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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that nobody would be allowed to raise an army of thugs to force himself on the people.
In his address at the palace of Emir of Jama’a, Muhammadu Isa II, yesterday, the president, who is on a two-day working visit to Kaduna State, restated his resolve to consolidate the country’s political system to improve the quality of the people’s lives because the people matter.
“We are doing our best to consolidate the system for the good of the people because they matter,” he said.
To this end, he spoke about the use of the police and the military in dealing with security situations but urged Nigerians to develop confidence in civil authority to build a system ‘free of chaos’.
“Nobody should be allowed to raise an army of thugs to force himself on the people. This must be very clear,” he said.
He assured of the determination of his administration to hand over a better Nigeria than the one he inherited, and urged Nigerians to be fair in their assessment of what his government has achieved, especially on the campaign promises he made ahead of the 2015 elections.
An excited Buhari, who commissioned various projects executed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai, recalled how he narrowly escaped being bombed by unknown persons near the Kawo bridge in the Kaduna metropolis in July 2014.
He applauded Governor Nasir El-Rufai for committing himself to changing Kaduna. He commissioned the Emir Road, Katsina Road and Dan-Haya Road in Kafachan and the remodelled Murtala Square, a sprawling sporting, event and recreational centre in the Kaduna metropolis.
Noting the impact of the urban renewal programme, he said he could no longer find his way around Kaduna, even as someone who has lived in the city for long.
“You have committed yourself to changing Kaduna and you have been very successful and people throughout the country are appreciating it. You’re writing your history in letters of gold. I congratulate you for your achievements so far.”
The president commissioned some of the 19 completed urban renewal road projects, including the reconstructed Kawo Flyover, an almost one kilometre long dual carriageway with three ground rotaries. At the Kawo Flyover, the president said to Governor el-Rufai: “Thank you for associating me with your success.”
Other projects commissioned included the 5.6km Aliyu Makama Road, the multi-storey Basic Education Mega-School in Lokoja Road in Rigasa, the dualised Yakubu Gowon Way and Leventis Underpass and the Infectious Disease Hospital in Mando, after Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, the deputy governor and the fertiliser blending plant of Barbedos Group.
El-Rufai launched the Kaduna State Urban Renewal Programme in June 2019, shortly after which the projects commenced in Kaduna before those of Kafanchan and Zaria started.
“The goal of the urban renewal programme is to regenerate Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria, the three major cities in the state.”
