Race For 2019 Presidency Begins As Minister Puts Aspirants On Their Marks

This no doubt signalled that roughly two years to the next general elections, a major political battle over who succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari after the expiration of his first tenure in 2019 has begun in earnest.

While it is not clear if President Buhari and the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) would likely seek re-election and representation respectively as there is no official statement from either of the duo yet,  the hand writing on the wall is interpreted to mean that should Buhari decides not to run, he will be morally bound to anoint from the group that supported him.

The battle for the president’s hot seat would be on three major political fronts. The first and predictably most ferocious would be fought by aspirants from the president’s party, the APC while another would be by aspirants from the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

The third group in the battle will be mainly those who will decamp from either PDP or APC that will feel unprotected with staying put.

Among leading aspirants battling to succeed Buhari in the APC include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

Others APC members subtly eyeing the plum seat include the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Governors Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir el-Rufai of Sokoto and Kaduna states respectively.

In the main opposition party, apart from the Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose who has openly declared his 2019 presidential ambition, others are former Senate President, David Mark and former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke.

While it remains President Bahari’s constitutional right to contest if he decides to, it was confirmed as said by Mama Taraba that in 2010 ahead of the 2011 presidential election, Buhari had made a commitment that if voted into power, he would do only one term but never said so in his campaign ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Though the next presidential election is still faraway, there is an increasing indication that the most fierce political war of succession would be fought among aspirants in the ruling party, the APC.

Pundits are of the view that political interest May lead to the splitting of the party as witnessed in PDP when some governors pulled out to join the APC which cost the former victory in the 2015 presidential election.

This is evidenced in the outburst of the Kaduna State governor,  Nasir El’rufai at the Aso Villa on Friday before joining President Buhari for jummat prayer to the comment credited to the minister of Women Affairs to the effect that she will support former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for  president come 2019.

Obviously sentimental El’rufai told State House correspondents how Mrs Aisha Alhassan never supported President Bahari during campaign and how he was advised against appointing her as minister.

Aisha Alhassan who latter visited the presidential villa were denied audience by trio of Chief of staff to the president, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari . She also did not leave the Villa without restating her resolve to support former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

There have been call for the Women Affairs Minister to honourably resign her appointment, the latest was from the All Progressives Congress, but the minister who looks unperturbed believed she has not committed any offence rather than exercising her right of choice and acting based on the promise  her boss made in 2010 ahead of 2011 presidential election.

The Women Affairs minister’s offence was the open endorsement of the former vice president for the 2019 presidential election when she led a private visit to Mr. Abubakar.

Popularly called Mama Taraba, Mrs. Alhassan was the APC governorship candidate in Taraba in 2015, an election she narrowly lost to the current PDP governor in the state, Darius Dickson Ishaku.

Her support for Mr. Abubakar will not be surprising for political observers, as the former vice president is believed to be a major financier of the APC in the North-east including Taraba.

Although Mr. Abubakar has not publicly declared his intention to run in 2019, he is believed to be mobilising and getting ready for the election. He came third in the APC presidential primaries in the build up to the 2015 elections, losing to President Buhari and ex-Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

The former vice president has never hidden his presidential ambition having contested the 2007 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Action Congress (AC) after realizing that he could not get the PDP ticket because of his frosty relationship with former President Obasanjo.

Also, the APC chieftain had contested the presidential ticket with former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, and in 2015, he lost the APC primaries to Buhari again.

Shortly after Mama Taraba’s open edorsement of Atiku for 2019 presidential election,  former Vice President Atiku Abubakar complained about how his influence and financial resources were used to win election for the APC only to be sidelined shortly after forming of government.

These unfolding  revelations and others expected to unfold will determine the fate of the All Progressives Congress as 2019 general election approaches.