Buhari: I will run in 2015

“With your support, I intend to offer myself for the position of the president of the republic on the platform of our great party,” Buhari told a group of supporters in Abuja yesterday.This is the first time the former head of state will categorically say he will throw hit hat into the ring again—his fourth […]

“With your support, I intend to offer myself for the position of the president of the republic on the platform of our great party,” Buhari told a group of supporters in Abuja yesterday.
This is the first time the former head of state will categorically say he will throw hit hat into the ring again—his fourth presidential bid since 2003.
Buhari, 71, had said in the run up to the 2011 elections that he would not be running for president again after that because age would not be on his side.
But it has been apparent over the past two years that he will backpedal, as he had been in the forefront of efforts to build the APC as a main challenger for the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
His associates and supporters had also been persuading him to take another shot as they see him as the only candidate who can muster enough votes to successfully challenge the PDP in next year’s elections.
Speaking while addressing volunteers and representatives of youth groups urging him to run in 2015, in Abuja yesterday, Buhari said he will make a formal declaration for the presidential race on October 8.
He criticised the PDP administration, saying Nigeria in the past 15 years witnessed “unprecedented deterioration in the security and law and order situation, astronomical rise in the incidence and intensity of corruption and in the failure of governance.”
Buhari advised his supporters to concentrate their efforts towards achieving a change in how the country is run.
“The task before us today is wide ranging and very great. The first and most important is to take away power from those who have been misusing it,” he said.
“Indeed, except for the call of patriotism, public spiritedness and an abiding love for the people of this country, nothing will today make any honest, honourable and sane politician want to be saddled with Nigeria with an economy in trouble and a society in even deeper trouble – with perilous security situation, with its expensive and almost unmanageable corruption and with its pervasive lawlessness. And a government – is there really a government- that is not working.”
He said the opposition has made the necessary preparation to wrest power from the PDP by coming together to form the APC, which he described as a truly national party.
Buhari said since it is the party’s primaries that will select the presidential candidate, he will expect his supporters to extend their support to whoever emerges as the flagbearer in the event he is not chosen.
“For this and other reasons, I must warn all my supporters, volunteers and other well-wishers within the party or even out of it not to insult or be rude to any other aspirant or party leader on my behalf,” he said.
He said the leadership of the opposition has put in place a mechanism that will permanently put an end to rigging in Nigeria, and urged his supporters to be patient and law abiding.
National secretary of the Buhari 2015 Support Group Centre, Ibrahim Bello Dauda, had earlier called on the former head of state to run for president, saying Nigerians believe in him.
During the event, Buhari was in company of APC bigwigs including his Chief of Staff retired Col. Hameed Ali, Gen. John Shagaya and former Bayelsa governor Timipre Sylva.
The APC has scheduled December 2 for the primaries to select its presidential candidate for the February 2015 election.
Buhari is the second aspirant to announce his bid in the APC. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar formally declared his presidential aspiration last week.
Other likely APC presidential aspirants include Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, House of Representatives speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Imo Governor Rochas Okorocha.
Buhari’s interest in contesting in 2015 has been an issue in the APC as key party leaders have tried to dissuade him from running in order to enhance chances of other contenders.
The PDP is also watching with keen interest for Buhari’s direction, as he is considered a formidable opponent for President Goodluck Jonathan, who the ruling party has already endorsed as sole presidential candidate.