Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday in Abuja wondered how a certain Jibril from Sudan would be presiding over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting as rumoured by certain persons.
The misconception of Jibril, a purported body-double of President Muhammadu Buhari, has been rife in both conventional and social media lately.
Buhari himself cleared the air and debunked the claims that he was cloned while fielding questions in Poland on Sunday.
Osinbajo expressed this shock in his address at a National Consultative Forum organised by the National Committee of Buhari Support Groups (NCBSG) in collaboration with Council for New Nigeria Initiative.
He said that the fear of Buhari was making some detractors lose their senses.
According to the vice president, the present government is earning 60 per cent less than the previous government, yet in the past three years it has spent N2.7 trillion on infrastructure.
He said that the Buhari-led administration had done much because it was not stealing money; was doing major roads in 36 states including Lagos-Kano railway, Warri, Aladja, Mambilla, Port Hacourt, Maiduguri among others.
Osinbajo said that the government was feeding over 9.2 million children every day; giving 2 million petty traders a better deal in life with Tradermoni and had employed 500,000 graduates under the NPower programme.
“We are giving about 300,000 of the poorest Nigerians N5000 a month. How? Because Buhari is the gate keeper he has stopped grand corruption.
“So despite the fact that we are earning 60 per cent less we are doing five times more. This is why there is a gang up by the discredited elite against him.
“They prayed for him to die he didn’t die, when he came back hale and hearty by the grace of the Almighty God, they mourned while Nigerians rejoiced.
”The fear of Buhari makes these people desperate, even crazy. So now they say he is Jibrin from Sudan. If you can’t discredit him say he doesn’t exist; they were all alive and well when Pastor Adeboye went to London and prayed for him the day before he returned to Nigeria.
“How will one Jibril sit in Federal Executive Council and conduct meetings, consult with his ministers, speak to me daily?
“Their strategy is simple, if you tell a lie often enough some will believe you. Buhari is not only alive and well. He will by God’s grace live long and well after his second term in office,” he said.
He commended the members of National Committee on Buhari Support Groups, saying that they were the vanguard of the battle for the soul of Nigeria.
On his part, Sen. Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader, All progressives Congress (APC) expressed optimism that the party would emerge victorious in the 2019 presidential election.
Tinubu gave the support groups a recipe for effective campaign.
He said that the opposition would talk about herdsmen and farmers clash, adding that it also occurred during the previous government.
“But they have low way of thinking; they have low capacity to convert tragedy to a situation of opportunity and economic prosperity; we have the capacity in this country to do irrigation; utilise our water resources; to create green pastures and ranches.
“We will convert that mystery; that tragedy to opportunity to our people; we have higher institutions which have conducted various studies on ranching; we can only change the way of life of some people.
“The herders will have greener pastures, okay; let’s build schools; let’s build ranches and ask the animals to be in one position and create opportunities for farmers to provide animal feeds; even animal dung will become manure and will create a bigger economy.
“We can create slaughter labs and abattoirs; we can hygienically transfer those feed in a cold storage—transportation; that is equally business.
“We can easily take those animal skins to make shoes, handbags, belts, and turn our locality to China and export.
“We are not going to cry; feel sorry for ourselves; relinquish our responsibility because we are thinkers and doers; we will convert it to prosperity. Believe me and believe Buhari,” he said.
The APC national leaders told the groups that the opposition would ask them what the Buhari government had achieved.
He said that their response should be that the administration had diversified the economy; more farmers were making money and Nigeria was no longer importing rice.
Tinubu said that the groups should also talk about the achievements in rail transportation.
The highlight of the event was the unveiling of a digital portal for advocacy and for showcasing the achievements of the Buhari-led government. (NAN)