Buhari charged to reconsider second term ambition

Worried about the persistent socio-economic challenges confronting Nigeria since the advent of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, some stakeholders in the country have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider his second term bid in office in the best interest of the country.

Pointing to the escalating Hausa/Fulani herdsmen crises across the country, economic crisis, in fighting and suspicion within the ruling party among others, the stakeholders were of the opinion that President Buhari should step down for a better hand if the situation is too tough for him to handle.

Specifically, a chieftain of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Dr. Amos Akingba said the affairs of the country seems too tough for Buhari to handle, hence he should resign.

The elder statesman advised that the president should exit to take good care of his health, adding that it is only a healthy man that can tactically solve the problems of the nation.

According to him, “Buhari, if he truly knows and he should know more than anybody, that his health is not good, he should resign and take care of himself. He can bring in somebody who he knows can handle the job well, if it is tough for him.”

Akingba restated the need for Nigeria to be restructured to true federalism whether by Buhari or whosoever he is bringing in, before any another general election, saying, “There is need for Nigeria to have a new constitution.”

He noted that the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference are also there, which is a combination of the previous reports “let’s start with that. It is almost 90 per cent as good as we can get. Let’s not be prejudice, lets do justice. It is when you contribute to the whole that you can have your own.”

But the National Chairman, National Conscience Party (NCP), ‎Dr. Tanko Yinusa, warned the ruling party to be cautious in its bid to present President Buhari as its candidate in 2019.

He said the decision to present Buhari for a second term should be determined by the people and not necessarily imposed by the party or some cabals.

According to him, “It is common knowledge that politicians would always seek for a second term even when they have not performed very well.”

On what NCP plans to do ahead of 2019, the national chairman said, “As a political party, we are mobilising people, making sure that our presence is being felt in the 36 States of the federation, and in all 774 local governments, we are leveraging on the Nigerian youths as panacea to the solution to our problem, we are asking the Nigerian youths to galvanise themselves into one block, which we call the paradigm shift, it is that paradigm shift we are selling to the Nigerian people.

He said President Buhari has failed to perform beyond expectations particularly in regards to the herdsmen activities and the Boko Haram insurgents.

In her view, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili flayed the ruling party over the re-election bid for President Buhari, at a time when killing of innocent souls by herdsmen is going on across the nation.

Ezekwesili on her social twitter page queried the government over the nonchalant attitude towards the killing of Nigerians in Benue State by the herdsmen.

She wrote, “Of all days that APC and its stalwarts could assault our sensibilities with the announcement of launch of 2019 re-election bid for President Buhari yesterday, same day that citizens were traumatised by the images of butchered bodies of our fellow citizens.”