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President Muhammadu Buhari after keeping Nigerians and his supporters waiting for several months, on monday, declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election.
The President stated this at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the party Secretariat, Abuja.
At the meeting which he attended ahead of his departure for a one-week official visit in United Kingdom, the President also proposed suspension of provision of Article 30 Section 1 and Subsection 3 of All Progressive Congress (APC) constitution which requires any serving officer desirous seeking re-election to resign from office 30 days before the election.
His UK visit comes ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of States and Government meeting, coming up from 18 to 20th of April, 2018.
The President said the waivers had become necessary because it is practically impossible for the present serving officers to meet this condition.
The President said he believed that the current executives should be free to run for elective position in the party if they so wish and permitted by our party constitution.
“Considering the provision of Article 30 Section 1 and Subsection 3 of our party constitution which requires any serving officer desirous seeking re-election to resign from office 30 days before the election, I’m not sure of the practicality of the present serving officers’ ability to meet this condition”
“Accordingly, the party may consider granting waivers to party executives at all levels so that they are not disenfranchised in participating in the elections provided this does not violate our
rights or our rules”
“Necessary waivers should also be extended to executives at the ward level whose tenures May have elapsed and indeed to anyone knocking on our doors from other parties, he stated.
Buhari said his intention to seek re-election in 2019, was in response to demands by Nigerians.
A statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirming the development said Buhari made the declaration at a closed-door meeting of the Council.
“The President said he was responding to the clamour by Nigerians to re-contest in 2019, adding that he wanted to give NEC the honour of notifying them first,” Shehu said.
The President had made the declaration shortly after making his speech at the APC NEC meeting conveyed to consider the report submitted by the APC National Executive Technical Committee, in Abuja.
Meanwhile, Buhari’s intension to seek reelection for the 2019 presidential election has elicited mixed reaction from politicians, political parties and public affairs analysts.
President Buhari, speaking at the NEC meeting assured the APC members that victory is certain if they all work together, while appealing to the Council members to also grant waiver to the party’s national chairman, John Oyegun and other National and State Executive members wishing to seek re-election.
…Buhari’s declaration portends danger to Nigeria – Junaid Muhammad
But reaction to the President’s declaration, Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Muhammad told BusinessDay on Monday that Nigerians have nothing to cheer with the president’s reelection bid adding that it probably portends danger to the country.
“I don’t know if Nigerians have a say in it. If Nigerians have a say in it there would have been no such declaration. Nigerians are going to be bystanders in the sense that in spite all the urge not to run. Buhari will probably rig the election and unleash mayhem and catastrophe the like of which Nigerians have never seen.
“The government has the capacity to rig the election and they are shameless enough to do that. I find myself unable to justify under any circumstances the reasons for the President to want to run for a second term because he has failed in everything he said he was going to do. He has said several times that he will not go beyond one term, now he has set that aside and has decided to go for power no matter the consequences for the country. That is not my idea of a statesman; Buhari has pathological lust for power.
“I don’t believe that Nigeria will see peace and of course Nigeria has never seen good governance under Buhari and the same pattern will continue unfortunately. Buhari said he was going to bring security and control the Boko Haram he has failed in that. He said he was going to fight corruption he has failed in that. He said he was going to bring the militants of the Niger Delta under control he has failed in doing that. He promised to better the economy he has failed woefully on that. The best thing is for him to leave so that Nigerians can have their county back,” he said.
…His declaration good for democracy, but we will challenge him- NUP chair
Also contributing, the National Chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), Perry Opara, in his reaction told BusinessDay that President Buhari’s bid to seek reelection is good for democracy, good for Nigerians and also good for APC.
“With this declaration, political activities will commence immediately. As a leader of a coalition of political parties, we have now gotten emboldened and we will re-strategize. I will go ahead and call a meeting immediately with all the national chairman of political parties in our coalition so that we can assess and reassess President Buhari’s declaration and proffer solution on how to move ahead for 2019. It is good that the declaration happened on Monday and I can assure you that between now and Friday, a lot of alignment and realignments will commence.
“Nigerians are the people to decide whether the type of government they have seen for over three years is what they want to continue with or they need a change,” he said.
..Obasanjo to respond
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo will react to President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration to contest for the 2019 Presidential election, a close confidant of the former president confirmed. Opara told BusinessDay that Obasanjo, who is implacably opposed to the government of President Buhari, is not in the country now but will surely issue a statement when he returns to the country soon.
Opara said that Obasanjo is catalyst for the mass movements that have swept across the federation in the form of Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), the Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM) which is in grand coalition with about 35 political parties, civil society organisations, faith- based organisations among others, allegedly aimed at removing the Buhari government and forming a Government of National Unity.
“We are going to commence meeting with Obasanjo to reinforce our
strategy for 2019. Obasanjo is not in the country now but as soon as
he comes back he will issue a statement that Nigerians will follow and
take it from there,” he said.
Obasanjo has inspired the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), which
he launched to allegedly unseat President Buhari and the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC). Obasanjo is also mobilizing Nigerians
against the return of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) to power. The former president has said that the two main
parties have led Nigerians astray and don’t deserve to be given any
further chance.
Recalled that Obasanjo issued a letter to President Buhari in January
in which he severely criticized the president for failing to better
the Nigerian economy and failing to provide security to the people
following the incessant attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen. He further
slammed the president for his alleged high level of nepotism and
clannishness and urged him to quit the stage for younger people.
He further tasked the Nigerian people to reject Buhari and warned
them not to “reinforce failure”.
Obasanjo has since received the support of former generals who also
denounced Buhari over his shortcomings. In February former military
president Ibrahim Babangida served Buhari another letter where he
raised multiple failures of the Buhari government and urged him to
quit the stage.
Then in late March, former Chief of Army Staff, Theophilus Danjuma,
during the convocation ceremony of the Taraba State University,
accused the security forces of colluding with the herdsmen attackers.
This was a direct allegation that the Buhari government allegedly
looks the other way while Fulani herdsmen massacre Nigerians.
…Buhari’s declaration anchored on failure -NCP chair
Meanwhile the National Chairman of the National Conscience Party
(NCP), Tanko Yunusa, said Buhari’s declaration gives the people
little to hope for following the pervasive hardship in the country.
The NCP chair told BusinessDay on Monday that the declaration is not
news. “For us we already have in mind that he was going to run. He has
the right to run and he is welcome to the game. We will put up our own
team to run against him.
“But it is clear that the president and the government itself have not
lived up to expectations of Nigerians and the cry has been huge. Look
at the issue of corruption, people have seen that it has been
selective and the issue of economy which has been woeful,” he said.
Leader of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) Tanko Yakasai described the
declaration as “no news” adding that “Nigerians had abandoned the All
Progressive Congress (APC) long ago”
The elder statesman who stated that the declaration did not take him
by surprise, attributed his reaction to how the President,s supporters
” had been behaving”
“His supporters did not seem to know that Nigerians have changed their
mind about the APC”
“My advice to Nigerians is that they should be more conscious about
their future and the future of their children”
Former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Yakubu, while also reacting,
expressed happiness that the President is recontesting the election.
Yakubu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in a
telephone chat with BusinessDay in Abuja, said the party will be happy
to square it up again with President Buhari.
“We are happy because, it is going to be a rematch with President
Buhari. It is the President that we want to defeat” adding that “we
are happy that the APC is most likely to represent him for the 2019
Presidential election”
Yakubu said”Nigerians are fully aware of the misrule, fragmentation
and neglects” the All Progressive Congress had visited on Nigeria
since the inception of the current administration.
“We are not afraid of the APC and the President because they have
created more division and insecurity among Nigerians than they
inherited”
He added that the PDP is however working to conduct the most
transparent, free and fair primaries that will produce their own
candidate.
“You know the PDP is the biggest party in Nigeria, we are working to
produce our candidate through free, fair and transparent primaries,”
he said.
Pally Iriase, member of National Executive Council (NEC) of APC
commended the Buhari’s decision to seek second term in office as
Nigeria’s President.
Iriase who doubles as Deputy Majority Whip in the House of
Representatives, in a chat with BusinessDay, described Buhari as a
focussed leader in the areas of anti-corruption crusade and
infrastructural development.
“One thing that is very clear about this President is that no matter
what anybody will have against him, he is very focused and very
passionate about repositioning Nigeria and his single fight against
corruption is what Nigerians must commend.
“Secondly within the limited resources available, he has been able to
show that Nigeria can develop and work because not many are aware
about the huge infrastructural development that is ongoing all over
the country, roads are receiving attention, the rail system is
receiving attention, the airports are receiving, even the power
problem is receiving consistent attention.
“This shows the serious mindedness of a President that want to turn
things around for the betterment of Nigeria, he came in at a time when
things have gotten so bad and he has since jettisoned the easy escape
route of blame game and he has settled down to work.
“It took him quite a while to settle down because of the rot he met,
but now that we have seen that he has found his ways and how to
achieve sustainable development for Nigeria,” Iriase (APC-Edo) said.
Speaking shortly after the NEC meeting held in Abuja, Governor
Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State stressed that the decision by
President Buhari to seek for re-election in 2019 has rekindled hope
and reassured Nigerians that the restoration agenda, the war against
corruption and enthronement of good governance for the country will
sail safely to coast.
The governor commended this decision shortly after President Buhari
told the APC NEC of his intention to contest the presidential election
next year in a statement signed by his Coordinator, Media and
Publicity, Jide Orintunsin.
The Governor noted that the President pronouncement has rekindled the
hope of average Nigerians for a better tomorrow.
“It was so heartwarming when Mr. President today told members of the
national executive committee (NEC) of our great party of his intention
to seek for re-election. This is the brightest moment for our country.
A moment that has rekindled the hope of our people. A moment that has
reaffirmed that all the good works, the good initiatives of Mr.
President that saw us out of economic recession the country was
plunged into by mismanagement of past administration will now be
sustained to take us to the desired enviable position among the
commity of nations.
“By this pronouncement, President Muhammadu Buhari has exhibited high
sense of a good leadership. He has shown that he listens to the
yearnings of millions of Nigerians who called on him to continue the
good work he started since 2015.
“He would have dashed the hope of teeming Nigerians, especially the
younger ones who are looking up to him, if he has turned down this
call to serve.
“The onus is now on all good and well-meaning Nigerians to rally round
our President and ensure that the reactionary forces of the opposition
and agents of doom are not allowed to dash the much cherish hope we
all have in the new emerging Nigeria by doing the needful during the
next general election.
“We cannot afford to go back to the dark days of extravagance and
impunity. President Muhammadu Buhari has changed the game, he has
brought sanity to governance, the war against insurgency is nearing
logical conclusion and our economy is improving. Posterity will not
forgive us as a people if we allow this golden opportunity to slip off
our hands. Mr. President has declared, we have to do the needful as a
people by supporting him,” Gov. Sani Bello advised.
Tony Ailemen, Kehinde Akintola & Innocent Odoh, Abuja
