Buhari: I was scared of contesting 2015 election

President Muhammadu ‎Buhari says the outcomes of the three elections he contested in the past almost discouraged him from participating in the 2015 poll.

Buhari contested and lost presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

Commending leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the role they played in ensuring the victory of the party in the last election, Buhari asked them to drop their differences to enable the party achieve its campaign promises.

He said his administration is determined to fulfill all the three basic promises of addressing security, economy/employment and corruption, which it made in its manifesto.

“No matter the level you are, drop your influence so that we can help achieve the manifesto – security, economy, employment and corruption- because if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria,” he told APC chieftains  during the breaking of fast at the presidential villa in Abuja on Tuesday.

“We have to ensure that people we bring forward are those that will move the society forward.

“I always like to go down the memory lane to show how lucky we are as a political group.

“At no stage was the decision taken by chance, it was all deliberate. The leaders of the parties felt the only way to wrest power from the PDP was for us to come together.

“I, in particular, was scared after previous failures of the elections of 2003, 2007 and 2011.

“We dissolved our various parties to form APC, then we applied to INEC, for once I was grateful to INEC.

“We had gone with nine people to INEC to apply and INEC advised us that we needed at least 25 people to form a political party.

“We were able to go back and raised 35 members across the country and then successfully registered the party.

“INEC then informed the federal government that we have met the requirements hence we cannot be denied registration.

“Many doubting Thomases said merger had never succeeded in Nigeria but here we are.

“I went into this long explanation so that you will appreciate how far we have come and for a society as ours, if we respect the constitution, then all the greed and problems will be a thing of the fast.”