EZEKWESILI, AFENIFERE, ACF, OTHERS DIFFER

There were different reactions from prominent Nigerians, yesterday, after President Muhammadu Buhari declared his intention to re-contest in the 2019 presidential election.

Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-political organisation, which has been in the forefront for restructuring of the country, said unless Buhari addressed the restructuring question before the election, he will not be trusted to address it when he secures a second term.

Afenifere spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, said: “Do we want to be counting dead bodies everyday, do we want to live in a country where everyone is now a beggar except a few who are in government and who have access to public funds? Restructuring is about making Nigeria productive, to make the country to secure.

“So, if we want to have a Buhari for another four years, then we do not need a psychiatrist to know that something is wrong with us. If this government wants support from the vast majority of Nigerians, it should address the issue of restructuring before the elections, if it does not, it cannot be trusted to do it after the elections.”

To former minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili,  “reading the breaking news that our president will be seeking re-election in 2019 and I remember the story of the ‘Ejionu’ masquerade.

“There was a masquerade which, in a burst of hubris, left its own village ad strayed into a neigbouring town. The neigbours gave it the beating of a lifetime, it barely survived. Asked some months later if it would go again, it replied: ‘I have not recovered from my first journey.’

“Our president has not yet recovered from his first journey and here is, unlike the very wise Ejionu, seeking to embark on a second one. The very nice thing about this breaking news is that, at least, citizens now officially know that it is to president Buhari that we shall personally hand the All Progressives Congress’s own portion of the red card to.”

National chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chekwas Okorie, told Daily Sun that the president’s first tenure has been a nightmare and predicted that his candidature would be a liability to the APC.

“We want to sympathise with the APC because they now have to grapple with the liability of having to present President Buhari to voters.

“In his first tenure, he became a nightmare to Nigerians and a monumental disaster. His failed promises, nepotism, sectionalism, lack of security of lives and properties, all these would haunt him in the campaigns leading to the next elections. It would be a tragedy for Nigerians to even contemplate another four years of this type of nightmare.

“APC has been in this quagmire for quite a while because they do not seem to have an alternative option and now that the battle line is drawn, it is left for Nigerians to choose between life and darkness.”

In its reaction to Buhari’s second term declaration, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) said he took the right and constitutional decision.

This was contained in a statement issued by the ACF National Publicity Secretary, Muhammadu Biu.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has only exercised his right as provided in our constitution by declaring his interest to contest the 2019 presidential election. It is also the right of his party, APC, to nominate him, in accordance with the party’s rules and regulations.

But former national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP),  Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo,  described Buhari’s decision  as unfortunate.

Nwodo,  who is also a former governor of Enugu State,  said the verdict of Nigerians is that president Buhari has not done well,  in the last three years that he has presided over the affairs of the country.

Besides,  the former governor noted that Buhari bid’s for a second term has foreclosed the possibility of a level playing field in next year’s general election.

“I don’t know what else he can offer in another four years,  other than possible disintegration of this country…”

Also, former president of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, queued behind Buhari’s 2019 bid, but, with a caveat.

“The promises made to the labour union have been kept. Independence of the Judiciary and the Legislature is fully and firmly respected. He must tell us how human rights are respected, how court orders are obeyed? The president has to tell us how investors are trooping in and where they are now. He must tell us how factories are reopening. Freedom of speech?  Hate speech ? IPOB ?”