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Why Buhari will not declare 2019 bid now, by presidency

By Terhemba Daka, Abuja
19 March 2018   |   4:25 am
The Presidency yesterday explained that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to delay making public his position about the 2019 general election is to prevent desperate politicians from sabotaging the country.

PHOTO: Bayo Omoboriowo

The Presidency yesterday explained that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to delay making public his position about the 2019 general election is to prevent desperate politicians from sabotaging the country.

President Buhari had recently provided hints about the possibility of his running for a second tenure amidst calls by some Nigerians for him to jettison the thoughts.

Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja at the weekend, said the President cannot speak on the issue especially with the election still about one year away because he knows the consequences.

Adesina said, if President Buhari speaks too early about his ambition, it may give ammunition to unnamed opponents to throw everything at him and sabotage the country.

When pressed to specifically state when the President will declare his intention, the presidential spokesman 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, others people should just run a way 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.”

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