Campaign: Buhari raises N54.4m from ‘crowd funding platform’

Before I continue Compare N21b to N54.4m.
The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, has said his desire not to become a hostage to
anyone is the reason behind his decision to rely on the sacrifices of
ordinary Nigerians to fund his campaign.
Buhari said this at a press briefing on the Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
Crowd Funding Platform, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
This is even as he announced that N54, 415,386.70 had so far been
received as donations through direct deposit and sale of cards.
He expressed the confidence that the financial support he was
receiving from ordinary Nigerians would see him through the campaign
period.
According to him, his supporters who floated the platform drew
inspiration from the United States of America President, Barack
Obama's campaign.
The candidate noted that when Obama first came on the scene, he did
not enjoy the support of big corporations for a variety of reasons,
but that he was able to surmount this challenge when he turned to
ordinary Americans who shared his dream.
Buhari said, "My strength mainly are the ordinary people and the N100
they are contributing. It is a lot of money for them but I know they
will make the sacrifice especially when I said I am not going to sign
the cheque to get even a kobo out of that account.
"That is why I depend on them. We are taking this idea from what we
have seen in the United States when Barack Obama came out to contest,
he was a coloured person, the big companies were not for him and so
on.
"But he knew he had foot soldiers, so when he came up with this idea,
he was able to finance his campaign without looking for money-bags or
anybody influential. So, he remained independent and was not held
hostage by anybody. And this is what I want to achieve."
He said the Buhari Support Organisation currently had 82 registered
support groups with over 475, 796 coordinators and a total membership
in the region of 8, 492,226 across the country.
Buhari explained that the organisation intended to use the
registration and donation cards to enlist the members of the groups as
volunteer change agents and also to capture the spatial distribution
of its donors.
While acknowledging that Nigerians were going through a difficult
time, he expressed the confidence that they would make the requisite
sacrifices to bring about a positive change.
He used the occasion to debunk the well publicised N27.5m loan he
allegedly obtained to pay for his nomination forms.
Buhari added that he made attempts to get the leadership of the APC to
reduce the amount payable for the forms but his move was rejected.
He said, "I told them that I cannot complain because I happen to be a
senior member of the party. So, I put a quick call to my bank manager
(and said) whatever is the state of my account, please don't dishonour
that cheque and that's what my manager did.
"So, people developed their own stories from there and so on. What
happened is between my manager and I. It is always confidential."
Also, a group under the auspices of the House-to-House Education
Initiative has announced support for Buhari's campaign.
The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Kunle Ehinlanwo, told
newsmen in Abuja, that "our initial idea was to support the
re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan believing that continuity
will better serve our democracy.
"But on a deeper review and careful analysis of the situation in the
country, we are not convinced with the performance of the present
administration.
"We have consequently decided to throw our support in favour of Maj.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential candidate of the APC."
The group said it was convinced that Buhari was a better man for the
challenging job.
Accordingly, the House-to-House Educational Initiative pledged to
henceforth campaign vigorously to canvass support for the election of
Buhari and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, ahead of the 2015
general elections across the 36 states of the federation.