Tension in Presidency: Buhari frets over 2019

There are emerging indicators that this is no comfort period for President Muhammadu Buhari, reflecting that the Presidency is under tension over the political forces that are rising against the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the build up to 2019 general elections in addition to the cornucopia of intractable security and economic crises in Nigeria.

The tension, stakeholders in the Nigerian project, conceived has created palpable phobia in President Muhammadu Buhari on his ambition for re-election for second term in 2019.

The leadership of the ruling APC are not excluded from the tension that has engulfed the presidency and the party government.

The reflexes of the tension in the presidency and the subtle fear manifested in the sudden resolution of the APC leaders to resolve the differences between President Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly, essentially, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honourable  Yakubu Dogara.

Further symptoms of the uneasiness in the presidency manifested in President Buhari’s cancelation of the trip to Kigali, Rwanda, for the Heads of Government Summit of the African Union (AU).

The president has been under caustic criticisms of several elder statesmen over the unmitigated killings by Fulani herdsmen and inability of the government to put a stop to the killings and protract lives and property of Nigerian citizens. The situation is exacerbated by the hardship in the country as a result of the mismanagement of the economy.

However, the Minister of foreign Affairs gave the excuse that President Buhari canceled the scheduled Tuesday’s trip to Kigali, Rwanda, because he has to sign the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area to allow for more consultations with stakeholders in Nigeria over the trade agreement.

The spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tope Elias-Fatile, had in a statement on Sunday, declared:  “President Muhammadu Buhari has canceled his trip to Kigali, Rwanda, to attend an Extra-Ordinary Summit of the African Union on Tuesday, March 21, to sign the framework agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. This is to allow more time for input from Nigerian stakeholders.”

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo may have contributed to the tension in the presidency since he made a special statement advising President Buhari not to contest for re-election in 2019, citing reasons of failure in governance.

Several other persons, including Professor Wole Soyinka, former Head of State, retired General Ibrahim Babangida, Reverend Father Mbaka, Pastor Tunde Bakare, also joined the league of critics of the president on leadership failure.

Though, several other presidential aspirants are yet to declare formally for the 2019 presidential race, President Buhari is still holding back from declaring for the presidential race even after he has been endorsed for re-election by APC governors and other party leaders. More so, when some party stakeholders have made public their withdrawal from the race because the president is contesting.

However, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Sunday, explained that President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to formally declare his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election because he wants to prevent opponents of his administration from sabotaging the country.

“You know the peculiarity of Nigeria, particularly now. If the President speaks too early, it’s a problem. There is a lot of sabotage in the country.

“You have also heard so many have said ‘don’t run’. Because they know that if the President runs, other people should just run away because they don’t have the foggiest chance in hell to beat him. So, they want to discourage him from running.

“Now, if he tells you, ‘I’m going to run’, and elections are still one year away, it gives them one year to sabotage the entire country from all fronts – politically, socially, economically – they would throw everything at him just to dissuade him from running.

“So, when you know that, why then do you speak early? I think it makes a lot of sense for you then to keep things close to your chest till it is time for you to then say, ‘ok, I’m running’ by which time they can do less damage,” Adesina stated.

Meanwhile, former President Obasanjo declared in the United Kingdom (UK) at the weekend that Nigeria will collapse if Buhari wins the 2019 presidential election.  The former president has also continued mobilization for the consolidation of the Third Force to unseat President Buhari in 2019.

The Third Force met in Lagos at the weekend while Obasanjo was in the UK. Those in attendance included Olisa Agbakoba, former Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and others. Though, Obasanjo was not there, sources close to the meeting said the meeting was convened at his instance.

The negotiations for the 2019 presidential ticket have continued to generate uncertainties as the elite continue new formations of alignments and re-alignments.

So many calculations were gathered to be going on in the presidency.   The demagogues were said to be adamant in persuading President Buhari to run for second term even in the midst of conflicts in the ruling party.