Prof. Itse Sagay SAN, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) on Thursday said many Nigerians and leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would have been very disappointed if President Buhari had decided not to seek reelection.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Independent in Abuja, Sagay who said it is nobody’s business whether the president to change his mind or not added that those hammering on Buhari’s statement on single term in 2011 are those who are jittery that he is going to win the presidential election in 2019.
He also faulted those saying the president lacks integrity for reneging on the single term statement saying the president only made a statement which he reconsidered after pressures from those who want him to continue his good works in office for another four years.
“His decision to recontest has nothing to do with his integrity. Did someone pay him to say he will do a single term? Did he sign a contract with anybody that if you pay me N1m, i will not contest a second term? There was no such thing”.
“He made a voluntary statement and at the end of three years, the pressure on him to change his mind was just simply irresistible. And if he really wants to be a man of the people , somebody in whom we have absolute confidence, he had no choice”.
“And what is the business of other people if he decides to recontest? If you don’t like him, contest against him but don’t try to eliminate him because he is formidable from the beginning”.
“They knew that with him contesting again, there is no hope for any other candidate. So, they are bitter and terribly disappointed because all their calculations have failed completely”.
“I knew all the time that he was going to contest even though he might not have been very keen but the large number of relevant people in the party who were determined that he should recontest were just two many. He couldn’t resist that force, otherwise the disappointment could have been devastating. So, he had to bow to that pressure”.
“For now, himself and the Vice- President are the only candidates who have credibility and will us some hope that if they are in charge, the country will not just move forward, but be able to deliver this country from the wretchedness, poverty, mass unemployment and all the other negatives that we are experiencing due to the manner in which the PDP misgoverned this country and wrecked it” he said.
