President Buhari's first hurdle of seeking a second term in office will be to scale through the primaries of the ruling party.
President Muhammadu Buhari
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has said there is no plan for sole candidacy for President Muhammadu Buhari in the coming presidential election.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said yesterday that other interested members of the party had the right to come forth and give Buhari a fight for the APC’s sole ticket.
According to the APC mouthpiece, they were delighted that Buhari had finally made known his intention to re-contest for the presidency.
Abdullahi said this when he addressed reporters in Ilorin, Kwara State.
He said, “The declaration had given the party a kind of direction because the 2019 general elections were around the corner.
“The party was initially not too clear about the direction the president wanted its members to go, but that with his declaration, they had seen a clear signal for the way forward.”
The APC spokesman added that, “it is normal for other people to want to contest for the position of president,” but that for now, Buhari was the only aspirant that had made his plan public.
He said, “the party’s constitution allowed other members to also express similar interest while the party would finally take a decision.”
The APC has resolved to go in contrast to what the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, did ahead of 2015 elections when it shutout other presidential hopefuls by printing only one nomination form for former President Goodluck Jonathan.