2019. I AM CONSULTING AND CONSIDERING RUNNING AGAINST BURHARI-SARAKI

Bukola Saraki

Senate President Bukola Saraki has told Bloomberg that he is considering running against President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections.

“I am consulting and actively considering it. I believe I can make the change,” Bloomberg quoted Saraki as saying in an interview conducted on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Senate President defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and will be seeking to actualise his ambition on the new platform.

He however feared that government may use security to rig the elections, speaking against the backdrop of recent blockade of the National Assembly by security operatives.

“We should not be surprised that they would use security agencies for elections,” said Saraki who added that investors investors and citizens have lost confidence in President Buhari.

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

He added that while the PDP has learnt its lesson from the loss in 2015, the APC did not learn from victory.

Saraki said his group discussed a number of things, including how to sustain and improve the fight against corruption; ceding more powers to the states, improvements of the environment that will ensure investments among others before joining the PDP.

“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.”