From: Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammad Buhari on National Assembly, Hon. Kawu Sumaila , on Monday, in Kano, insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari, was fit to contest the 2019 presidential elections contrary to the wishes of some Nigerians.
The senior aide to the President, who spoke to reporters at Kano Government House, contested the speculation that the President may not be able to withstand the rigor of other elections in the light of his unstable health.
He added that there was nothing wrong in calls by associates like Chief Rotimi Ameachi urging him to stand for the 2019 elections.
Hon. Kawu Sumaila , a former governorship aspirant in Kano, reflected that the President was a human, adding that at 74, it was normal for him to fall sick from time to time ,
But he added that he was confident that the President’s health would improve before the 2019 elections which is about 18 months away.
He recalled that speculation regarding the health of the President had been rife even before the 2015 elections but that had not deterred the President from moving on.
“Some people had been speculating that the President would not contest that election. But he did and he won and he is working up till today. Even yesterday he did a state function. So what do you want?” he stated.
Hon. Kawu , who is a very close aide of the President, maintained that it was only a medical council constituted by the constitutional authorities that could determine whether the President was capable of discharging his duty or not.
The fate of the president to return for his next tenure cannot be determined by speculations, he stated.
On the purported threat of the Presidential ambition of Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso to Buhari’s second coming, Hon Kawu Sumaila held that Kwankwaso was a no issue.
He recalled that Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso contested against Buhari in 2015 and roundly defeated adding that his present political noisemaking was going to result into similar defeat come 2019.
“We are ready for anybody. Anybody we are ready. We are politicians and we are ready to face any challenge”