ÔÇØHow Buhari escaped deadÔÇØ - Islamic group reveaIs

Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the Executive Director of MURIC, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

"This was a president who miraculously escaped the most deadly assassination attempt in history. He was exposed to the most perfect gas poisoning plot of all time and was pronounced dead by his adversaries on different occasions.

ÔÇØBut like the cat with nine lives, Buhari lived on. Of course, this attempt on his life took its toll on him as he laid incommunicado for five months,ÔÇØ Akintola said.

Addressing critics of the former president, Akintola said:

"We as a group always find it amusing when some people try to rubbish the achievements of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari. He stands tall among all past leaders of Nigeria.

"Apart from the first prime minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, the former Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello and former military head of state, Muritala Muhammed, no other Nigerian leader stands to be counted for altruism, patriotism, transparency, credibility and integrity like Muhammadu Buhari.

"Those who describe Buhari as a failure are either being deliberately mischievous for the purpose of scoring cheap political points or suffering from collective amnesia. Judged from the standpoint of the circumstances of the time, Buhari achieved a lot for Nigeria.ÔÇØ

He added: "Seventeen out of Nigeria's 774 Local Government Areas were under the full control of Boko Haram when Buhari took over in 2015. It was so bad that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said Boko Haram was controlling the size of Belgium.

ÔÇØBut Buhari pushed them back and recovered all territories. Nigerian troops who used to flee to Niger or Chad during fierce clashes with insurgents due to lack of better weapons became emboldened under the Daura-born president.

"This was made possible because instead of diverting funds meant for weapons and military hardware, Buhari made Nigeria's money count. He strengthened the military by purchasing the most sophisticated weaponry from everywhere in the world, including American Tucano fighting jets and attack helicopters.ÔÇØ

"His list of achievements includes, but not limited to, the Mambilla Hydropower project of 3050 megawatts, which he started 40 years after it was abandoned.

ÔÇØBuhari reduced out-of-school pupils from 10.5 million to 8.6 million in two years according to statistics from both UNICEF and UNESCO and introduced the feeding of over five million pupils every school day in 19 states.

"Buhari also increased savings in the Excess Crude Account and increased foreign reserves to 40 billion dollars from 29 billion dollars, which he inherited. He constantly bailed out states with trillions of naira to be able to pay workers and run their governments.

ÔÇØHe reduced monthly import bills from 5 billion dollars to 1.5 billion dollars. The N-Power Volunteer Scheme created jobs for hundreds of thousands of unemployed graduates in all 36 states, and the FCT.ÔÇØ he added.