Buhari’s successor: Group condemns Obasanjo, Babangida, others

THE Democratic Youth Congress (DYC), on Saturday, condemned the media reports of purported search for the replacement of President Muhammadu Buhari by three former military presidents.

It was reported in a national daily (Tribune Online) that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar were considering the likes of former Governor of Kano State and serving Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State and former Governors of Cross River and Edo States, Mr Donald Duke and Adams Oshiomole respectively, as replacement for the President in 2019.

Its National Chairman, Honourable Kassim Mohammed Kassim, who made the condemnation in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, said such a move was not only an act of betrayal but arson against the collective wishes of the populace.

According to him, “what have Obasanjo, Babangida and Abubakar bequeathed to this country as leaders if not corruption, nepotism, underdevelopment and values laced with of mutual distrust and suspicion which has further compounded our journey to prosperity as a nation.

“Enough is enough. We Nigerian youths have allowed such leaders to mortgage the future of this country. We, Nigerian youths would henceforth use any civil and political will to resist such attempt by past leaders to arrogate to themselves to determine the common destiny of this great nation”, he declared.

Kassim, a serving member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, representing Akwanga South, said the search smears of hypocrisy and intent to cause political disharmony in the polity.

The lawmaker pledged the group’s unflinching support to the emergence and continuation in office of President Buhari beyond 2019.

He said the search for successor for PMB was conspiracy against good governance which the president was entrenching through fight against corruption which the past leaders were not comfortable with.