President Muhammadu Buhari has downplayed claims that he has a favoured candidate for the 2023 elections, saying he will hand over to whoever Nigerians elect.
The President made the remark on Monday while answering questions from journalists after observing the Eid-el-Fitr prayers at the Mambilla Barracks parade ground in Abuja.
According to Buhari, he has no special candidate to replace him next year. He, instead, said the one who would succeed him is “the person that Nigerians elect”.
The Nigerian leader equally urged security agencies to redouble efforts in the fight against insecurity.
“We’ll continue to make the environment secure, especially when the rainy season is coming so that farmers can go back to their farms and we wouldn’t have problems of food security,” Buhari said.
“Heads of the services — army, navy, air force, the inspector-general of police, and so on — are very much aware of the situation. It’s their duty to know where the terrorists are and eliminate them.”
On Sunday, Buhari had in his Sallah message, reiterated his administration’s resolve to end insecurity.
While the battle has been hard and long, he is optimistic that victory is closer than expected.
“After a period of fasting and reflection, this year, we have cause to welcome the occasion in hope. The battle waged against terrorists who falsely masquerade under the name of Islam is approaching its conclusion,’’ the President was quoted as saying in a statement by his aide, Garba Shehu.
“The fight has been long and hard. The final victory is within sight. Boko Haram and its offshoots’ final embers are now fading.
“Last month, the leader of ISWAP was killed in an airstrike. Since the New Year, thousands of fighters have surrendered to enter rehabilitation programmes.
“The territories they used to occupy are now seeing the return of those who were forced to flee their barbarity. Normality is finally beginning to return to the Northeast. It is a long process. Yet it is one we are, together, now embarking upon.”