In what looks like an already known decision, President Muhammadu Buhari has officially declared interest to re-run for Presidency, come 2019. However, there are already a handful of aspirants waiting in line, preparing to slug it out for the highest office in democratic Nigeria – Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.
According to the Presidential Aide, Shehu Garba, Buhari’s declaration is in response to clamours by Nigerians who have been urging him to run for second term.
His announcement has been trailed by series of reactions from party faithful and opposition alike, with Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, saying those who have been saying Buhari should shelve his second-term ambition were acting like “they had become emergency referees”.
He, therefore, urged other hopefuls in the Presidential race to “runaway”, saying “the cat has returned from a journey, let the rats scamper for safety.”
Buhari’s assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, also reacting to the news, congratulated Nigerians and the continent.
“It’s official President Buhari standing for 2019 Presidential Election. We say run! They say don’t run!
”President Buhari has heeded OUR call. He’s standing for 2019. They failed, we won. God bless Nigeria.”
While Nigerians were waiting for the incumbent President to declare, several individuals already indicated interest in being the Nigerian number, one citizen.
Atiku Abubakar
The former Vice-President formally declared his intention in March while addressing Stakeholders in Rivers State.
Before then, Atiku had never hidden is desire to become the President, a position which has left him decamping from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to All Progressive Congress (APC) and back to PDP.
“I can tell you throughout the whole of today that where the PDP left us in the last three years whether in the education sector, in the health sector, or in the economy, we have been going down in every statistics.
“That is why I have offered myself to run for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2019.”
The Waziri Adamawa also assures himself of easily defeating Buhari in the polls, who he said has “wasted a lot of his massive goodwill”.
Ayodele Fayose
The current Governor of Ekiti State, declared his intention last September, also claiming he would defeat Buhari in a free and fair election, come 2019, citing his record of having defeated two incumbent Governors in separate Governorship elections in Ekiti State.
Speaking at his official declaration ceremony, Fayose said he is determined to wrestle power from the ruling APC who, he says, has been deceiving Nigerians since assuming power.
“Our country is faced with myriads of problems; our economy that was the fastest growing in Africa when our party was in power has gone comatose with the present managers who are completely clueless.”
Though his ambition is threatened as his party had already zoned Presidency to the North, a determined Fayose is not giving up without a fight as he challenged PDP to field their aspirants.
“I challenged the North to come out with their candidates. I want to challenge all of them to the field. What are you afraid of? Come out. I have thrown my hat in the ring. Let them come and face me.”
He also boasted of being the longest serving Governor in the Country having served under three Presidents; former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.
Adamu Garba
Thirty-five-year-old Garba is the Chief Executive Officer of IPI Solutions Nigeria Limited, a leading cloud computing company, headquartered in Lagos.
At age 26, the Adamawa State-born information technology guru was already an emperor, controlling fortune and human resources, while driving competitors to the back.
His vision for a new Nigeria is a country where the youths will be engaged technically in ICT and Vocational training for massive job creation.
He started his declaration under no political party but recently joined the All Progressive Congress to further influence his ambition.
According to him, he chose the Party because of his belief that it was the only platform with prospects for young Nigerians.
“I strongly believe the APC is a party with the right history and structures needed for me to actualize my ambition, which is to become the President of Nigeria.
“We need to stay within and change the rot from within. My own candidacy is not just on the premise of becoming the President for the young people. It is not just about youthful ideas. It is more about being capable to fix Nigeria because I have a superior manifesto.
“And I believe very strongly that if APC adopts my manifesto, it is going to transform the entire country, especially under my leadership. That is why this aspiration is not just for the young but for everybody.”
Garba also believes he would defeat Buhari at the primaries.
Fela Durotoye
The leadership coach and motivational speaker is also aiming to become Nigeria’s President in 2019.
According to him, APC and PDP have nothing to offer and cannot deliver the new Nigeria.
“Therefore, to be clear, I am aspiring to contest as a Presidential Candidate in the 2019 General Elections. A lot of people have asked me ‘FD, what party will you be running on? Is it APC or PDP?’
“Whilst it is true that these parties may have formidable grassroots structures, I strongly doubt that these old parties with their old ideology (of God-Fatherism also known as Selectocracy, Rulership, Money Politricks etc.) would be able to deliver to us a New Nigeria.
Durotoye is running under the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), a party he claims share his “ideologies, principles, and a truly democratic internal process.”
“The party that provides a level playing field for the best candidate to emerge at all levels of legislature and executive office. That party, ladies and gentlemen is the alliance for new Nigeria.”
He also said he had decided to engage himself in the Nigeria Political scene, rather than staying on the sidelines, while urging people to go in.
Durotoye believes his declaration would birth many more of the “Nigeria’s brightest and best”, who will “arise to heed our nation’s clarion call to contest for elective offices, win the elections, and most importantly collectively deliver good governance to our nation.”
ETN24 did an analysis of a combination that may threaten President Buhari’s shot at a second term. The combination involves Durotoye and Atiku Abubakar.
Professor Kingsley Moghalu
The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank is also eyeing the Aso Rock Villa in 2019.
According to Moghalu, the combination of military rule, oil booms and busts and successive leadership failures of the political class have robbed the country “of what seemed our destiny at independence”.
The Professor and a Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Massachusetts, United States, served as CBN Deputy Governor from 2009 to 2014.
Kingsley, an indigene from Eastern part of Nigeria, believes Politics should not be tribalized in the Country, not make the Nation grow.
“Zoning was an internal arrangement by political parties that was not constitutional. It should no longer matter where the president comes from.
“The future of Nigeria rests in technocratic interventions. We need thinking people that will take Nigeria from the politics of stomach infrastructure to politics of mental infrastructure.’’
Although he is yet to announce the Political Party he would be nurturing his ambition under, he said his focus would for now, be on the people of Nigeria.
“While I have been approached by a number of political parties, the movement that I am part of will decide which one we will join,” he said, adding that such “decision will be based on commonality of vision and the imperative of a generational shift in leadership, and we will announce this decision in the coming weeks.”
Omoyele Sowore
Without a political platform yet, the activist Publisher of Sahara Reporters joined the list of those who aspire to be President on the 25th of February at the Nigerian office of his online media. The former student Union leader, reputed for fighting cultism at the University of Lagos, lashed out at everyone as he made his declaration.
“If I should run this country, Nigerians will be happy. I can run this country in my sleep better than Buhari can do. Ambode can’t govern a county in the US”, Sowore said at one point. Jagaban (Bola Tinubu) has taken every piece of land you can find in Lagos. Saraki has taken over Kwara”. He lamented
Not done with what he has framed as the establishment, Sowore continues
“Buhari has no brain. If you ask Nigerians about the economic plans of Buhari, they’ll point to the British accent of the finance minister. How does accent create jobs? Buhari is not even analogue. He is worse. He can’t even use a telephone by himself”
An attempt to take these outburst on a Fresh FM show met more opposition than Sowore bargained for, as the co-Guest, Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, tongue-lashed the 47 years old journalist and named him a daydreamer who will never be President. Although the Minister’s counter attack now plays against the government among a sizable amount of Nigerians, as Sowore smartly retreated and made the Minister come off as arrogant.
From Town Hall Meetings to interviews, Sowore has dominated the media of recent, claiming as he has distabilized the media, he wishes to destabilize the polity.
Largely perceived as inexperience, Sowore lays claim to 30 years in the struggle for good governance and his being spotted with the Late MKO Abiola, who is largley perceived the father of democracy in Nigeria, seem to speak well of him in this regard.
