Youths from the 19 Northern states under the aegis of Arewa Youth Forum (AYF) have thrown their weight behind former President Olusegun Obasanjo, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari not to re-contest in 2019.
The youth said the President has failed to solve the country’s problems. AYF National President, Comrade Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, said: “We had earlier urged Buhari not to seek another term in 2019 owing to the fact that he was yet to fulfill his 2015 campaign promises to Nigerians.”
Obasanjo had, in a special statement titled, “The way out: A clarion call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement,” on Tuesday, said Buhari has already given his best and should consider a deserved rest instead of running for Presidency again.
The former president advised the president not to over-push his luck or over-tax the patience and tolerance of Nigerians “no matter what his self-serving, so-called advisers, who would claim that they love him more than God loves him, would say.” Speaking on Buhari’s government, Gujungu said: “We are in line with what former President Obasanjo said.
President Buhari should give way since he cannot fix the country and allow others with the capacity to do so to come in. “What former President Obasanjo has done is very good for democracy. Before now, some people believed that President Buhari is the all in all, nobody can tell him the truth.
But I believe if people like me, former Speaker Ghali Na’Abba and even now former President Obasanjo and others have been talking and telling him the truth, even those in government if they are sincere, know this government is not working and things are going wrong.
“We hope this will wake them up to do more in the remaining years or, in the alternative, anoint someone to take over from him, because if you ask me, I would say he should not contest.” He said Buhari is prosecuting a lopsided war against corruption, adding that the president cannot claim to be fighting corruption when his ‘cabals’ were allegedly enmeshed in the act.
“Two weeks ago, we issued a statement and told the president not to contest the 2019 election because he is yet to fulfill his 2015 election campaign promises. We are not in support of how he is fighting corruption in the country.
Imagine what is going on even within the socalled ‘cabals’ where issues bothering on corruption are dangling over their heads,” AYF said. Also, Second Republic member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Muhammed, has called on Buhari not to contest the presidential election in 2019 in the overall interest of the country.
The Kano-born politician said Buhari has performed badly and his health will impede his performance as president. He told New Telegraph that there is no reason whatsoever that Nigerians should vote for the president in 2019, adding that it was wrong for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and the President himself to be talking of re-election.
His words: “I believe that not just myself, but quite a number of Nigerians will align with former President Obasanjo over what he said, even though I will not elevate what he said with the kind of irresponsible attitude of the government.
“But most Nigerians will agree with him that it was insensitive for President Buhari and his APC governors to be doing what they are doing. So I am with what he said all the way.
“We have been consistent that seeing what has transpired and in spite of the lies coming from government, this government, this President and this presidency has massively under performed.
“To behave in a very rational manner, if you give a man a job and he has four years to execute the job, somewhere into the third year he has not been able to show anything that he did, you can begin to question if he is really fit for the job.
Is he capable enough to discharge the functions of the office of the president? “My personal opinion is that there is no performance to show and, as such, there is no reason why Nigerians should vote for him.
But whether he wants to subject Nigerians to this kind of excruciating campaigns and whether he has what it takes to do that, only the President can answer that for himself. “I believe he should not contest because it is not in the interest of the country; the greater interest of the country would be that he did not contest, because of his poor health and also because he has not performed. He does not have a credible government.
So a continuation will not serve the national interest.” In a similar vein, the South-East Senate Caucus posited that the scathing comments by Obasanjo about the failures of Buhari’s administration were undeniable vindication of its earlier claim that Buhari’s government was lopsided.
Leader of the Caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, stated that the South-East lawmakers in the Red Chamber had warned against the danger of the nepotic nature of the administration but, unfortunately, many Nigerians looked the other way, thinking that they were playing politics with the matter.
According to the Caucus, President Buhari made it clear when he visited the United States of America, that his appointments were based on the voting pattern of the various sections of the country, whereby he made 95 percent of his appointments from the area that gave him majority votes and five percent to those that gave him the least number of votes.
His words: “What is happening, what former President Obasanjo said, is what we have said and predicted long ago. No one should be surprised over what is happening or the shape of the political appointments made by President Buhari.
“To be fair to him, the President made himself clear during his state visit to the United States of America, with his now unfortunate theory of 95 per cent and 5 per cent reward for support.
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