Masari, Okorocha, Shettima, Chime, others: Nobody can stop Buhari in 2019

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President Muhammadu Buhari’s announcement on Monday of seeking reelection in 2019 has been described as the best thing to happen in the country.
To Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, since Buhari has performed in office, nobody can stop his reelection.
He also said Buhari’s decision to seek re-election has reaffirmed the love he has for Nigeria.
Masari’s response to the president’s re-election bid is in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Abdu Labaran, on Monday in Katsina.
Labaran quoted the governor as saying “it is now up to patriotic Nigerians to make sure that the President’s decision to seek re-election becomes reality.
“We owe ourselves the duty to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari continues beyond 2019, so that he can consolidate on the achievements so far recorded under his watch.
“In Katsina State, we will give Mr President the highest votes in 2019.
“I congratulate Nigerians for this wonderful news of the President’s declaration to go for re-election in 2019, because there is no one better than him for the office for now.”
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State described Buhari’s declaration to run for a second term, as a response to a clarion call from Nigerians of goodwill.
Reacting to the declaration in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Sam Onwuemeodo, in Owerri on Monday, Okorocha said that the President had performed very well in his first tenure.
He said that Buhari’s second term bid was a “right choice in the right direction”.
He said that the president’s declaration would end cheap blackmail from the opposition over his silence towards his ambition in 2019.
The Imo governor expressed optimism that APC would win the presidential election in 2019 and urged all party members across the country to work very hard to ensure victory.
He further said that APC had no apology to render to Nigerians, considering the bad shape it met the country when it took over in 2015.
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State described Buhari’s decision to seek re-election as politically correct.
Shettima stated this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Monday.
The governor said members of the APC, including the 24 governors elected on the platform of the party, had expressed their support to the president’s intention to re-contest.
Shettima added that “we are fully in support of his decision and it’s part of democratic culture: traditionally, the president has the right of first refusal of the candidature of the party.
“So, it’s not something that is unusual or unwarranted or unconstitutional, he has done the right thing, he is going to contest and we are solidly behind him.”
On whether the president consulted with APC stakeholders before announcing his decision to seek re-election, Shettima said Buhari was not under any obligation to consult governors or anybody.
According to him, the president has been under tremendous pressure to make that pronouncement.
“So, we should heave a sigh of relief since he has finally announced his intention to contest.
“We will give him the kind of support we gave in 2015,’’ he added.
Former Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, says that no amount of campaign of calumny or hate speech will stop Buhari from emerging victorious in 2019.
Speaking in Enugu, he said the president had done a lot to deserve reelection.
“No matter all the campaign of calumny against this government, what matters most is how it has impacted the people.
“Within less than three years of his administration, all those major requests by the South-East like the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt expressways, second Niger Bridge, he has made them a reality.
“We made all sorts of requests for funds for Enugu State under the past administration running to N40 billion but it gave us excuse that it would cause inflation.
“It is part of history that the present administration has released the money for Enugu State.
“I am excited that the President has agreed to run for a second term,” Chime said.
The former governor pledged to support his decision and would campaign vigorously for the president at the appropriate time.
A House of Representatives member, Aminu Shagari (Sokoto-APC), said Buhari’s intention to seek re-election was a good development for the APC.
Shagari said in Abuja on Monday that since no one had come out openly in the party to announce interest for the presidency, it was good that Buhari declared his intention.
He said that a second term for the president was good “because he means well for Nigerians’’.
“It is a good thing for the president to say he is running in 2019.This is because if you look at it, in the APC, no one has come out openly to say he is going to contest against him.
“So, for him to come out now is a good thing for the party.
“On his achievements, the president is a truthful person and means well for Nigerians which is one of the important things any leadership can have.
“Once people can trust you, the economy or wealth of the nation can be safe and that confidence is what matters,’’ he said.
On areas Nigeria needed improvement, Shagari said that there was “no clear cut vision on where we are heading to and that is where he should get experts to help’’.
“The president should get experts that will sit down and chat the way forward for the nation and that is the most important thing he should do when he comes back in 2019.
“One of the things people are complaining about is the cabal surrounding him, I will advise him to allow some intelligentsia to come close to him and tell him what is going on,’’ he said.
On corruption, the lawmaker said that the president was doing well as he had good intentions to end the vice for a better country.
“His zeal and intentions are there to fight corruption and I thought that he would have started with the police.
“Once the police are put in place, 90 per cent of the fight against corruption would have been achieved.
 
“I expect that in 2019 the police would be put right and the war against indiscipline should also be re-introduced.’’
However, he advised the president to take things easy and try to make the 2019 electioneering campaign less vigorous.
Similarly, a member of the Senate, Senator Shehu Sani, said the president’s declaration had helped to put to rest insinuations, speculations and ambitions of “supposed’’ candidates for the 2019 election.
“It has also helped in quashing the suspense the matter had generated. So, the ball is now in the courts of the electorate to make their decision,” Sani, who represents Kaduna Central Senatorial District, said.
In his reaction, Senate spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, said: “I am pleased and happy that our president has formally declared, ending all speculations. I join other party members and loyalist in the joy of this development.
“I pray that Almighty Allah will grant him good health, patience, tolerance and wisdom to continue to steer the ship of state to peace and prosperity by consolidating on successes recorded in economic restoration and growth.
On his part, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart in Nasarawa State, Mr Innocent Lagi, said that the announcement of the president’s intention at this time was “interesting”.
According to him, it is interesting because whatever the president says now becomes as political as any other candidate running for an election.
“The sensitivity of either criticising him has become eroded. It is now important for Nigerians to say what they think of his candidacy,” Lagi said.
He said that now that Buhari “is a candidate for an election, we have the opportunity to critique him without being referred to as hate speech makers,” he said.
Similarly, a political analyst, Mr John Alyerono, said “I’m not surprised going by Nigeria’s history.
“We have not really had any incumbent president or governor declining to exercise his constitutional right to run for second term irrespective of their performances.
“It is always known within Nigeria’s political parlance that they are the best until proven otherwise by the electorate.
“For the president’s declaration, we all just have to wait and see and allow the voting populace to decide if he had over-achieved or under-achieved to merit a second term,” he said.

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