marginally but in a catastrophic manner.
“The exchange rate, for example, went from N197 to a dollar to N360. So in less than three years the naira has lost nearly half of its value. Now if you look at unemployment, 10 million people lost jobs in only three years.
“It has never happened in the history of Nigeria. If you look at inflation, let’s reduce it to the simplest terms: a paint of Garri was N250 when this government was sworn in, today it’s N900, so you can see the catastrophic destruction that this government has done in the economy of the country”.
On the credibility of Obasanjo to speak for Nigerians, Onovo said, “Obasanjo has the capacity to speak for Nigerians, he has the authority to speak for Nigerians, and he has the support of Nigerians.
“If the coalition of 35 political parties is affiliated to coalition of Nigerian movement led by Obasanjo how can you say he is speaking for himself. There are so many mass agencies affiliated to coalition of Nigerian Movement because they can’t continue to watch their country go down.
“We will remove Buhari democratically, according to the law. We are not lawless like the ruling party. Everybody agrees first that the content of Obasanjo’s public letter is absolutely correct, so how can you say he is not speaking for Nigerians?”
