Connect with us

Politics

I’ll make a better president than Buhari, I’m considering a run against him in 2019— Saraki

Published

on

I’ll make a better president than Buhari, I'm considering a run against him in 2019— Saraki

Senate President Bukola Saraki says he is seriously considering running against President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

Saraki made this known to Bloomberg in an interview.

This development is coming on the heels of rising speculations about the prospect of a Saraki presidential run fuelled by his visits to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida.

“I am consulting and actively considering it… I believe I can make the change,” he was quoted to have said.

“The PDP has learnt its lesson from the loss in 2015, and I think unfortunately the APC did not learn from their victory.

“While negotiating with the PDP, we listed a number of issues. We talked about how to sustain and improve the fight against corruption; the issue of providing more powers to the states; inclusion and having a more nationalistic approach on things we do; to continue to improve the environment that will ensure investments.

“We listed a number of items during the discussions with the PDP, and there is a written agreement to that. We trust that we can hold them to that.

“We would ensure that the party is strong on security. The APC too have not done well on the issue of security. We have the opportunity with the right kind of presidential candidate and president to provide the leadership for the party. The party has a good opportunity to lead the country in the right direction.”

He also spoke of the Department of State Services (DSS) siege to the National Assembly, fearing that it portended danger to next year’s elections.

“If a government can go and lock up an arm of government — and it’s never happened in our history — we should all be very concerned… we should not be surprised that they would use security agencies for elections,” Saraki said.

Read also: Resign if you don’t want to be impeached, Oshiomhole tells Saraki

“There has been a persistent disregard for due process and a lack of neutrality for some of these issues. For you to have credible elections, you must have safe elections. Security agencies are actively getting involved in the politics.

“The fundamentals of whatever we are going to develop is going to be based on sound democracy, credible elections, freedom of choice of Nigerians. If we don’t have that as a foundation, then everything else cannot happen.”

Saraki said investors have lost confidence in the Buhari government.

“Most of the inflows that have come in are merely hot money, and that is because the oil price has gone up,” he said.

“Investment in the real sector is not seen. The private sector, in my view, has probably taken a position that the confidence is not there in the government. The country requires a government that is truly pro-business, and a president that sees himself as a chief marketing officer.

“If we are going to have a subsidy, we should have a budget for subsidy. Because once we have a budget for it, the private sector can also play a role in the importation of petroleum products. And if the private sector plays a role, definitely the cost of the subsidy will go down and there will be more efficiency in the delivery of products. But in the environment we are in today, where it’s only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that’s doing that, it’s going to be inefficient, it’s not going to be transparent.”

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now