President Muhammadu Buhari has announced his intention to contest the 2019
\nPresidential election.<\/p>\n
The president made the disclosure at the All Progressive Congress, APC,
\nNational Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in Abuja. The Kaduna state
\ngovernor Mallam El Rufai, in jubilation went to twitter to also make the
\nannouncement.<\/p>\n
Bashir Ahmad, the Personal Assistant to the President on New Media also
\ntwitted the President’s decision saying “It is official#PMBForNigeria
\n2019.”<\/p>\n
President Buhari’s declaration has now laid to rest all speculations
\nsurrounding his political future.<\/p>\n
At the APC NEC meeting before his planned trip to the United Kingdom,
\nBuhari said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to specifically thank members of the technical committee for a job
\nwell done within a limited time frame. It shows the essence of commitment
\nand the ideals of our party with a view to consolidating the party to
\ncontinue to provide good governance in the overall interest of Nigerians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe general interest of the party and based in the report submitted by
\nthe technical committee, it is important to focus on how to move the party
\nforward by avoiding actions detrimental to the interest of the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsidering that politics is a game of numbers, we must not be a house
\ndivided against itself and must try to appreciate and accommodate our
\ndifferences as far as the law permits.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving seen the report, my position is to ensure that the party tows the
\npart of unity, legality, cohesion and\u00a0 not that of division. Therefore, I
\nam stressing that we strengthen our internal democracy by organizing party
\ncongresses and convention where election of national executive committee
\nmembers will be held. This will automatically end the cases filed by
\nmembers seeking orders of court compiling the party to hold its
\ncongresses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also believe that the current executives should be free to run for
\nelective position in the party if they so wish and permitted by our party
\nconstitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, considering the provision of Articlr 30 Section 1 and Subsection
\n3 of our party constitution which requires any serving officer desirous
\nseeking re-election to resign from office 30 days before the election, I\u2019m
\nnot sure of the practicality of the present servings officers ability to
\nmeet this condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly, the party may consider granting waivers to party executives
\nat all levels so that they are not disenfranchised in participating in the
\nelections provided this does not violate our rights or our rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cNecessary waivers should also be extended to executives at the ward level
\nwhose tenures May have elapsed and indeed to anyone knocking on our doors
\nfrom other parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gives credence to the right to freedom of association guaranteed by
\nthe 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended. In
\nthis circumstance, the party should issue a statement on the above waivers
\nso that our house maybe full. We all must not be ignorant of the tomes and
\nthe journey that is ahead of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like our party symbols the broom, we stand by strength in unity. Let
\nus try to be united in party, victory is sure by the grace of God. And
\ntogether, we must continue to to sanitize Nigeria\u2019s Political environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome you to this meeting with the hope that in our deliberations, we
\nwill conduct ourselves without rancour, and promote the highest interest
\nof our party and the nation, he concluded.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari told members of his party before he was first
\nelected that he would only seek one term, implying he did not intend at
\nthat time to run in 2019,\u00a0 said Aisha Alhassan, minister of women\u2019s
\naffairs\u00a0 last year.<\/p>\n
The issue has heightened uncertainty over whether Buhari plans to contest
\nthe next election. President Buhari took power in 2015 but was absent for
\nmuch of 2017\u00a0 due to illness.<\/p>\n
Like his predecessor, Buhari also faces questions over his handling of
\nsecurity problems as election draws near.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari has announced his intention to contest the 2019 Presidential election. The president made the disclosure at the All Progressive Congress, APC, National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n