By Eric Elezuo
A former governorship aspirant in Adamawa State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Umar Ardo, has itemized reasons President Muhammadu Buhari will not be re-elected in 2019 even as he shun advice from prominent Nigerians not to re-contest.
Ardo, who stoutly supported and worked for the election of Buhari in 2015, made his declarations while fielding questions from a ThisDay correspondent during an exclusive interview.
The leader of the Northern Leaders Stakeholders Assembly (NLSA) noted that much as the President wants to run, no one should deny him because he is exercising his constitutional rights within the law.
“Well, first I’ll say it is within the president’s constitutional right to contest again. But it’s also within the rights of Nigerians to either elect or reject him,” he said.
He went ahead to highlight two basic reasons he believed will work against the President, and prevent him from returning to the seat of power – reasons he said were based on his ‘reading of national politics. The first, according to him, is the President’s inability to make any impact in the living standard of the Nigeria people while the second lies in the President’s failure to effectively utilise power for the society’s benefit.
“And in my reading of the national politics, I cannot see the president being reelected for two reasons. First, he has not made any appreciable impact in improving the standard of living of Nigerians; if anything, things have actually deteriorated. Second, it is apparent the president cannot effectively utilize power for the benefit of society,” Ardo noted.
He stressed that among other faults of the President is the fact that he had betrayed as many that helped him ascend the throne, especially those from the north, including his native Fulani tribe.
“In addition, he has breached the trust of those who helped him come to power and created bitterness amongst his ardent supporters mainly in the North. Such conducts are against the basic tenets of interpersonal/political relationship. And, speaking as a Fulani man, such actions fall against Fulbe code of conduct, Pulaku. In Fulfulde we call it “Soide Pulaku”. Besides, talking about Fulanis, there has never been a time when the Fulanis ever faced existential challenges they face today. They’ve practically become endangered species on account of misplaced government policies. Things cannot just continue like that. So where will his votes come from? The country has long gone past the president,” he said.