President Muhammadu Buhari
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Chieftains of the All Progressives
Congress, who are pushing for a second term ticket for President
Muhammadu Buhari, have mapped out strategies to woo the party’s
first-term governors to swell their ranks, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.
So far, at least six of the party’s
serving 24 governors have openly declared support for the President to
seek the party’s ticket for re-election in 2019.
These are Kano Sate Governor, Abdullahi
Ganduje, Solomon Lalong of Plateau State; Yahaya Bello of Kogi State;
Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State; Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State as well
as Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
A top-ranking member of the APC, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as “not to ruffle feathers”, told SUNDAY PUNCH
on Saturday that party members, who considered themselves “core
Buharists”, did not foresee any threat to his candidacy at least from
“anywhere in northern Nigeria.”
He explained that as members of a
political party, no matter which aspirant a person or group of persons
supported, it was incumbent on such people to respect others who had
other preferences.
The source said, “It is for the same
reason why no one could talk about sanctions for the Minister of Women
Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, when some mischiefmakers leaked a video of her
endorsing former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the needless
controversy which followed.
“With all these noise being made by some
people and the misleading headlines you see these days, tell me one
person, within or outside the APC in Nigeria today, who can defeat
President Buhari if he decides to run in 2019? Name one!”
According to him, the APC is determined
not to repeat the mistakes made by the former ruling party, the Peoples
Democratic Party, by taking party members for granted.
He added, “When you hear some of our
party members saying no automatic ticket, they are referring to history.
How far did candidate Buhari go when he was given an automatic ticket
by the defunct CPC?
“Remember that at the height of the
PDP’s impunity in 2015, only one presidential form was printed and it
was only for the then President Goodluck Jonathan. We have learnt from
history.”
The source explained that as part of
strategies to get more of the party’s powerful governors on board, the
President had started consulting the states’ helmsmen on appointments
into the headship of federal agencies.
He also made reference to the tone and
language used by the President in his address to party men and women at
the just concluded National Caucus and National Executive Council
meeting of the party.
The National Publicity Secretary of the
APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, had, in an interview with one of our
correspondents, explained that the party remained focused on delivering
on the mandate given to it by the Nigerian people and would not be
distracted.
He also noted that despite insinuations
from certain quarters that the party was in turmoil, the peaceful
atmosphere under which the last caucus and NEC meetings were held was
evidence that the party was on course.
“Nobody slapped anybody; in fact nobody raised his voice against another. We came out of these meetings laughing,” he said.
The APC’s first term governors, who will
most likely seek re-election in 2019, are Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa);
Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi); Samuel Ortom (Benue); Godwin Obaseki (Edo),
Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Umar Abdullahi
Ganduje (Kano); Aminu Masari (Katsina); Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi); Yahaya
Bello (Kogi); Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos); Abubakar Bello (Niger); Rotimi
Akeredolu (Ondo); Simon Lalong (Plateau) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto).
Meanwhile, in furtherance of their
desire to ensure that the Buhari brand remains sellable, members of the
Buhari Support Organisation, after unveiling an ultra-modern office in
Abuja about a week ago, are planning to start a series of activities to
showcase the President’s achievements in the last two years.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the
group would, within the next few months, use social and traditional
media to increase awareness about Buhari’s achievements within the
period under review.
Already, members of the BSO have started
putting its internal structures in place to maintain relevance ahead of
2018 when political campaigns for the 2019 elections will start
officially.
A prominent member of the group, who is
the current Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hammed Ali (retd.),
had, during the unveiling of the Abuja office, revealed the reason
behind the event.
He explained that it was designed to
rekindle “what we started in 2015 and what we used as a vehicle to fight
in the trenches, out of the trenches, along routes and in so many
different terrains to see to the success of vision and mission.”
However, when contacted, another
prominent member of the BSO, who is now the Director-General of the
Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, explained that there was nothing
sinister about the unveiling of the BSO secretariat.
He told SUNDAY PUNCH, “It is
all about supporting the APC and the government it has formed with the
support of the Nigerian people. You cannot separate President Muhammadu
Buhari from the APC. There is no basis for imputing any other motive to
last week’s event.”
Also, a member of the party’s National
Working Committee, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of the issue, said the issue of getting some governors
on board was inevitable.
He said, “You will agree with me that as
they say, all politics is local. No aspirant can make impact in an
election, especially at the federal level, all alone.
“Our governors control the logistics
required to get things done in the states. The President, Senators and
members of the House of Reps are not elected in Abuja, they must come
from the states. We recognise this; so, we know we must have them all on
board to ensure victory.”
He, however, refused to say how far the
group has gone to work on the first-time governors and get their full
participation in bringing Buhari back his second term.
Buhari’s second-term endorsement, a Greek gift –Shehu Sani
In another development, the lawmaker
representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani, on
Saturday, criticised the reported endorsement of Buhari for a second
term when the President had yet to express his interest to re-contest.
Sani described the reported endorsement
as “a Greek Gift” which the current ruling elite once condemned,
commending Buhari for rejecting the “gift.”
On his Facebook on Saturday,
the Senator wrote, “Endorsing a President for second term when he has
not yet expressed interest to run amounts to political obsequiousness,
‘taradiddle by lick Spittles’. This is something the present political
ruling elite once denounced as antics, machinations and relics that
characterised the old order, now conveniently dusted for exigency.
“Thanks to PMB for turning down their Greek Gift.”
Several leaders and groups in the ruling
APC had endorsed Buhari for a second term. While the Progressives
Governors’ Forum had recently proposed an automatic ticket for the
President, the National Executive Council of the party only passed a
vote of confidence in him and rejected the proposal.
Sani, in another Facebook post
on Saturday, faulted the exchange of presidential power between the
South-West and the North-West geopolitical zones, saying figuratively
that Nigerians were more interested in who becomes President than
Nigeria itself.
Resign if Buhari’s govt has derailed, Marafa tells Customs CG
Also, the lawmaker representing Zamfara
Central Senatorial District, Senator Kabiru Marafa, has berated Ali for
describing the Buhari’s administration as derailing.
Marafa stated that Ali’s statement was “politically irresponsible.”
According to the lawmaker, what Ali said
about the current administration in which he is serving is like passing
a vote of no confidence in it.
Marafa, who fielded questions from
journalists in Abuja on Saturday, urged the Customs boss to leave
Buhari’s government if Ali believed in what he said.
The senator alleged that the Customs
boss did not influence up to 100 votes for Buhari in the 2015 election,
stressing that Ali was benefiting from an administration more than his
contribution to it.
He said, “When he talked about
derailing, to me, if actually he believed in what he said, he should
resign. He should resign because what he did was like passing a vote of
no confidence in a government in which he is serving. He is part of the
derailment because the position the President gave him is not befitting
him. What was his contribution?
“He said 50 per cent of the people who
formed the government are from the PDP. If I was there, I would have
asked him to expatiate. Is he talking of the PDP members who left the
party and joined the APC to secure its victory or is he talking of the
PDP as it is today? If he is talking of the people who left the PDP to
join the APC, with all sense of responsibility, I think it is
politically irresponsible to say that because these were the people who
joined hands with the APC to bring about this government.
“In politics, anybody, who identifies
with you and joins you before ballots are cast, is part and parcel of
your struggle. Anybody at whatever stage they join before going to the
polls is part of you and your victory. It is only those who join you
after election that can be called any name.”
The lawmaker, who is the Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), said Ali and
those behind the idea of the BSO were out to sabotage Buhari and his
government.
He said, “On the opening of the office
called BSO, it is politically inexpedient now. Buhari is already the
President and he became President by popular votes; he was voted for by
all Nigerians.
“So, how do you now take a whole
national idea back to BSO? Buhari has gone beyond BSO. Even by his own
assertion, he said the idea started in 2003 and moved to 2007 and that
he joined it in 2011 and it came to 2015.”
source: SUNDAY PUNCH
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