2019 : Buhari Loyalists Want to Replace Him

By Chidiebere Onyemaizu

 

Though there are strong indications that President Muhammadu  Buhari will contest next year’s Presidential election, his faction of the All Progressives Congress, APC is mulling a Plan “B” in the event that his re-election plans are derailed.

President Buhari has not categorically said he would seek re-election next year but his key loyalists have said he would. And have gone ahead to commence subtle campaign to that effect. Early this year, he told some APC governors urging him to take a second shot at the presidency that he needed time to decide his political future-whether he will seek re-election or not.

In January, former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a letter to President Buhari urged him not to seek re-election on the ground of incompetency and non performance. Similar calls have been pouring. The president’s camp is worried that he may eventually succumb to the pressure not to re-contest hence some of his loyalists from the North, including serving governors and Ministers are planning an alternate APC presidential candidate.The race to emerge the alternate candidate is currently tearing the president’s camp apart.

This magazine gathered that a North west governor and two of his counterparts from North east are squaring up against one another to replace the president if he eventually decides not to run.

However, the President is also under severe pressure to seek re- election. A section of APC believes that the party is headed for defeat without Buhari as its candidate for the 2019 presidential election. Also, his close associates, including his supporters in the National Assembly and members of his cabinet are uncertain of their political future without Buhari. They are said to dread post-Buhari presidency and have thus brought tremendous pressure to bear on the president to seek re-election.