Kano APC members threaten to sue Buhari if he refuses to stand for re-election in 2019

MEMBERS of the Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have promised to procure the 2019 presidential nomination form for President Muhammadu Buhari as they want him to run for a second term and warned they may sue him if he refuses to.

Elected in 2015, President Buhari's tenure ends in 2019 and there are still doubts as to whether he will stand again. Earlier this week, President Buhari paid a two-day official visit to Kano State where he inspected local infrastructure and military formations, in a tour during which he was conducted round by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and Major General Mohammed Mohammed, the commander of the First Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army.

During the visit, APC stakeholders in the state said they would not accept a situation whereby President Buhari refused to stand and threatened to sue him if he declines to. Presidential spokesman Mallam Garba Shehu, said the APC leaders adopted President Buhari as their candidate for the 2019 general elections, saying they also expressed commitment and support For Governor Ganduje as their sole candidate for 2019.

He added that the Kano State APC chairman Alhaji Inuwa Abbas, hinged the endorsement of the president on his achievements in the last two years. According to Alhaji Abbas, President Buhari achieved a lot, especially in the fields of security, the war against corruption and the restructuring of the economy.

Alhaji Abbas said: “Security is important for everyone, not just for Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. It’s even more so for us as a commercial and industrial state and we are convinced that he is best for these times when the country has begun to muster energy and resources to develop agriculture, infrastructure and empower the younger citizens."

Governor Ganduje said the party was prepared to drag the president to court to force his acceptance of the second term ticket. In his response, President Buhari said he understood the clamour by the ordinary people on the streets who raised four fingers on each arm, meaning four-plus-four but stressed the need to sanitise party politics by ridding it of vote buying and violence.

President Buhari said: “What I saw in the elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Rivers, the use of money and those headless bodies really upset me. I don’t wish to see that anywhere and I would not have won if money and killing was the modus operandi."

Mallam Shehu added: “President Buhari did not say he accepted, nor did he decline to accept the endorsement in his speech even after the party leaders promised to procure the nomination forms for him and threatened to sue if he declined the gesture. The president merely beamed with smiles and went on to underscore the need for unity in the party and among the diverse peoples of Nigeria."

The APC stakeholders meeting was attended by Governor Ganduje, his deputy Professor Hafizu Abubakar, the state chairman and the members of the state executive committee. Also in attendance were two of the state’s senators, members of the House of Representatives from the state, 34 of the 40 members of the Kano State House of Assembly and the 44 party chairmen, deputies and the local government area secretaries of the APC.