An aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Kawu Sumaila, said that both former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and ex-governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, would not be able to stop the president’s second term bid in 2019.
Kawu, who is Buhari’s adviser on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), stated this when he spoke with newsmen during the visit of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to Kano State for a private wedding on Saturday.
According to him, Obasanjo’s letter bomb asking Buhari not to contest in 2019 but to go home and rest, cannot affect the thinking of Nigerians as the former president does not have such right to decide for Nigerians whether Buhari should continue or not.
“If Nigerians decide that President Buhari should run again, Obassanjo certainly has no choice but to concede,” he said, adding that his principal would not be deterred by the contents of the former president’s letter, or by its underlying motive.
On how Obsanjo’s letter is being treated, he said, “Whenever there is a piece of advice for a leader, I think the correct thing to do is to pick out what makes sense in the advice and throw away the rubbish thereafter.
“We, APC, are ready for any eventualities. We are ready for Obasanjo, we are ready for Kwankwaso too,” he added.
Meanwhile former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, told President Buhari to first ensure that peace is restored in Benue and other states of the federation under herdsmen attacks before talking about 2019 general elections.
This was as the former governor cast doubts on the possibility of the coming elections in 2019 in an atmosphere devoid of peace.
Bafarawa stated this on Friday when he paid a condolence visit to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State at the Government House in Makurdi, the state capital.
He was in the state to offer condolences to the governor and the people of the state over the killings of 73 persons on January 1, 2018, and other killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
“Why would there be an election in 2019 when there is no peace? The most important thing you can bring to a society is peace. When you bring peace to them, you have brought life and can then talk about the election,” the former governor said.
Noting that it was the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure that peace reigns in Benue State and other parts of the country, Bafarawa however, urged President Buhari to engage other stakeholders regardless of political affiliation, to make sure that an end is put to the killings.
To support the families of the victims of the killings, Bafarawa donated N10 million.
Ortom in his remarks appreciated him for his kind gesture and show of solidarity. Describing herdsmen and farmers crisis as a national problem, the governor said that for there to be solution that government at all levels in the country have parts to play.