The Presidency on Sunday said if the likes of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, should join the 2019 presidential race, President Muhammadu Buhari will defeat them.
The position of the Presidency was stated by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in an interview on Sunday.
Both Obasanjo and Babangida have advised Buhari not to seek reelection in 2019.
But Shehu told newsmen that Buhari is eminently qualified to seek reelection in 2019.
He said Buhari “richly deserves a second term in office”, adding: “My response to them is that if they like they can come and contest against President Buhari.
“He will defeat them.
“All of them.”
Speaking on the criticism of President Buhari seeking reelection when Nigerians are hungry, Shehu said: “With all the noise the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) is making, even during their tenure, did they give breakfast, lunch and dinner to every citizen?
“Is there any country in which someone does not go hungry?
“I am not saying it is perfectly in order but they are just politicising these issues.
“This is a government that has removed this country from the shame of food importation.
“Every state of the country now is into rice production and we are feeding not only Nigeria but West Africa.
“And the government is working on having respectable prices for food items, food inflation is coming down grossly.
“Everyone complaining of hunger should go and work.
“And you know that this is the only government that has introduced social investment schemes.
“We pay out now for the poorest of the poor.
“The least they will get is N5,000.
“And a lot of these jobs that are being created are from loans with little or no interest from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of industry, Banks of Agriculture, Development Bank of Nigeria and the rest.
“So, there is a lot going for people who really want to go out there to work, especially in agriculture.”
2019: Buhari will defeat Obasanjo, Babangida – Presidency
