Olusola Fabiyi and Olalekan Adetayo
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, said his quest for a second term was not borne out of a desire for personal gain.
Rather, he said his decision to seek a re-election was as a result of a deep passion to serve Nigerians.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke at the All Progressives Congress ward congress held at Bayagida Model Primary School, Daura, Katsina State.
He said the driving force for seeking public office should be to serve the people and improve their standard of living.
Buhari noted that his administration had already started the process of ensuring fairness, justice and equity, adding that he would work hard to consolidate on the gains.
He said, “I am not in politics for fun, frivolity or to amass wealth. I have always been driven by a deep sense of commitment to make a difference in the lives of our people.
“After my retirement from the army or forceful retirement, I sat back and watched as events unfolded on the political turf, and realised the country needed an intervention for fairness, justice and inclusion of Nigerians in the issues that affect their lives.”
The President called for patience, maturity and orderliness as the 2019 elections’ calendar began to unfold.
He urged political parties, candidates and the electorate to put the country first and always remember that victory ultimately belongs to God.
He added, “After going to the court many times to challenge results of elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011, and going up to the Supreme Court, I concluded that ultimately, it is God who determines who will win elections, and in 2015 I got here.”
In his remarks, Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari, said the process of electing the leaders of the party at the ward level was hitch-free, orderly and based on the constitution of the APC.
The Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Ward Congress, who is also the state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Ahmad El-Marzuq, urged the party leaders to remain loyal and live up to expectations.
Go home and rest, PDP tells Buhari
But the Peoples Democratic Party says the President should listen to the cry of Nigerians who want him to go home and rest.
The PDP said he ought to allow Nigerians pick a new person to pilot the affairs of the country as from 2019.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, who spoke with one of our correspondents on Saturday said the shedding of innocent blood since the President assumed office ought to have convinced the President that he lacked solutions to the problems confronting the country.
He said, “If he says his desire for a second term is not for personal gain, then let us ask him, in whose interest then? In whose interest is he running a dysfunctional government? In whose interest is he unleashing hunger and massive unemployment on the populace?
“Help us ask him again, in whose interest is he spending more time outside the country than the country he governs? In whose interest are his governors not paying salaries? Does he even know that people are killed every day in the country?”
Secondus said at the age of 75, the President should know that he ought to have retired home to rest.
He added, “The government that pegged retirement age at 60 knows why it is so. It is because at that age, the law of diminishing returns sets in. Let the President go home and rest. He should go and play with his grandchildren.”
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