President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said he would not disclose his preferred successor for personal reasons.
Besides, he said it would be too early to anoint a successor, adding that if he disclosed his preferred candidate, the person may be eliminated before the 2023 general election.
President Buhari spoke yesterday on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’.
When asked to name his successor, the President, who first said he did not have anybody in mind, said he would not disclose the identity of the person.
He said: “I don’t have any favourite for 2023 and if I do, I won’t reveal his identity because if I do, he may be eliminated before the election. I better keep it secret”.
President Buhari, who defended his decision not to assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill, said he would sign the bill once the legislators correct the identified anomalies.
Buhari said: “Personally, I don’t support direct primaries. Let the people be given options and let them choose the option that is best for them.
He added: “I didn’t tell the legislators what I didn’t like. All I said is that, there should be options and once that is done, I will sign.”
He scored his administration high on security, saying a lot has been done and more efforts are being explored to restore peace.
President Buhari said: “When we came into power in 2015, about 18 local government areas in the Northeast were under the control of Boko Haram. But, none of those areas is still under Boko Haram now.” He said his government was going after terrorists with full military might because that is the language they understand.
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The President said with the steps taken so far, the situation has improved.
President Buhari rejected state police, saying: “State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local government and the governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in local government tell you the truth, the fight between local governments and the governors.
“How many times did we have to release money to states in the name of bailouts to enable them pay salaries?
“How many states are able to pay their workers in time? And you add the police to them? People should look at this matter well.
“No, I am not convinced. We should have solved the current insecurity in the Northeast and South-South by now. Can the states be able to shoulder the burden of the police?
“You cannot just give someone guns and ammunition, train him and refuse to pay him. You know what will eventually happen”, the President said.
He spoke on reports of farmers/herders clashes in the country and wondered why there should be such occurrences among people that he observed used to coexist peacefully.
“For example, there were two governors that came to see me about problems – Oyo State and one other state – because the herders were in their forests, but the animals were going into the neighbouring farms, and eating the crops; I said, as far as I know, the farmers and herders have been co-existing in Nigeria for generations.
“Let them go and ask the local leadership what has gone wrong, why the break in communication between the local leadership and the herders”.
The President also said traditional rulers should be involved in solving herders/farmers crisis, adding that their involvement will yield better result than the establishment of regional security outfits like Amotekun and Ebubu Agu.
He added: “The role of traditional rulers must not be undermined because in their areas, they know who is who and we have to revert to them as far as effective security in localities are concerned.
President Buhari, who reiterated his resolve to resuscitate the grazing reserves and herders’ routes, said: “Herders’ routes and grazing reserves should be reinvented and cattle-rearers are to ensure they do not go beyond these routes. Those who do are to be arrested and prosecuted”.
He disagreed with those calling for the disintegration of the country under the guise of restructuring, saying the agitators were only calling for more deals and not for the break-up of Nigeria. According to him, many of the agitators believe in the unity of country.
On Nnamdi Kanu’s travail, the President said he would not interfere with the judiciary.
He said: “I won’t interfere with the judiciary on Nnamdi Kanu’s case. For taking him to the court, we are only giving him the opportunity to defend himself and not to be abusing us from Europe, as if he is not a Nigerian.”
Although the President said the possibility of resolving the matter politically was not foreclosed, he however, said it was good for Kanu to answer for his actions.
The President said: “I wouldn’t interfere with the judiciary. We cannot rule out possibility of political solution, but if he will behave himself all well and good. But, you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problem against your country and thinking that you will never have to account for what you have been doing. Let him account for what he has been doing.
“There is one institution that I wouldn’t dare interfere with. That’s the judiciary. Kanu’s case is with the judiciary.
“But, what I wonder is when Kanu was simply in Europe, abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I never thought really he wants to voluntarily come and defend himself on the accusations he has.
“So, we’re giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system and not to be abusing us from Europe as if he was not a Nigerian.
“Let him come here with us and then, criticize us here in Nigeria. Let him be listened to. But people who are saying he should be released, no, we cannot release him”, he said.
He promised to hand-over a healthy economy to his successor, saying that, 2022 budget would be fully implemented.
He said: “I want to bequeath free economy to the people. We have to stop smuggling; we must disallow Nigeria being a dumping ground and that is why ECOWAS and other bodies are working to boost the indexes.
He bemoaned the state of electricity in the country, saying that was why his administration was working towards improving accompanying infrastructures that would aid the process of improving power.
According to him, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which privatized the power sector, sold those infrastructures, not on merit, but on political patronage.
He said his government would continue to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty by encouraging the youths to embrace agriculture.
“It is a pity that only 2.5 arable land in Nigeria is being used and we need to make use of land and that we have started already.
“I think we have made a lot of progress in agriculture, now we’re not just producing rice but exporting it.
And we’re working vigorously to encourage the people to go back to agriculture.”
He said his government was working to remove all obstacles hindering the people from accessing the land, adding that agriculture was a sure way to lift millions of Nigerians from poverty.
To him, many of those calling for restructuring were not sincere, as it is obvious that many of the states do not allow the local governments to operate in accordance with the constitution.
The President urged youths to think out of the box, adding there were several opportunities in the country that could be sources of income for them.
Buhari, who described PDP as a failure, urged Nigerians to stop stealing the common patrimony and eliminate all corruption tendencies in all dealings.
