The Presidency on Monday explained why President Muhammadu Buhari will not handpick his successor when he completes his second term of office in 2023.
The Senior Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Tunde Bakare, had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to pick his successor for the 2023 presidential election. Bakare, in a live broadcast from his church on Sunday, advised President Buhari to sustain his legacy by picking a successor before 2023 general polls.
The Latter Rain Assembly senior pastor explained that by institutionalising a system of succession, President Buhari would join the league of strong world leaders like the late Deng Xiaoping of China; the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Goh Chok Tong of Singapore.
“In three decades, that programme gave China a succession of leaders who piloted China’s economic transformation, including the current President, Xi Jinping. Without their foresight, we would not be running to China today to finance our shortsightedness.
“We must also learn from Nelson Mandela who stepped aside after one term, but not without positioning the likes of Thabo Mbeki and Cyril Ramaphosa.
We must learn from the success story of Singapore, whose former Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, once said, ‘Mr Lee Kuan Yew has always emphasised political succession, and when I took over, likewise, I planned for succession…Prime Minister Lee is also working very hard to plan for succession.
“Therefore, even as we build institutions of democratic governance, a key responsibility that history has bestowed on President Muhammadu Buhari at this turning point in our journey to nationhood is to institutionalise systems of accurate succession that will build and sustain the Nigeria we desire. This is a task that must be done,” Bakare advised.
However, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Monday, said though President Buhari is interested in who would succeed him, he “will not pick a successor.”
Responding to questions while appearing on a Channels Television programme, Adesina said that like anyone in a position of authority, President Buhari has an exit plan.
“By May 2023 God willing he would have finished his second term as president, he would not have stood for another term and he will be exiting. So, he has that at the back of his mind.
“Pastor Bakare said he should be interested in who succeeds him, yes I’m sure the president will be interested in who succeeds him but he will not manipulate the process to pick a successor.
“The president will not pick a successor. We know him, he is not somebody like that. Will he be interested in the process? Yes, he will. He will ensure that there is a free, fair and credible election; that nobody will come to use money and resources to bamboozle his way into the leadership of the country. It will not happen.
The president will ensure free, fair and credible process; but to handpick a successor? No, he will not do that,” Adesina said.
He stressed that President Buhari would not hand “Nigeria over to those who will take her back or hand Nigeria over to looters once again. “No, that will not happen,” he said.
Adesina also spoke on Buhari’s commitment to reforming Nigeria’s electoral law and whether he would act early enough to ensure the reforms.
“One thing that is clear is that the president will do whatever is needful before the next set of general elections. Early enough is relative but the president will do whatever is needful,” he said.
