Nigeria's Buhari said he would not seek re-election in 2019: minister
Alexis Akwagyiram
LAGOS
(Reuters) - Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari told members of his
party before he was first elected that he would only seek one term,
implying he did not intend at that time to run in 2019, the minister of
women’s affairs told Reuters on Wednesday.
The comments by
Aisha Alhassan could heighten uncertainty over whether Buhari plans to
contest the next election. Buhari took power in 2015 but has been absent
for much of this year due to illness. He is yet to say if he will seek a
second term.
“In 2014/2015 he said he was going to run for only
one time to clean up the mess that the (previous) PDP government did in
Nigeria. And I took him for his word that he is not contesting in 2019,”
Minister of Women Affairs Alhassan said.
Alhassan said in the
interview she would resign if Buhari seeks re-election and would support
former vice president Atiku Abubakar if he decides to run. Alhassan’s
portfolio ranks relatively low down in Nigeria’s cabinet.
Abubakar
was vice president from 1999 to 2007 as part of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP). He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), Buhari’s
party, in 2014. She said Buhari made the comments in 2015 to APC members
but gave no further details.
The president’s two spokesmen declined to comment on the minister’s remarks.
Buhari,
74, returned on Aug. 19 from three months of medical leave in Britain
for an unspecified ailment. It was his second stint of sick leave this
year following a break between January and March.
Many people say
they doubt whether Buhari is well enough to serve another term in
Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country and has the continent’s
biggest economy.
“If today Mr. President says he is running in
2019 I will go to him respectfully and thank him for giving me an
opportunity to serve and then tell him that I have to resign because my
political father may be running,” said Alhassan.
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