Buhari at crossroads over 2019 campaign focus

President Muhammadu Buhari is showing signs of mix-up over the theme of his presidential campaign template as he leads the All Progressives Congress (APC) into the 2019 general elections. President Buhari, hosting a delegation on Christmas visit by residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) led by the FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello, unveiled that his re-election campaign will be based on the achievements of the APC government under his leadership in the critical sectors of security, economy and the fight against corruption. The president had insisted that the three critical areas are still crucial to Nigeria the way they were before the APC took over the federal government in 2015.
“Very soon we will go to the geopolitical zones to remind the people of our promises in 2015 on three fundamental things: security, economy and the fight against corruption.
“Unless we secure the country, we cannot manage it properly. That is why shortly after I was elected, I went to Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Republic of Benin to seek their support in the fight against the insurgency,” Buhari had declared.
He reassured that his administration remains committed to tackling kidnapping and banditry and finding lasting solutions to the conflict between killer herdsmen and sedentary farmers. He maintained that he will sustain the fight to recover what rightly belongs to Nigeria; be guided by the rule of law and respect for constituted authority.
The president further indicated that he has set up a mobilization group which includes various religious, political and traditional leaders to convey the message that his administration has done more work with fewer resources in agriculture, infrastructure, and social investments.
However, there are stakeholders in the Nigerian project who are demanding that President Buhari and the APC government should account for the N25.6 trillion budget being spent in the past three and half years from 2015 to 2018. They argued that with budget figure, the president cannot claim to have functioned with fewer resources during the period under review.
There are others who also argued that prevailing economic and social statistics do not reflect indices of achievements by the Buhari administration in the specific areas of policy focus – security, economy and corruption.