2019 Presidency: Buhari will make his intentions known after May 29 – Presidency

Nigerians who are eager to know President Muhammadu Buhari’s mind on the 2019 presidency may have to wait for another three to four months.

Indications emerged yesterday that the president may eventually decide whether or not to seek reelection in the 2019 presidential poll after the Democracy Day celebration billed for May 29 this year.

A reliable presidency source who disclosed this to LEADERSHIP in confidence yesterday said President Buhari is just waiting for the tensions in the country to subside before declaring his intention to run for the 2019 presidency.

The source listed the growing tension in the country caused by the spate of killings as one of the reasons why the president has not made up his mind yet.

The source who did not want his name in print because he is not in the position to speak on this said, “You know there is a lot of tension in the country due to killings by herdsmen and the president wants to bring insecurity and killings under control before declaring his intention.

“There has been a lot of pressure on the president to seek reelection and it is likely that the president will declare his intention to contest after May 29 but not before then”.

Corroborating this, the presidency yesterday explained why President Buhari is yet to declare his intention to seek reelection in next year’s presidential election despite pressure being mounted on him to do so.

Special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, told State House correspondents that if the president speaks too early about his ambition, it might give ammunition to unnamed opponents to throw everything at him and sabotage the country.

According to him, the president cannot speak with the election still about one year away because he knows the consequences.

The presidential spokesman said,  “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 a way 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.”