Why I won’t seek third term – Buhari
.Says he can’t afford to be reckless .Charges party leaders to strengthen APC
.Mocks Saraki, Dino, other decampees
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said he has no ambition of staying in office beyond 2023.
The president laid speculation of his third term plans to rest by saying “no third term for me”.
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In an opening remark at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, Buhari also allayed the fear that the governing party may disintegrate after his second tenure in office.
Buhari said: “I’m not going to make the mistake of attempting a third term. Beside the age, I swore by the holy book that I would go by the constitution and the constitution said two terms. I know that I’m in my last term and I can’t afford to be reckless because I’m not going to ask for anybody’s vote”.
The president confidently said the APC will not die after 2023 but warned party leaders to ensure their stronghold did not slip out of their hands, hence the party may lose out on 2023.
“Yesterday at the meeting of the caucus, I made some comments which are still relevant here but to me, the most important is that every member of NEC should reposition himself or herself to make sure that you have dominated your constituency politically.
“The aim is that, as I mentioned yesterday, history will not be fair to us out rightly if the APC collapses at the end of this term.
“History will be fair to us if the APC remains strong and not only holds the centre but makes gains. People will reflect with nostalgia that once upon a time, the builders of APC made a lot of sacrifices, worked very hard.
“The sacrifices are physical, material and moral to make sure that we maintain the Leadership, politically of this system.
“This is what we should all aim at and ensure that our constituencies understand us and follow us to this great objective.
“The chairman has tried to mention our performance during the last series of elections. What happened in Imo, Bauchi, Sokoto, Zamfara are really unfortunate. I will like you in your constituencies to make sure that you read the Constitution of the party and understand it, and you stick to it.
“What we did for you the executive, NWC is bottom to top; you must make sure that people elected to be responsible from polling units to wards to local governments to states are respected in their respective constituencies.
“This is the only way we can make this party survive, this is the only way history will be kind to us that we have led with absolute concern for the country and for the people.
“If for any other reason, you divide the party, at any constituency and it causes failure, then be prepared that history will not recognise you as a leader at any level at any time.
“I went public to try to make the Nigerian elite understand that the 16 years of PDP did not portray the Nigerian elite as a contentious”.
The president, however, mocked APC decampees for failing to regain their political positions through the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties.
“Like the chairman has said, all those who left us to the upper house, none of them were voted by their constituents. You want to take our people for granted but they know what they are doing”, Buhari said.
He commended the 9th National Assembly for the symbiotic relationship with the executive, which he said is healthy for the development centre of the country.
Speaking further on the executive relationship with the legislature, he said: “Yesterday I had to mention our relationship and when I say ‘our’, I mean the executive and the legislature and I were constrained to tell you (those that were there), there was a time I called the Senate President and the Leader of the House and told them that to sit on a budget for 7 months is not politics or is it hurting the president, whoever he is. It is hurting the country and the people we swore by the books we believe in, to serve them whole-heartedly.
“For that reason, I was pleased to mention yesterday that the 9th Assembly, you can see and read in the papers, they have shown so much commitment, they sit down on important issues and we make a lot of progress.
“This relationship, we will try and maintain because there are a lot of things that will not go public. We cannot allow those things to go public but I want to tell you that we are making a lot of progress and what people fail to do is to appreciate the progress that this administration has done, what we inherited when we came in 2015”.
