The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU Tuesday said it was too early to start the 2023 debate now, saying the President should be allowed to be focussed.
Speaking to State house journalists shortly after a parley with PRESIDENT BUHARI at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the former Lagos state governor who is widely speculated to be in interested in BUHARI’S job after the latter’s tenure expiration in 2023.
Answering reporters’ questions on zoning, the APC leader said: “That time is not now. We have just finished one election and Mr. President is busy sorting out the budget, working for the people of this country. Of course, restlessness of politics is going to be there, but any lover of this country will not talk about the succession plan yet. That’s the truth. Concentrate on working for the country; help the president to help the country. There’s nothing more than that.
“We cannot use 365 days in a year and 360° to work on politics, it’s not possible. Anybody talking about that now is just completely restless and not focused on the agenda of nation-building and development of our country.”
On the visit he said: “It’s a new decade, a visit to the leader of my country is necessary to look at things and wish him well in the office for this new decade and make some points on the stability, security and a number of issues around the country.
“His New Year message resonated very well; he showed concern about the security and the understanding that the economy is still a challenge, but it’s a work in progress. You’ll have to continue to work on it and make it better for the common man. That’s the meat of the message.”
On BUHARI’S position on his speculated third term in 2013, the former governor said: “Any reasonable politician who had worked with President Muhammadu Buhari will know that he will not (tamper with the Constitution). Detractors are always suspicious and will make accusations, but I was in the trench, in the struggle for democracy.
“I was in the trenches and in the opposition with Muhammadu Buhari, till the third term agenda of a former leader of this country failed.
“I know he will never. He has the courage and the character to refuse such a temptation even if offered to him. I believe in him and I believe Nigerians should also believe in him.
“He doesn’t need to say it to me, I’ll argue it in the corner and everywhere they bring such a thing up. However, it’s very good to hear it from him. I say congratulations to a man of character and integrity.
“The challenge of turning the ship of this nation around is a continuum and a continuous effort and that is what we should get ourselves concerned with.
“Yes, politics is intoxicating, it’s flamboyant, it’s interesting, but we cannot continue in perpetuity one after the other. We have to relax, show concern for the people of the country and see to the efforts of the president that will manifest in the new, united and prosperous country. We are still not there.” He concluded.
