Nigerians, not Buhari, will pick his successor

The presidency has affirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari would not pick a successor after the expiration of his second term in 2023.

The clarification came Monday evening through the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina while appearing on Channels Television‘s Politics Today.

Adesina was reacting to Pastor Tunde Bakare’s advice that the president should be involved in choosing his successor.

Speaking on a television broadcast from his Lagos-based church, Bakare said, “God is into succession. Anyone in government that does not concern himself about succession is destroying his own legacy because the person coming after you can just mess up everything.

“Let us ask God for grace of accurate succession; that he (Buhari) will not hand over the baton of government and governance to thieves and perverts, to corrupt and power-drunk individuals, but those who are true patriots, who will serve like our founding fathers served; though not perfect, they did their best.”

The presidential spokesman said that while Buhari was not interested in leaving the seat to looters, he would not impose anybody on Nigerians or manipulate the process.

He said, “The president will not pick a successor. 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 hand pick a successor? No, he will not do that.”

Addressing Bakare’s concerns, Adesina added, “The President will ensure that Nigeria is in safe hands. There is no point having worked, having made gains, having made advances since 2015-2023, to hand Nigeria over to those who will take her back or hand Nigeria over to looters once again or you allow looters to allow stolen funds to work for them to seize power. No, that will not happen.

“The President will be interested that much in who succeeds him but he is not going to impose anybody. Rather, he is going to create a free and fair process and Nigerians are then going to determine who the next president should be.”