President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the need to douse the growing tension over his ambition made him to declare his intention to run for the post of the president in 2019 earlier than he had wished.
The president made this known on Friday in Abuja when he received members of the Buhari Support Group Centre (BSGC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He added that early declaration was to enable his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, to prepare ahead of the 2019 general election.
The president said the speculations about whether or not he would run for the post in the election were so rife that they were causing distractions.
His words: “I had to announce before the National Executive Committee of our party about my intention to ask for the party’s nomination for next year’s election so that we can save a lot of time and cool tempers.
“A lot of people were trying to make it a habit of being a nuisance to themselves and many Nigerians, so when I came out I said those who are serious let them come out.
“I tried to make sure that the party is organised and consolidated so that we start from the bottom to the top, and that Nigerians will be involved in a way that each constituency will pick those that are going to represent them at various levels, whether as local government chairmen, in the State Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and finally the president.’’
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The president praised the support group for the support given to him.
“I don’t think I can thank you enough because by identifying yourself as a group for all these years and getting nothing for it visibly I think its worthy of commendation,’’ he said.
Alhaji Umaru Dembo who is the co-ordinator of the group assured the president that they would continue to give him the needed support.
“We are here to inform Mr. President that since 2014 we have been working, expanding and helping to explain the new life that your government has ushered in for the good people of Nigeria,’’ the co-ordinator said. .
He also disclosed that his group had initiated the documentation of the president’s achievements in a book authored by Dr Sani Muktar Bichi and himself.
He described the group as an umbrella organisation for many others supporting Buhari.
