By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja
Strong indications have emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari is still weighing the options whether to contest the 2019 presidential election or not.
Presidency Spokesman, Femi Adesina, gave this indication in an interview at the weekend.
He said: “Then, talking of his own personal ambition or lack of it, we have to wait until he blows the whistle. You can’t start a race until the whistle is blown. So, when he blows the whistle and say ‘yes, this is my ambition,’ then, the race starts.
“So, for now, we just say that we keep waiting on him to tell us what direction to go.”
According to Adesina also, the state of health of President Buhari would also play a crucial role in the decision that he might take eventually with respect to 2019 election.
He added, however, that the President’s health at the moment was even better than it was when he emerged as President in 2015.
He said: “Yes. Health is wealth. Health is wealth. The president is not a frivolous person. If he thinks that his health cannot carry anything, he will not do it. So, of course, his health will matter a lot. It will be very important but we need to give the glory to God for the way he is now.
“Every day you see the president, you see a glow about him, you see a freshness about him. I think he’s even in a better state than when he came in 2015. It’s all to the glory of God.
“So, once he assesses that his health can carry it, there’s nothing wrong if he steps into the fray. But he had the final decision.”
On suggestions that the President should adopt the Mandela option by willingly quitting office after four years, Adesina said:
“Of course, this is a democracy. People will always have a right to their opinion. You know one thing about democracy is that there is multiplicity of opinion. So, those who believe in the Mandela option, it is their right. And it is also the right of the president to run or not to run. So, you don’t abridge the right of anybody under a democracy.”
On President Buhari’s thinking about the coming elections, Adesina noted: “Ok. About election, the president has always said, he said it publicly before but those of us who are his aides when we talk we reiterate it that if it is the only thing he does, he wants to give free and fair elections to the country, elections that are acceptable.
“And you would have noticed that since this government came, there have been elections APC didn’t have to win.
“It was not like that in the past when a certain party was in power. They won all the elections that held in states.
“But you saw Anambra. Just this weekend, you saw a senatorial election there. Some months ago, in November, you saw the governorship election. If APC had wanted to overrun Anambra using federal might, it would do and it would win the election.
“Election had held in Bayelsa under this administration, APC didn’t do it. Ondo, APC won fair and square. Kogi, it won fair and square. Where APC wins, it wins. Where it loses, it loses. That’s the attitude of the president. Your party doesn’t have to win by hook or crook.
“So, he says if it is the last thing he does, he will leave free and fair elections for Nigeria. So, he will bequeath free and fair election to Nigeria and that is happening.”
