A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Umar Gali Na’Abba,claimed President Muhammadu Buhari lacks
the “physical and intellectual capacity to govern Nigeria,” saying he would not
get his support should he seek re-election in 2019.
In
an interview, Na’Abba had claimed that the “President
feels that since he is now in charge, everything is in order.” Therefore,
based on the claim, Punchcontacted
him to confirm his assertion and he responded in an interview in Abuja on
Sunday, saying, “President
Buhari hasn’t got the capacity physically and intellectually to govern Nigeria
this is my honest opinion.”
It was learnt that Na’Abba, is a member of the Board of Trustees
of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He
expressed disappointment at Buhari-led administration saying, “I had the opportunity of sitting with the
President and tell him that this is what is wrong but he told me that things
were wrong before but with his election, everything is right now. That was what
he told me and I was very disappointed.”
The ex-speaker said Buhari refused
work with party members because he regards them as evil.
I decided to move back to the APC from the PDP to support him
because from his utterances, I believed he wanted to add value to democracy and
this is three years into his administration and he doesn’t work with the party,
he regards party members as evil, he doesn’t work with anybody, he doesn’t
consult with anybody in the party.
“I am a member of the Board of Trustees of the party even though
we don’t have it officially. We had a meeting of such a board or whatever you
call it in February 2016. That meeting was only called again in November 2017
when he decided that he wanted to get re-elected and he needs us.
He promised to reconstitute boards. He had earlier refused to do
that because he believed politicians were responsible for all the evil in this
country and he also promised to increase the number of ministers. In a
nutshell, the President has not added value to democracy by an inch,” he
said.
Na’Abba said he was aware that about
seven governors had endorsed the President for second term. However, he said
the the governors made the move without consulting their state chapters for
support.
However, an official in the
presidency, anonymously said Na’Abba’s claims did not come as a surprise to
them, saying other chieftains who shared same ideology with him would still
back Buhari in 2019.
The
source said, “Ghali Na’Abba’s position is
not strange to us and it did not come to us as a surprise. The truth is that
more party chiefs which still toe the same line with him. They will come out to
support him.”
He said those who oppose Buhari had
expensive lifestyles which the president could not pay for.
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