Buhari, who could not hold back tears as he read his speech at the International Conference Centre, venue of the event, vowed that Saturday’s presidential election would be the last he would contest.
The presidential candidate stated that he was seeking to clinch the presidency as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had done much havoc to Nigerians and their reputation.
He insisted that he joined the presidential race out of personal conviction and concern for the welfare of the Nigerian people.
According to him, he had never at any time embezzled public fund throughout his career and challenged all the candidates in the presidential race to make the same claim before the Nigerian public, if they have not done so.
Buhari, who received two awards, Noble Father of Nigerian Youths and Icon of Nigerian Democracy, from the Nigerian Youths Organisation, (NYO), at the ceremony, alleged that the years of PDP’s government were marred with “unforgettable look of dejection and despondency on the faces of Nigerians.”
The sufferings of majority of the Nigerian citizen, he maintained, witnessed “systematic raping and pillaging of the country’s economy by parties and individuals, without much thought for due process or care for tomorrow.”
According to him, “these are the horrific realities of life in our country today and they are a mere fraction of the numerous difficulties, agonies and frustrations being faced daily by the vast majority of our people.”
However, the presidential campaign council of the PDP has expressed shock and dismay at what it called “Buhari’s public show of shame at an Abuja town hall meeting, which he organised “in the face of the stark realities of defeat that await him in the Saturday presidential poll.”
The council said against the dummy of a disciplined, no-nonsense army general “made of sterner stuff” Buhari long sold to the Nigerian public, he broke down like a suckling to the embarrassment of the audience at the Abuja town hall event, without provocation, on Wednesday.
The campaign group said Buhari’s queer and suspicious behaviour came on the heels of the poor showing of the CPC at the National Assembly election on Saturday, adding that his action followed immediately on the heels of the collapse of the renewed alliance talks between the CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The council said it saw the action as a desperate measure from his bag of tricks to whip up sentiments in his favour from unwary voters which, it said, Buhari had preconceived by rehearsing it privately before the so-called town hall meeting.
“His target is clearly unwary voters, hence he made sure that even the most obscure and fringe North-centered media house was invited for the event,” it said.
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