OSINBAJO CANNOT REPLACE BUHARI IN 2019 SHOULD ANYTHING HAPPENS TO BUHARI- NORTHERN ELDERS FORUM
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The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has declared that acting President Yemi
Osinbajo cannot replace President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 should
anything happen to Buhari who has been in the United Kingdom for a
medical follow-up for an undisclosed ailment.
The Chairman of the
forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said should Buhari fail to seek
re-election in 2019, the North must retain the presidency by fielding a
candidate through the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Abdullahi
said although Osinbajo, according to the constitution, should be
allowed to complete the current tenure being Buhari’s deputy, he must
not contest in 2019 should Buhari fail to re-contest for a second term.
“The
constitutional provision says that in the event that the president dies
in office or becomes incapacitated for one reason or the other and
cannot perform the duties of his office, he will be succeeded by the
vice president.
“But no one is in a position to know at what
point he is going to recover fully and come back to office, or whether
the unexpected could happen,†he said.
He was adamant that
Osinbajo cannot replace Buhari in 2019, adding: “If the worst case
scenario happens and Buhari is not back on seat, the constitution is
very clear that the vice president takes over.
“And what we
then expect is that he will take that tenure to its logical end and from
there, the politics of power sharing will take precedence over anything
else.â€
He also said: “When the unexpected happens in 2019,
we will be back to our position that the north should be treated
equitably and fairly.
“And we expect that another northern
candidate will emerge as presidential candidate on the platform of the
All Progressives Congress (APC).â€
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