2019: BUHARI IS AN ‘ANALOGUE PRESIDENT,’ SHOULD NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION – AMECHI
2019:
BUHARI IS AN ‘ANALOGUE PRESIDENT,’ SHOULD NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION – AMECHI
Mbazulike Amechi, former Aviation Minister in the First
Republic has highlighted reasons President Muhammadu Buhari shouldn’t seek to
be re-elected for a second term in 2019.
The elder statesman said Nigeria was a developing country,
and that as such it won’t be in the best interest of the country to re-elect an
“analogue president in a digital era.”
Speaking with The Sun, Amechi also noted that going by Buhari’s age and health,
it was not in the president’s best interest to seek a second term.
Noting that the president has the constitutional right to
seek re-election in 2019, the former Minister, however, urged Buhari to toe the
line of late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, who willingly stepped down
from power.
According to the former Minister, “By the constitution, by
the laws of the land, he is entitled to contest for a second term. But then,
the question is: is it right; is it in the best interest of this country? Here
is somebody who has ruled this country as a military dictator and again after
four attempts the country gave him a chance in a democratic election and
elected him President. And he is serving out a full four years. If it were a
country other than Africa, he would say ‘I’m alright, the country has shown
confidence in me.’
“By his age and by his health, I don’t think it is in the
best interest of the country for him to contest. Nigeria is developing like any
other country in a digital era and it is not in the best interest of the
country to re-elect an analogue president in a digital era.
“From his health point of view, I don’t think the man is strong enough to do
the rigours of a president in a vast country like Nigeria. And I don’t believe
what he gave as his age. That could be the age at which he joined the army and
so forth. But I believe he is older than the declared age.
“So, what a true and patriotic Buhari would have done, in my
opinion, is what Nelson Mandela did in South Africa, to say ‘I have led the
country, the country has shown enough confidence in me. Now by my age, I stand
aside. Let somebody else step in’ because we do not want to have a Mugabe in
Nigeria.
Berating those endorsing Buhari for a second term, the elder
statesman maintained that they are hungry, want money and positions.
“What do you want me to tell people who are hungry, who want
money but will not tell Mr President the truth? Are they supporting him because
they believe in him? They are supporting him because they want money, they are
hungry, they want positions, they want offices, they want to be part of the
embezzlement of the public wealth of the country.
“They want to be part of all these. That’s why they fan support for him,” he
added.