Okorocha, Bello, Shettima Hail Buhari’s Decision to Seek Re-election

Our Correspondents
Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettimate, have commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring his intention to contest for a second term in office, describing the decision as a patriotic response to the clarion call of Nigerians of goodwill for him to lead the country for another four years.

Okorocha, who is also the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, added that the announcement by the president himself would go a long way in reducing the noise of the opposition and take care of the idiosyncrasies of certain elements in the system.
He said the president has done well to deserve second tenure, stating that those who had wanted to blackmail him out of going for another term can now find other meaningful things to keep themselves busy.

He expressed optimism that the president would largely garner more votes in 2019 than he had done in 2015 because most Nigerians, including people of the South-east have seen that he meant well for the country.

The governor said the APC has no apology to make because it has done wonderfully well considering the magnitude of the rot it met on ground in 2015 and noted that the antenna of the opposition in the country will finally be lowered when the campaigns begin and the party will be showing Nigerians its achievements in the states under its control and at the federal level.

The governor said when a political party had admitted that the government it ran was a huge failure and then apologised, such scenario should go with restitution and not with reward.
He urged APC members across the country to close ranks for the victory of the party at all levels in 2019.

On his part, Niger State Governor, Bello, said the decision by President Buhari to seek re-election in 2019 has rekindled hope and reassured Nigerians that the restoration agenda, the war against corruption and enthronement of good governance for the country will sail safely to coast.
“It was so heartwarming when President Buhari told members of the national executive committee (NEC) of our great party of his intention to seek for re-election. This is the brightest moment for our country.

“A moment that has rekindled the hope of our people. A moment that has reaffirmed that all the good works, the good initiatives of the president that saw us out of economic recession the country was plunged into by mismanagement of past administration will now be sustained to take us to the desired enviable position among the comity of nations”.
The governor’s remarks were contained in a statement signed on his behalf by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Jide Orintunsin, and made available to journalists in Minna yesterday.

According to Governor Bello “by this pronouncement, President Buhari has exhibited high sense of good leadership. He has shown that he listens to the yearnings of millions of Nigerians who called on him to continue the good work he started since 2015.
“He would have dashed the hope of teeming Nigerians, especially the younger ones who are looking up to him, if he has turned down this call to serve.

“The onus is now on all good and well -meaning Nigerians to rally round our president and ensure that the reactionary forces of the opposition and agents of doom are not allowed to dash the much cherished hope we all have in the new emerging Nigeria by doing the needful during the next general election”.
He said Nigeria could not afford to go back to the “dark days of extravagancy and impunity. President Buhari has changed the game, he has brought sanity to governance, the war against insurgency is nearing logical conclusion and our economy is improving”

Posterity he said would not forgive us as a people if we allowed this golden opportunity to slip off our hands. The president has declared, we have to do the needful as a people by supporting him.”

Also, Borno State Governor, Shettima, has challenged supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to continue to sensitise their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues through personal interactions, to educate them about the challenges inherited by the president and what he is achieving in his ongoing efforts to rescue the country.

Shettima threw the challenge on his facebook page and twitter account yesterday shortly after granting interview to journalists at the State House in Abuja.

“As I told my friends, State House journalists, it is a traditional practice all over the world, that a popular sitting president gets his political party’s right of first refusal in seeking reelection. As Nigerians can testify, silence on the part of the President creates uncertainty in the polity with all sorts of assumptions. I believe that Mr. President’s notice of intention will not only calm the polity but will indeed, give the APC a better sense of direction. Insha’Allah, as governors, we will give the president and our party, all that is in us to once again, win the election in 2019. We have strong faith, that citizens of our States who overwhelmingly support the president and the APC will continue to, in their personal interactions, sensitise their family members, friends, colleagues in work places and neighbours far and near to remind them of the unimaginable challenges President Buhari and the APC inherited in 2015- to make them appreciate the bold efforts that are still works in progress. God willing, Nigeria will regain peace and it will be a better.”

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