The question wether President Muhammadu Buhari will recontest by 2019 remains unanswered, with the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, yesterday explaining why President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to speak on his political future.
According to Adesina, Buhari’s stand is to prevent opponents from sabotaging the country.
If the President speaks too early about his ambition, he said, that it may arm opponents, who may throw everything at him and sabotage the country.
In Adesina’s view, the President cannot speak on his intention to run or not to run with the election still about one year away as he knows the consequences of doing so.
On when the President will declare his intention, he said: “You know the peculiarity of Nigeria, particularly now. If the President speaks too early, it’s a problem. There is a lot of sabotage in the country.
“You have also heard so many have said ‘don’t run’. Because they know that if the President runs, other people should just run away because they don’t have the foggiest chance in hell to beat him. So, they want to discourage him from running.
“Now, if he tells you, ‘I’m going to run’, and elections are still one year away, it gives them one year to sabotage the entire country from all fronts – politically, socially, economically – they would throw everything at him just to dissuade him from running.”
“So, when you know that, why then do you speak early? I think it makes a lot of sense for you then to keep things close to your chest till it is time for you to then say, ‘ok, I’m running’ by which time they can do less damage,” he added
Hinting of his intention to run in 2019, the President had in November, last year while speaking with some members of the Nigerian community in Cote d’Ivoire said that he came to the meeting with two governors so that their people may vote for him in future.
While apologising for turning up late at the occasion, he said: “First, I want to apologise for keeping you for too long sitting. This is because I insisted on the governors attending this meeting.
“This is why I came along with them so that when we are going to meet you, when you are going to meet the rest of Nigerians, if you tell them that their governors were in the company of the President, I think that will be another vote for me the future. I’m very pleased that they were able to turn up.”
No comments