Buhari’s 2019 re-election ambition: Matters arising
Finally, the man whom everyone had been
expecting to speak has finally spoken up on what’s his political
ambition in the Nigerian polity come 2019. That man is no order than
President Muhammadu Buhari. He spoke up live on Monday, April 9, 2018 in
Abuja at the headquarters of the ruling All Progressives Congress in
Abuja during the party’s National Executive Committee meeting. We were
told that Buhari declared to the composite membership of the APC’s NEC
that he would like to seize the opportunity of the gathering to formally
seek to make known his intentions to vie for the 2019 presidential
election towards the quest for a second term in office.
He said it was apt that it had to be
first the composite membership of his party’s NEC that he was going to
formally have to bring this to their attention. This article therefore
seeks to look at the implications of Buhari’s 2019 presidential ambition
for a second term.
Before going into the details, it is
incumbent on me to quickly guide the readers down the memory lane on the
background behind Buhari’s ascendancy to power in 2015. His ascendancy
to power in 2015 was anchored on a campaign of “Change” i.e. changing
almost the old order of things in the Nigerian polity, according to him
and his party, which hitherto had not served the interest of Nigerians
well. He campaigned on three main strengths having successfully, I
guess, embarked on a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats
research of his political abilities, competencies and efficiencies to
deliver on the thrusts of his political “Change” manifesto which he sold
to Nigerians to win their votes. His political manifesto was anchored
on three main thresholds i.e. fixing the economy of Nigeria which at
that time had begun to encounter signs of stress; an all-out war against
corruption, by deploying all known conventional techniques and
apparatus with the collaboration of the already established state
institutions set up to fight graft; and to bring an end to the
criminality of the insurgents in the North-East of Nigeria. Has Buhari
succeeded in the delivery of his core three-fold political manifesto and
indeed on the thrusts of the entirety of his political campaign
promises to have prompted him to desire to want to seek for a second
term in office?
Well, I will like to state here that I
won’t go into the details about the rationality or propriety of Buhari’s
formal declaration to contest the 2019 presidential election, hinging
this on how successful he has been thus far in the delivery of his
political manifesto. My desire in this article is to seek to highlight
the immediate implications behind this formal declaration of Buhari to
contest the 2019 presidential election to the Nigerian polity.
Now that the person whom everyone had
been expecting to speak up on what’s his ambition for the 2019
presidential election has finally spoken, it’s gladdening to note that
the heat which had enveloped the polity would now begin to evaporate
bringing a new breath of air as there is no more doubt as to whether he
would be contesting or not the 2019 presidential election.
President Buhari reportedly said during
his formal declaration that his decision to contest the 2019
presidential election, in pursuit of a second constitutionally allowed
term in office, was largely built on clarion calls from different
quarters, individuals, groups of individuals, interest groups and
organisations across the country who had seen and appreciated the import
of a Buhari Presidency for the past three years. Buahri’s statement
cannot be said to be farfetched from the truth as there has been a
flurry of activities in the past few months by different individuals,
groups of individuals, interest groups and organisations under different
nomenclatures calling and urging the President to seek re-election come
2019. From the calls from interest groups, organisations and
individuals from the President’s home state of Katsina, to the calls
from Kano State; to those of interest groups in the South-East zone and
to that by the so-called Arewa pastors during their recent visit to the
Presidential Villa last week.
Many of these interest groups and
organisations had openly talked about what kind of actions they intended
to take in order to have Buhari hearken to their calls. One could only
begin to imagine what might have happened if the President had not
heeded to the clarion calls. The palpable fear and anxiety that have
rented the air in the polity as to what might happen should anything
restrain or stand in the way of Buhari to declare his interest to run
for a second term should now begin to fizzle away.
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