- Some elements have since began calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to take another shot at the presidency
- The possibility that the president will accept the calls cannot be ruled out
- The calls seems to have received the nod of the presidency
A report by Daily Trust indicates that the political machinery of President Muhammadu Buhari is back at work.
Although the president has not declared intention to remain in power beyond 2019, the possibility that he may do so seems to be coming to fruition as calls for a Buhari second term appear to have received the nod of the presidency.
“If they believe that the president is best positioned for another term, you cannot stop them for expressing their feelings and beliefs just like you cannot stop those who say the president must not run again,” the special adviser to the president on political matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu told Daily Trust.
President Buhari will be needing the help of senior APC chieftains to prosecute his 2019 re-election bid. Photo credit: Aso Rock
First to fire the first salvo was the governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir El-rufai.
On Wednesday, September 6, El-Rufai told State House correspondents that a “Buharist group”, comprising state governors and ministers, has been constituted to push for the president’s second term.
“Everything that our group is doing, and we have a group, we have a Buharist [group] amongst governors and ministers, our group wants to ensure that President Buhari runs in 2019. If he chooses not to run, he will tell us which direction to go.
“We are Buharists, we don’t have any personal ambition, we don’t have any personal aspiration and we are waiting for him to decide,” he said.
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Already, Buhari’s political machinery are back at work. Recently, the secretariat of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) was commissioned in Abuja.
At the event, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd) in urged members to rekindle the journey they began in 2015 that resulted in entrenching the Buhari administration.
Leader of the Buhari Support Group, Senator Abu Ibrahim, later led the group’s national committee to a meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
The senator urged Buhari to run for the 2019 presidency “because l believe in his philosophy. I believe he can solve the problems of this nation. He can ensure the progress, stability and prosperity of this nation.”
The leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, who is a member of the committee, encapsulated the group’s position in few sentences, saying by 2019, President Buhari will have achieved so much that he “will have no option but to continue the good work he has started. Mr. President and Nigerians have a future beyond 2019. What he has started, by the grace of God, he should be able to complete up to 2023.”
In his remarks, President Buhari termed the activities of the group as “sacrifices for the peace, progress and prosperity of the nation.”
‘’I am grateful for your sacrifices. Your work requires a lot of sacrifices both physical and material. I do not think anybody will join this organisation for material reasons.
‘’What you are doing is for the nation and not for me as an individual. Therefore, there is no way you can lose because what you are doing is for posterity,’’ he said.
At the National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently, President Buhari publicly regretted his failure to reconstitute boards of parastatals as pledged last year.
He also announced a plan to appoint more ministers. Analysts are of the view that for the president to have announced this barely one-and-a-half years to the end of his four-year tenure could be a strategy to pacify aggrieved elements within the party and strike a new power deal.
On Monday, October 30, a national leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu put paid to the insinuations that his relationship with President Buhari had turned sour. He met privately with Buhari at the State House in Abuja and passed a vote of confidence on him.
Asiwaju Tinubu remains a major factor in the APC's plans for 2019. Source: Twitter
Tinubu equally dispelled media reports that an Aso Rock cabal had side-lined him. The former governor of Lagos state, however, declined comment on the calls for President Buhari’s second term.
His words: “I have confidence in this president, there is no doubt about that. We worked hard to bring about the government, there are certain things that are unpredictable and those are things that can lend themselves to gossips, insinuations and all of that.
“But once you create leadership and it is functioning, you don’t have to babysit that leadership unless there is a loss of confidence and I don’t have that.
“You know me. I am not known to shy away from speaking my mind and rebelling if necessary and taking charge of things that I believe are necessary.’’
The chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo state, who visited Buhari on Thursday, November 2, acknowledged that the president has the right and the qualification to seek a re-election.
However, it is doubtful whether Okorocha spoke for himself when he declared that there would be no automatic ticket for Buhari should he desire a second term.
“We don’t allow imposition of candidates. It must be democratically done. If President Buhari will lead the ship in 2019, it must be democratically done, and I said, democratically done, transparently to the amazement of the whole world, the way we do our things in APC and people will be happy,” he said.
Meanwhile, two governors were said to have spearheaded the move to stampede the NEC into making a proclamation that Buhari should be the lone presidential candidate of the party in 2019, one of them was from the northwest while the other was from the northeast.
A source very close to them said the governors, who are very close to Buhari, believed that if the trick succeeds, their relationship to the president would be cemented.
Another source said leaders of the APC, despite not being averse to the endorsement, resisted the proposal.
“Members of the Chief John Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) know the implication of endorsing Buhari at this time; they know many members of the party have not been happy in the last two years and would therefore not accept it. The meetings Buhari held before the NEC had succeeded in dousing tension but did not heal grievous wounds.
“And most importantly, there are many people who want to slug it out at the presidential primaries next year; you cannot brush aside the ambition of ex- Vice President Atiku Abubakar or ex- Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso. In fact, some serving APC governors would not mind getting the presidential ticket.
“Therefore, ruling out every other person in favour of Buhari would be suicidal, some of these people may revolt and move out of the APC en-masse and you know what that means. Forget about claims that they are a liability to the APC, the party is just dust without them. So, handlers of the party are being extremely careful but Buhari would ultimately get the ticket unless he says he is not interested, which is very unlikely,” he said.
The motion for the adoption was raised in the presence of Buhari himself as well as ex-officio members of the party’s NEC.
Others at the event were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Suleiman Lasun, 20 APC governors and one deputy governor, as well as the pioneer interim APC National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande.
Others were minister of agriculture Audu Ogbeh, FCT minister Mohammed Bello, special adviser to the president on political matters Babafemi Ojudu, senators and members of the House of Representatives, among others.
Soon after the meeting, key players in the APC kept the issue of the endorsement in front burner.
Sources said President Buhari had to accept the reality of expanding his cabinet and appointing board members from APC following the series of complaints from various stakeholders, including governors, and the fears of revolt in 2019.
There was revolt in the last couple of months, with authorities in the APC saying they were either side-lined, or those that matter have allowed PDP members to have a field day, hence, making the vehicle heavily overloaded to move to anywhere.
The APC members, including governors and members of the National Assembly, were said to have raised this issue at the caucus meeting on Monday, October 30, few days after the the Customs boss said the ruling APC-led federal government seemed to find it difficult to move forward and achieve its targets because it has been infiltrated by so many PDP members.
Unlike in the past, Buhari was soft spoken and more democratic during the NEC meeting, a development which many pundits say shows that is has dawned on Buhari that it takes more than personal integrity to maintain a political empire.
The president had literally kept the APC in bay since 2015, making the party seriously weak to work as a ruling party due to lack of funds and a listening ear in the corridors of power.
One prominent chieftain of the APC whose absence was noticed at the NEC was Atiku.
Though those close to him said he did not turn up for the important meeting because he was on a business trip abroad, sources said the mere fact that he returned to Nigeria a day or two after the meeting attest to the fact that his spirit is far from the APC.
“You must understand the body language of our politicians; Atiku is seriously nursing presidential ambition and his chances in APC are very slim. Come on, what do you think would be his takeaway if he attended the meeting,” an insider said.
But when asked of the possibility of mass defection from the APC, considering Atiku’s absence, Speaker Dogara said the party would do everything possible to reach out to all the aggrieved members and ensure reconciliation.
APC supporters across the country are waiting for directives from their party ahead of 2019. Source: Twitter
“I don’t think that you can find any family that is as large as the APC family without some squabbles. No such family exists in the whole world and if there are disagreements, they are okay because without disagreements, you cannot even move forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, a youth group named Ohandigbo Youths Organisation (OYO) has revealed its plans to embark on a nationwide rally to convince President Buhari to seek re-election ahead of the 2019 polls.
A statement signed in Abuja on Wednesday, October 25, by the convener of the group, Chief Nduka Anyanwu, said the group believes that President Buhari still holds the answers to some of the challenges confronting the nation.
Chief Nduka, who described himself as a "buharist", said convincing the president to contest is the first bold step the APC party must take.
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Nigerians want PDP back in 2019 - Goodluck Jonathan declares at PDP Caucus Meeting on - NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng