Seven governors from the northern part of the country on Friday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to re-contest in the 2019 presidential election.
The governors are Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna; Abubakar Bello of Niger; Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe; Yahaya Bello of Kogi; Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano; Jibrilla Bindo of Adamawa and Simon Lalong of Plateau.
They made the call when they met with the president at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Although they said the meeting with the president was apolitical, they felt it was necessary to stress the need for him to continue in government beyond 2019.
Speaking on behalf of his counterparts, El-Rufai said one of the reasons for their call on the president to re-contest the presidency was the need for continuity.
His words: “We are politicians and those of us you see here want the president to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that.
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“We believe in Mr President, we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019, we have no apologies.
“Whether they are right or wrong is beside the point. Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion but as governors, and most of us here with the exception of Yobe Governor, are first term governors.
“We are interested in continuity and stability and we want the president to continue with that.
“Like our leader, the governor of Kano said, we just happen to be here by coincidence and we went to pray and decided to felicitate with the president and we feel satisfied that anytime we see him, he is getting better and better.’’
Politicians are already getting set for the 2019 election especially with the release of the timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The electoral body said the presidential election would hold on February, 2019.
It holds the same day with the National Assembly election.
The governorship election and state assembly election will hold on March 2, 2019.
