The News
Despite being railroaded into the presidential race by some members of the Cabal and a section of the Northern elite, President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to buy into the agenda of former President Goodluck Jonathan contesting for the presidency.
According to sources close to the former president, Dr Jonathan had told those drafting him into the race that he would only join the race if president Buhari endorses the move. However, unfortunately for those behind the move, president Buhari has refused to support the move.
In anticipation of president Buhari’s endorsement, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has twice shifted the screening of the party’s presidential aspirants, even two days before the party’s primaries. It was the plan of the party apparatchiks that president Buhari would give his nod before jetting out to attend the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equitorial Guinea.
Though the president is expected back tomorrow, the delay over the screening, which was meant to accommodate Jonathan, is fueling suspense and apprehension among the presidential aspirants and their supporters.
Sources at the Villa, however, said that it is unlikely the president could be persuaded to buy in into the Jonathan project. The president, it was gathered, would find it incongruous to lift up the hands of Jonathan as his successor, having repeatedly blamed his government of ineptitude and monumental corruption that has caused the current economic downturn.
As part of the Jonathan project, a Bayelsa Federal High court today ruled that the former president is eligible to contest the 2023 presidential election.