Buhari support groups hold rally in Abuja

Barely a week after Nigerians held anti-government protests in major cities across the country, a coalition of Buhari Support Groups held a rally of their own on Tuesday in Abuja in support of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The coalition, Truth and Justice Movement of Nigeria, held the rally under the banner: “I Support President Buhari”.

It said other legs of the rally would be held in Kano, Lagos and Kaduna on Wednesday and Thursday.

One of the conveners of the rally, Moses Abdullahi, had disclosed in Abuja on Sunday that the march would hold in Abuja on Tuesday, in Kaduna and Kano on Wednesday, and the grand finale in Lagos on Thursday.

In Abuja, members of civil society and political groups gathered under the coalition at the Unity Fountain to trumpet the achievements of President Buhari.

The participants were mostly women and youth and marched across some major streets in the Federal Capital Territory, under the watch of the police.

They said they were out to pass a vote of confidence on the Buhari-led administration.

Convener of the groups, Johnson Ondoma, who spoke during the rally said the march is to demonstrate to President Buhari that he has the support of the people having fulfilled his promises to reinvent Nigeria, and having defeated terrorism and corruption in the country.

“The rally is important because as commoners, we express ourselves through public actions and not politicians and contractors who prefer to discuss governance in the state houses and lobbies of hotels,” Mr. Ondoma said.

He said despite repeated attempts to portray the Buhari administration as not performing, Nigerians are aware that the administration in the last two years has achieved far better than its predecessor in areas of anti-corruption, infrastructure and security.

Citing the $1 billion EuroBond which was oversubscribed as the beginning of good things to come, Mr. Ondoma said individuals who are sincere would acknowledge the investment in infrastructure that is now bringing improvement to roads and other critical national asset.

“Unlike in the past when the money for these road contacts were usually shared and made to circulate round, the funds released are now actually going into getting the jobs done.

“If people are not getting slush funds passed down to them, it means they have to review their personal economic activities within the reality of an anti-corruption era.

“There have also been several social security programmes being implemented by the government to ensure that economically disadvantaged people are not left to weather the difficulties they are facing alone. This has never happened before and it is something we should be objective enough to commend,” he said.

He also said President Buhari’s anti-corruption fight has exposed big thieves among the populace.

Recall that after President Muhammadu Buhari extended his vacation, thousands of Nigerians gathered on the streets of Lagos and Abuja in a protest tagged #IstandWithNigeria.

The protest against the federal government on February 6 was announced by music star 2baba Idibia who later withdrew after expressing security concerns.