Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), yesterday stressed that but for the love of country; President Muhammadu Buhari has no reason to remain in Aso Rock, in his current age of over 70 years.
The Customs boss, who stated this when he led the Buhari Support Organization to meet with the President, said Buhari has made a great sacrifice by choosing to abandon his comfort zone in order to serve Nigeria and improve the lives of the citizens.
“I have said it and I will repeat it here, Mr. President, with all due respect, at 70 plus, with a good retirement benefit and with your house in Daura, if I were you, I will see no reason to be in this arena.
“But why are you here? It is because you love this great country. You left your comfort to serve Nigeria and that is why for those of us who love you for who you are, said we must follow you and ensure that your second term in this country becomes a reality,” he said.
Buhari had told a gathering of Nigerian citizens resident in South Africa in June 2015, a month after he was sworn in, that there was a limit to what he could do given that age was no longer on his side.
“I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do,” Buhari told his audience on the sidelines of the 25th assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Johannesburg, South Africa.
While speaking yesterday, Ali explained that the three years of the Buhari-led government has changed Nigeria for the better.
He said: “Today is 2018. Way back in 2014, for those who did not know when you talked about your integrity, your achievements as a governor, as a minister, those that have gone are the ones who will understand what we are talking. Those of us who have experienced those past years know exactly what it was.
“But today, 2018, those of us here know that your being president has changed this country. Three years into your tenure, the tremendous achievements that have been made, we have laid the foundation, we have started building roads, but Mr. President, we must complete the building.
“What do we need to do? We must, as your loyalists and people who believe in this country, tell you that we are with you shoulder to shoulder and ensure that you are re-elected. And then the building will be completed so that never again will there be cause to destroy Nigeria,” he added.
Ali continued that: “For me, you have been my mentor in service and out of service and I have been fortunate enough to have worked very closely with you. And so when I say some of these things I am saying, it from the bottom of my heart because I know you, I know your commitment and your respect to this great nation.
“Mr. President, it is always politics, and when politicians speak, they speak with two sides of the mouth. Some of us from the North-East were not praying in the mosques, some of us from the North-East had moved from our places of abode to settle somewhere else. And Mr. President, here in the city, the seat of government, there were booms going off every day.
“Today, we can sleep with eyes closed, today I drive at midnight, today we can breathe the air and most importantly, those of us who are Muslims can pray in the mosques during Ramadan. That would never have happened. I remember as far as Kaduna is from the North-East, we could hardly sleep at night because of insecurity. Today, we have that security. What else are we looking for?
Ali said that with the achievement recorded by the government, only lazy people who chose not to work, are presently lazy.
“What more can we say in terms of growth of wealth? People say we are hungry; of course, the lazy must be hungry because if you do not work hard, Manna doesn’t fall from heaven.
“So when people say we are hungry, there was never a time in Nigeria that food is dropped in the mouth of the people and they can never be. I can go on and on and enumerate what you have done in just three years of your administration,” Ali said.
.new telegraph
