President Muhammadu Buhari has told the Archbishop of Canterbury that majority of Nigerians appreciate what his government is doing so he is encouraged to declare intention to run for another term in 2019.
Buhari, on annual leave, told His Grace Justin Welby who came to visit him in London on Wednesday, after officially declaring at the APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Monday.
“We have many things to focus on, like security, agriculture, economy, anti-corruption, and many others,” he said, ecplaining why it took him so long to decide.
“We needed to concentrate on them, and politics should not be a distraction. The majority of Nigerians appreciate what we are doing, and that is why I am re-contesting.”
Some of what Nigerians Supposedly like him for, according to him, include the cut in the importation of rice by about 90%, saving billions of dollars in the process.
“People who rushed into petrol money have now gone back to agriculture. Even professionals have gone back to the land. Nigeria should be able to feed itself comfortably soon. I am so pleased,” the president said in a press release by his media aide Femi Adesina.
On the war against insurgency, he stressed the need for continuous education of the people, “so that they can be free from religious manipulation,” adding that no true religion advocates the hurting or killing of the innocent.
How Buhari ascertained these achievements impressed majority Nigerians is not clear. But his declaration was not particularly exciting to many.
Buhari’s age and health, and the internal wrangling wracking the rulong party, are major points the opposition parties and critics raised against his 2019 ambition.
Junaid Mohammed, a critic of the president and one of the thoight leaders in the north, said Nigerians will regret it if they vote for Buhari again.
His and others’ criticisms were coming after former President Olusegun Obasanjo described Buhari as a failure, calling on Nigerians not to reinforce failures by voting him out in 2019.
Obasanjo is among the legions of Nigerians that do not want a Buhari second term in 2019. And the former president has been on the trot building coalitions and empires to counter Buhari and the APC government at the poll next year.
One of the issues raised against the Buhari adminostration is rising insecurity in the northeast and north central.
Welby also raised such during his visit, especially on the farmer-herder incessant clashes.
Buhari, howeverm said the problem has been there all along, even before the APC came into power.
“But it is now made worse by the influx of armed gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region. These gunmen were trained and armed by Muammar Gadaffi of Libya.’
According to Buhari, when Gadaffi was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms, crossed to Nigeria, fighting alongside Boko Haram.
“The problem is not religious, but sociological and economic. But we are working on solutions,” he said, as he lamneted “irresponsible politics” brought into the farmers/herders’ crisis.
Buhari also spoke hn Leah Sharibu, the schoolgirl from Dapchi still being held by insurgents, reportedly because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
“We are managing the matter quietly. Making noise would not help. We are collecting as much intelligence as possible, working with the Red Cross and other international organizations. There are too many fraudulent people around, who claim they can do this and that. We won’t deal with them. That was how we got the Dapchi girls back, and the Chibok girls.”
Buhari and Welby forged some kind of bond before 2015.
The archbishop has openly defended Buhari’s integrity compared with the past PDP government British former PM David Cameroon described as fantastically corrupt to the Queen Elizabeth during an anti-corruption summit in London in 2016.
But concerning Buhari’s bid for a second term, Welby is exercising some caution in spote of their frirendship.
“We are neutral as a church, but we will pray for you. Great statesmen are those who run for the good of their country. We will be praying for you,” said the archbishop.
He presnted Buhari with with a copy of his recent book, ‘Reimagining Britain. Foundations for Hope.’