The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari will not seek re-election without considering his state of health as pressure mounts on him to declare his stance on the issue.
President Buhari’s special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina is reported by the Punch to have made this disclosure in an interview on Sunday.
The Nigerian leader has not yet declared his intention to seek re-election or not but his supporters are pushing for him to be re-elected.
Buhari who is 75 years has for the larger part of his presidency been plagued by reports of ill-health forcing him out of the country on some occasions to seek medical attention.
One of his key allies, Adebayo Shittu who is also Nigeria’s minister of communications on this month declared that he would chair a group campaigning for the re-election of his boss next year.
“We, his ardent supporters who appreciate his worth on behalf of millions of Nigerians, would urge him to recontest,” Shittu told journalists Abuja after informing Buhari of his plans to head the group.
Shittu said “I know he has not made up his mind but I can say that some of us can assist him in making up his mind”.
But Femi Adesina said the President would not take in what his health could not sustain.
Adesina is quoted as saying “The President is not a frivolous person. If he thinks that his health cannot carry anything, he will not do it.
“Every day you see the President, you see a glow about him and you see freshness about him. I think he is even in a better state than when he came in 2015. It’s all to the glory of God.
“Once he assesses that his health can carry it, there’s nothing wrong if he steps into the fray. But he has the final decision.”
Last year Buhari’s minister of women’s affairs, Aisha Alhassan told Reuters that president Buhari told his party members in 2015 that he does not intend seeking re-election in 2019.
Aisha Alhassan said Mr. Buhari said he was elected to only seek one term signaling his resolve not to go against this agreement.
“If today Mr. President says he is running in 2019 I will go to him respectfully and thank him for giving me an opportunity to serve and then tell him that I have to resign because my political father may be running,” said Alhassan.
Source: Africafeeds.com
