612
Nigerian Senate President Bukola Saraki is considering running against
President Muhammadu Buhari when Africa’s top oil producer holds elections
in February.
“I am consulting and actively considering it,” Saraki, 56, said Tuesday in
an interview at his residence in the capital, Abuja. “I believe I can make
the change.”
After recently defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress, Saraki
said that if he decided to run, it would be under the banner of the
People’s Democratic Party, the main opposition group. He would need to win
the party’s ticket during primary elections in October.
At odds with Buhari ever since he emerged as the senate leader against the
president’s wishes in 2015, Saraki is a former member of the PDP who
despite joining the APC, often went against the party line.
His defection last month back to the PDP came amid a wave of such
departures from the APC, including dozens of senators and at least two
state governors. After security operatives surrounded Saraki’s home last
month for undisclosed reasons, the secret police temporarily blocked
access to the National Assembly on Aug. 7, in what Saraki said was an
illegal attempt to impeach him. The head of the State Security Services
was dismissed over the deployment.
Confidence Lost
“If a government can go and lock up an arm of government — and it’s never
happened in our history — we should all be very concerned,” Saraki said.
“We should not be surprised that they would use security agencies for
elections.”
Investors and citizens have lost confidence in the president, according to
Saraki, the nation’s third ranking official after Buhari and his deputy.
Buhari’s election victory in 2015, which marked the first time an
opposition party won power at the ballot box and put an end to 16 years of
PDP rule, came after he pledged to fix the economy, improve security and
fight corruption.
While Buhari’s administration has raised record amounts of money in
oversubscribed Eurobond sales and increased revenue to boost investments
in roads, rail, ports and power, poverty remains widespread in Nigeria and
the nation is still dealing with deadly violence in several regions.
To win the PDP ticket at the party’s primaries on Oct. 5 and 6, Saraki
would need to beat another presidential aspirant, former Vice President
Atiku Abubakar, who also defected from the APC last year.
Saraki said Nigeria needs to be governed by a genuinely pro-business
administration that will be able to tackle recurrent security issues.
Bloomberg