The
number of aspirants seeking to get the ticket of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) is set to rise as Senate President Bukola Saraki said he is
considering running against President Muhammadu Buhari.
Saraki, who is in a faceoff with the
All Progressives Congress (APC) after defecting to the PDP, gave the
indication in an interview he granted to Bloomberg at his Abuja
residence.
“I am consulting and actively considering it,” Saraki said, adding that “I believe I can make the change.”
Daily Trust reports that if Saraki decides to run, he will vie for the PDP ticket along with at least 10 other contenders.
They include former Vice President
Atiku Abubakar, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former governors Sule
Lamido (Jigawa), Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna), Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano),
Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), as well as governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto)
and Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe).
There are also former Minister of
Special Duties Kabiru Turaki, founder of Baze University Senator Datti
Baba-Ahmed, among other contenders, some of whom have not formally
declared interest but were expected to do so before the party’s primary
election likely coming up in October.
Daily Trust reports that Saraki’s
visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military
President Ibrahim Babangida earlier may all be part of the consultations
the senate president said he was making.
Saraki said investors and citizens
had lost confidence in the president, who won election in 2015 after
three previous attempts, thereby putting an end to 16 years of PDP rule.
He however said that “The PDP has
learnt its lesson from the loss in 2015, and I think unfortunately the
APC did not learn from their victory.”
While negotiating with the PDP “we
listed a number of issues. We talked about how to sustain and improve
the fight against corruption; the issue of providing more powers to the
states; inclusion and having a more nationalistic approach on things we
do; to continue to improve the environment that will ensure investments.
We listed a number of items during the discussions with the PDP, and
there is a written agreement to that. We trust that we can hold them to
that.”
“We would ensure that the party is
strong on security. The APC too have not done well on the issue of
security. We have the opportunity with the right kind of presidential
candidate and president to provide the leadership for the party. The
party has a good opportunity to lead the country in the right
direction.”
We’re not afraid of Saraki, others- APC chieftain
Daily Trust reports that there was
no immediate reaction from the ruling APC to Saraki’s hint at running
for president, but a chieftain of the APC and the Director General of
Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, said yesterday that the
party was not afraid of any presidential aspirant, including Senate
President Saraki.
Okechukwu, in a phone interview,
said President Buhari who remained the presumptive consensus
presidential candidate of the APC was ready for any challengers.
He said the party would present its
massive infrastructural development and the feat achieved in the fight
against corruption and insecurity.
He said, “We are not afraid of
anybody, as from today in Nigeria, who will defeat President Muhammadu.
Whoever wants to challenge him, we are waiting for the person. The
little we know is that we are going to present the facts. We are going
to present massive infrastructural development going on across the
country – 5000km of federal roads, 5000km of rail lines, 5000 additional
megawatts of electricity and the target for self-sufficiency in food
production.
“It’s the most ambitious and massive
infrastructural development in the history of Nigeria as an independent
nation. It has three, five years completion cycle. That is what Mr
President has on the table.
“We are have to present the fight
against corruption and insecurity. So, we don’t know who become the
candidate. But we are waiting.Our happiness is that President Buhari
today is the presumptive consensus presidential candidate of the APC. We
are waiting for anyone of them to come.”
Other party leaders as well as top
government officials, including the Secretary to Government of the
Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, APC national chairman Adams Oshiomhole
and leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had all said recently that no
defections or gang up will stop Buhari from winning re-election in 2019.
Buhari too old to lead Nigeria – Tambuwal
Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal yesterday said there was mounting pressure on him to declare for presidency.
He said though President Muhammadu Buhari is a man of integrity, he should be voted out because he is too old to lead Nigeria.
The governor said this in Sokoto
yesterday while addressing different associations of students and youths
as well as residents who paid him solidarity visit.
Alleging that some cabals had hijacked Buhari’s government, he dismissed the insinuations that he was the president’s enemy.
“We love President Buhari and that
was why we supported him in 2015 unconditionally and while doing that we
are too sure that he will seek for re-election after his first term but
when things are wrong we have to tell him.
“We still believe in his integrity,
patriotism and courage, but these are not enough for a leader. We all
know that there is a vacuum in government occasioned by his disposition
probably because of his old age or health condition that is why
Nigerians are yearning for younger ones to lead this country.
“The country needs somebody who will
respect the rule of law and who will not be selective in fighting
corruption,” the governor said.
Tambuwal also disclosed that there was mounting pressure on him to declare for presidency.
“I have been receiving advice and
encouragement from our leaders, peoples across the country and even from
abroad to contest for presidency and this pressure is being mounted. It
is not my making, but the quantum of pressure from everywhere because
of leadership gap in the country,” he said.
The governor said he would make his position public on the matter “in days to come”.
Earlier, leader of the groups, Bashir Gorau, pledged their support to Tambuwal’s presidential ambition.
‘Tambuwal has been declared missing’
A Presidency source yesterday night asked our correspondent to find out, where is Tambuwal speaking from.
The source who do not want to be
named said information available to the Presidency is that Sokoto
People have declared their governor missing from the day he announced
his decamping from the APC.
“We heard this announcement on FRCN
Kaduna’s missing persons program. Where is he? His people are looking
for him,” the source, a top aide said.
Source:https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/i-m-considering-running-for-president-saraki-says-265965.html
Source:https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/i-m-considering-running-for-president-saraki-says-265965.html
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