Leader of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has stated that any attempt by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to seek a second term next year may not be a good idea.
Musa, a former governor of Kaduna State, while reacting to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s memo to Buhari over the state of the nation however berated Obasanjo, saying “In the first place, is Obasanjo deceiving us? This is because Obasanjo is one of those who supported Buhari for the presidency as a civilian candidate. Didn’t he know Buhari more than we know him, as they were in the Army together and were doing everything together? In 2015, Obasanjo knew Buhari more than we civilians ever knew him, and he recommended him for the presidency.”
“Now, he can regret ever recommended Buhari for certain reasons. Did he express such regret in his letter? Why does he want us to believe him if he is not suitable for 2019?.. .The state of the nation is negative and it has been so since the Army took over since 1966. For some years after Army take over, we have seen traces of improvement, particularly in the case of national unity. But after four years of military rule, we saw the negative state of Nigeria growing even more.
“Now, the state of the nation in many respects has gone so bad. What we expect would happen would inevitably happen. There will be a constitutional or proletarian revolution in Nigeria with the present situation. Whether we like it or not, if constitutional revolution will not work, there would be a proletarian revolution, because the state of the nation is so negative and people are suffering so much.
“We must change the philosophy of basing things on self-interest first and public interest second or even secondary. Otherwise, we have to change the social economic and political system controlling all areas of development in the country. “We can do this effectively by bring in the leading role of the state in the economic development to ensure peace, equality, dignity of the human person and progressive development of the country. You cannot do this by market economy, which has never progressed any country since after the world wars and colonialism.”
But Plateau State Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bashir Musa Sati, disagrees, saying “In the history of Obasanjo, he is known to be constantly inconsistent. Is there any President that he has not written a letter expressing his disappointment? He forced the late YarAdua on the people. He was the only exception.
“Obasanjo was a military head of state and later civilian President. Let me remind him that there is no country in the world where a former head of state or President will ask a sitting President to go and rest. This is a democracy where every person has the right to aspire to any position. He is not the one to decide when that person should go or to re-contest”.
