The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity has explained why President Muhammadu Buhari cannot support anybody aspiring for the presidency in the 2023 general elections at this time.
Mr Femi Adesina believes such a move will amount to taking an action before the appropriate time.
“The President still has two years less three months in his tenure of office,” he said on Friday when he featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“So, for him to start supporting somebody now will just be like jumping the gun and you know that President Buhari will never do that.”
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Adesina was responding to a question about President Buhari’s position on the possible intention of the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, to succeed him as the next President.
To buttress his point about the importance of appropriate timing, Mr Adeshina recalled a scenario before the last general elections.
“Before the 2019 elections, people began to campaign for him (Buhari) before INEC blew the whistle for campaign to start. He was the one who came out to say ‘no, don’t do it; don’t jump the gun’; the President himself will dare not jump the gun in terms of supporting one candidate or the other,” said Adesina.
“Also, recall that he had said anybody that wants to be President after him should go out and work; that means the President may not be supporting anybody until maybe perhaps a candidate of the party emerges. Knowing President Buhari, he will never jump the gun.”
President Buhari returned to Nigeria on Friday after about three weeks he travelled to the United Kingdom for an education summit and a medical check-up.
While on the trip, he visited Tinubu – who was reported to be ill – in London.
Some have described the President’s meeting with the APC leader as a show of support for Tinubu’s possible presidential ambition.
Adesina, however, dismissed the claims. “That meeting actually happened, but it is all about goodwill and best wishes.”
“We know that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had been in London about the same time the President was there. We don’t believe what we read in social media, but we have read a lot about Asiwaju Tinubu’s health, so the President’s visit was a goodwill visit,” he clarified.
