The alleged search by former Heads of State, all retired Generals—Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar for the replacement of ailing President Muhammadu Buhari comes 2019 has been described an act of betrayal.
A group, Democratic Youth Congress (DYC), condemned the move, saying it was an arson against the collective wishes of Nigerians.
According to findings by National Daily, the former Heads of State, all retired Generals- Olusegun Obasanjo Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar met at IBB home in Minna, on May 2nd.
At the meeting, said to have been initiated by Obasanjo, it was alleged that the three former Heads of State agreed that the next president must be under 70, must be a pan-Nigeria personality from any part of the country.
The Generals also agreed that ethnicity and religion must also not be a barrier.
National Daily gathered that those considered in the meeting included a former governor of Kano and now a serving Senator, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (60); current governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (51); former Cross River governor, Donald Duke (55) and the immediate past governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole (65), all of who are of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, stock.
ALSO SEE: Naijabet opens betting on Buhari’s return
Speaking through its National Chairman, Hon. Kassim Mohammed Kassim, DYC said such a move is not only an act of betrayal but arson against the collective wishes of the populace.
Kassim said: “What have Obasanjo, Babangida and Abubakar bequeathed to this country as leaders if not corruption, nepotism, underdevelopment and values laced with of mutual distrust and suspicion which has further compounded our journey to prosperity as a nation.
“Enough is enough. We Nigerian youths have allowed such leaders to mortgage the future of this country. We, Nigerian youths would henceforth use any civil and political will to resist such attempt by past leaders to arrogate to themselves to determine the common destiny of this great nation.” Kassim, a serving member of the Nasarawa state House of Assembly, representing Akwanga South, said the search for a new president in 2019 is hypocritical and can cause political disharmony in the polity.
He pledged the DYC’s unflinching support to the emergence and continuation in office of President Buhari beyond 2019.