Buhari Can’t Remember His Phone Number – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday during a
rally in Enugu said that the All
Progressives
Congress candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
(retd), cannot remember his own mobile phone
number.
Jonathan, whose unscripted address was mostly
a response to previous statements made by
Buhari, accused the APC presidential candidate of
deceiving Nigerians by promising to revive the
economy without explaining how he would
achieve the feat.
The President wondered how Buhari would
develop the country’s economy, a feat he could
not achieve while he was in office as head of
state between 1983 and 1985.
“Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his
own phone number that he can change the
economy of the country.” Jonathan asked.
The Peoples Democratic Party presidential
candidate said that although he did not like to “go
personal during campaigns,” “sometimes
circumstances demand that certain things must
be said.”
Jonathan said that Buhari belonged to the
medieval age, adding that he (the APC candidate)
intended to run the Federal Government as a
medieval king.
He said, “We cannot run the government as if we
are in the medieval age; we cannot run a
government where somebody said he would throw
people into jail.
“You are not a medieval king – a medieval king
can throw you into jail but we have to follow the
rule of law because we cannot go back to the old
days.”
Jonathan, however, read the speech made by
Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) after overthrowing
Buhari’s regime through a military coup on
August 27, 1985 to justify his claim that the APC
candidate does not keep his promises.
Babangida, in the portions of the address read by
Jonathan, justified Buhari’s overthrow by pointing
out that the latter did not live up to the promises
he made to Nigerians when he ousted a
democratically elected civilian government headed
by Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a military coup.
Noting that Buhari “deceived Nigerians” from
1983 to 1985, Jonathan quoted Babangida as
saying, “The initial objectives of Buhari’s
intervention were betrayed as there was a general
deterioration of standard of living in the country.”
The PDP candidate also pointed out that
Babangida accused Buhari of being “too rigid in
his attitude to national issues” and “became
alienated from the people” in the course of his
stay in power.
He, therefore, challenged Buhari to tell Nigerians
how he intends to revive the economy.
Jonathan said, “They are telling young Nigerians
that they are going to change the economy but
they have not told us how they want to manage
the economy more than us.
“If they say they want to change agriculture, they

should tell us the weak links in the agriculture
value chain and what they want to do about it.
“I said in Lagos that I want to work with young
people, not to deceive people.
“I am not going to run the government based on
my habits, I am going to run the government
according to global best practices.”
Jonathan also insisted that he was committed to
the campaign against corruption.
“There is no government that has fought
corruption more than we do,” he said, noting that
some previous administrations pretended to be
fighting corruption while oppressing their
enemies.
He recalled that Buhari jailed some prominent
Igbo politicians while in office as head of state,
including former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme
and former governor of old Anambra State, Chief
Jim Nwobodo.
Stressing that Buhari jailed politicians on trumped
up charges, Jonathan said, “You can no longer
carry people and put them in prison for 301
years.”
The President equally accused Buhari of having a
wrong idea of corruption.
According to him, Buhari believes that every
wealthy Nigerian is corrupt.
He said, “If a Nigerian businessman has a private
jet, then you are corrupt but if a South African
has a private jet then you commend him.
“If you have a good house, then you are corrupt,
if you have a good car then you are corrupt –
that is his definition of corruption.”
Jonathan accused his opponent of making