Buhari Is APC’s ‘Best Card’ For 2019, We Pray He Re-Contests – Oyegun

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has described President Muhammadu Buhari as the “best card” for the All Progressives Congress (APC) come 2019 elections.

Oyegun, who is National Chairman of the APC, said this amidst fear that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may unseat the APC in the event that President Buhari fails to re-contest after his first term.

The APC Chairman, while reacting to former president Goodluck Jonthan’s statement that the PDP was back to displace his party in 2019, described the latter as a dreamer.

Oyegun said the PDP has “a right to dream because you don’t have to pay anything to dream.”

The APC Chairman said: “Whether the president seeks re-election or not, that is a decision only he (the president) can make. And when he makes it, in the unlikely event that he makes that decision, he is not just going to walk away. If Jonathan, a defeated president who wants to rule this country, can be talking about coming back or his party coming back, what of a very charismatic president, who even without money had 12 million votes behind him. So, the comparison is odious.

“APC will still retain power, but we pray that he (Buhari) contests because he is our best card right now. Everything is in the hands of God, but if for any reason he decides not to contest, but I don’t foresee that, he is still President Buhari and he will still work for the party and we will have a candidate that he still blesses. But, that is an unlikely event because the Buhari I saw is building up strength and energy. Let us keep decisions into the hands of God.”

“Jonathan lost an election, how does he think he is coming back? We haven’t even got to the bottom of the injury and damage they inflicted on this nation. If we could defeat him as a sitting president, what of now that he is in opposition and not just opposition, but a fractured, guilty and condemned opposition, which brought this country to its knee. I don’t know where they got their bravado from?”

Asked on the possibility of the PDP defeating the APC come 2019, Oyegun responded by saying, “Nigerians are no idiots, they may be suffering economic hardship now, but they are not idiots. They know what happened to this country. Of course, they wished their condition today was better, but they are not going to hand over power to those who were responsible for decimating the country.

“Stories are coming out every day and these are facts. There is nothing giving them confidence. It is just bravado. And bravado doesn’t depend on strength; it means making the world to think that you have strength. Look at Korea and United States; the United States can wipe Korea out of the face of the earth, but when the Korea leader speaks, he gives the impression that they can wipe US out of the face of the earth. These things happen every day.

“So, we are not losing any sleep over PDP at all because they are yet to find their feet. I even pray they find their feet because we need them to keep us on our toes. We don’t want a country without a reasoning opposition, but they shouldn’t get their ambitions too high,” said the APC Chairman.

The WHISTLER recalls that Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had similarly said there is no substitute for President Buhari.