President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday revealed that militants were unleashed against his government in the early days of the administration.
He made the remark during the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential campaign mega rally in Abuja.
Buhari said: “When we came, the price of crude from over $100 average, went down to $37 and $38 and then the militants were unleashed on this administration but we have all now overcome those difficulties.
From the little resources available to his administration, he said it has achieved a lot in terms of provision of critical infrastructure in various sectors of the economy across the country.
Accordingly, he said the government has recorded great achievements on the campaign promises it made in 2015, including security, economy and the fight against corruption.
He said: “I want to remind everybody where the country was before we came in in May 2015 where we are now and what we have been able to do with the resources available to us.
“You residents of Abuja know a lot of our three fundamental campaign aspirations security, economy and fighting corruption.
“Insecurity, the people of the northeast and the people of Abuja can know much better. Book Haram were holding more than 17 local governments in the northeast when we came, they are not holding any local government now.
“But what they are doing is indoctrinating young men and women, wrap them up with explosives and send them to soft targets, mosques, marketplaces, motor parks and so on.
“And then, we had the problem of herders and stagnant farmers in Benue state that we have looked after it. The problem of people who are just looking for trouble and they find something from you, especially in Zamfara state.
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“Those two are being looked after by the security agencies. On the economy, we are very lucky, but unfortunately, Nigeria has been underestimated.
“We had in agriculture in the last three years since we came. What the government did was to get partners that are available at half the price it used to be and thank God we hardly import rice now, more than 90 percent of rice import has stopped and the money we realized, we are ploughing it back to infrastructure.” he said
The President went on: “You know the condition of our roads, you know the condition of the railway, it was virtually killed and you know there was no power.
“The previous government admitted without anybody asking them that they spent $16 billion on power. You know more than I do. Where is the power, where is the money? Stolen.
“My point will come, when I talk about bribery and corruption which is the third undertaking we made, those people who said they spent $16 billion on power eventually they will account for it.
“We are under a system now those who have been given responsibilities in the three tiers of government, the centre and the state government and if they abuse it we will ask the security agencies to investigate and prosecute them.
“We have already done so in a number of cases, you know it, they came and bought properties here in Abuja, they invested outside the country.
“We are appealing to the countries, Europe and America to help us recover the looted funds and property which we are putting back to build infrastructure with the resources available to us.
“We were doing that militants were unleashed on us but we have now overcome those difficulties and now building infrastructure. If you give us the next four years, I assure you, you will not regret it.”
