Buhari drops clearest hint so far that he will stand for re-election as president in 2019

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has given the clearest hint so far that he will seek re-election in 2019 when he spoke about there being another vote for him at the ongoing European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit currently taking place in Abidjan.

Earlier this morning, President Buhari addressed the fifth EI-AU summit taking place in the Ivorian capital, where he hinted that he may be standing again in Nigeria's next presidential elections.  He was accompanied on the trip by a leader of the governing All Progressives Congress Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and governors Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi states.

President Buhari arrived late to an interactive session with the Nigerian community last night and said he had to wait for the two governors to accompany him to the meeting because of their electoral value. During his speech, he gave the clearest indication so far that he may be a presidential candidate in two years time.

“First I want to apologise for keeping you for too long sitting, this is because I insisted on the governors attending this meeting. This is why I came along with them so that when you are going to meet the rest of Nigerians, if you tell them that their governors were in the company of the president, I think that will be another vote for me in the future," President Buhari said.

Also, the president reiterated the position that he was responsible for Akinwumi Adesina emerging as the president of African Development Bank (AfDB), despite him serving as a minister in the previous administration. Shortly after assuming office, President Buhari dispatched former vice president Atiku Abubakar to lobby President Jacob Zuma of South Africa to support the candidature of Mr Adesina.