“Old age, integrity, trust” – These are the reasons why Buhari will not win the APC primaries

by James Sambo

Abdulmumin Jibrin, the Chairman on Finance, House of Representatives has urged General Muhammodu Buhari to maintain his famed ‘integrity’ and halt his presidential ambition.

Jibirin accused Buhari of not keeping to his word of 2011, when he vowed not to contest for any presidential election any more, only to turnaround and signify his intention of contesting for 2015’s elections under the All Progressives Congress.

He urged the former Head of state to kill his desire to contest for the APC presidential primaries, and allow younger and competent leaders within the party to vie among themselves for the presidential ticket for the opposition party.

The House of Representatives member named Raji Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi, Sam Nda-Isiah, Adams Oshiomole, and Aminu Tambuwal as possible candidates for the APC primary, while speaking to Muhammad Bello in a recent interview.

Read excerpts of the interview below:

“I believe we need to be honest with ourselves. That has, perhaps, been the challenge of this country over the years. We need to start telling ourselves the truth. As a young man, if I speak now, rather than some people listen to me objectively they will say the young man is rude; that he shouldn’t have spoken that way. But I have an inner conviction in what I am saying and I believe that I am entitled to my opinion. As a citizen of this country, I should freely express my opinion.”

“I like Gen Buhari; I respect him so much. If you go to Kano today, you will see all my billboards and posters with Buhari’s picture. I won my election without knowing Buhari. Now that I am putting his picture on my billboard, I am not doing so because I believe he will win my election. We grew up from primary to secondary school knowing that Buhari is akin to integrity. Everybody knows that Buhari has some kind of messianic image. But the truth of the matter is that we want this integrity of Buhari to be protected.”

“In 2011, Gen Muhammadu Buhari came out and announced to the country that he will not contest any future presidential election again. So why is everybody keeping quiet? Nobody is raising this issue. It is shocking and disheartening for some us who are still young. Some people are complaining behind the scene. Everybody is worried and disturbed because we wanted his image to be protected. If he had said in 2011 that he was not going to contest in any future presidential election, the issue of supporters of Buhari trying to bring him back to participate in the primaries should not arise.”

“Otherwise you cannot differentiate between Buhari and Jonathan because when the five governors were leaving the PDP one of their reasons was that Jonathan said he would not contest in 2015 but that he was changing from that now. Buhari said in 2011 that he will not contest again but now some group and individuals are promoting his candidacy and are trying to get him to contest. My message to our father, Gen Buhari, whom we all love is that, every day he wakes up in the morning, he should play that tape of 2011.”

Some of his supporters that have spoken with me said no, no he is going to spend only four years and leave. I asked one of them, how do you expect Nigerians to trust him? If in 2011, he said he was not going to contest, now in 2015 you bring him back to contest, how can I trust him that he will stick to his promise of spending only four years? It is not possible to trust him again. I think these are some of the critical issues that we need to look at.

“To be honest, he has a lot of younger brothers that he can equally support. We have Sam Nda-Isiah, Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomole, Tambuwal and of course, Kwankwaso, a potential candidate. We have a lot of younger people he can support. They are competent Nigerians that can take up that responsibility. I think what Buhari supporters should be doing now is to try to get him to support one of these his younger brothers to contest. He has a lot of them across the country.

I believe that all the people asking Buhari to come out and contest 2015 election are his biggest enemies and it is unfortunate. Another issue that is very important is that, while I do not believe that good leadership is akin to age but severally, it has been proven that age also matters in terms of leadership. A lot of us young people are also scared when we see certain things happening. It is not that we are over ambitious to grab power but the reality is that Gen Buhari is 73 years presently. Let’s assume he becomes president in 2015, he will be 81 years by the time he finishes second term.”

“Of course, he will not believe he will do only four years because he had earlier said he will not contest and he came back to contest. Imagine how many generations of leaders that would have been wiped away if he stays in power till he is 81. The generation of the Amaechis, Fasholas, Kwankwasos, Tambuwals etc would have been wiped away. So, for how long are we going to continue this? That is why some of us had to come out to talk so that we do not make a mistake and go ahead to lose the next election.”

Comments (17)

  1. Exactly what have been running through my mind since the existence of the APC. Nigerians all believe Gen Buhari is a man of integrity and well respected elite, but then there’s so much need for him respect and retain what we all believe him to be. At this age, Buhari should at least be like a Godfather to the APC, Raise the hand of the younger ready and patriotic Aspirants, in person of Kwankwaso, Fashola, Amaechi and host of others. Baba Buhari we love and Respect you, please give others the chance to do this and have thier back.

  2. WHO KNOWS?, HE MIGHT DO WELL IF HE RESUMES OFFICE.

  3. buhari, the strong man

  4. whoever wants to run should run,i care less

  5. i dont like this idea of past leaders coming to rule again

  6. not interested in their politics

  7. this man might have good intentions sha.

  8. so, he thinks he can brainwash us this time around, shioor

  9. fools in power.

  10. EXACTLY, I DONT KNOW WHAT HE WANTS IN POWER AGAIN

  11. This is your personal opinion as you had say but i am assuring you that BUHARI among the Nigerian politician is the honest person to a common man and we know Were you are heading to you are kwonkwaso supporter advise your candidate to contest and the electorate will choice among BUHARI and kwankwaso and stop all this noise

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