A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue, Joseph Boko, has stated that the party has other candidates who could replace President Muhammadu Buhari as flagbearer in 2019.
He said this in reaction to those he said appeared to have forced the President to declare interest for a second term.
“Buhari has the constitutional right to seek re-election, but he should use the remaining part of his tenure to rejig the economy toward a better life for the poor,” he told NAN on Wednesday in Makurdi.
Boko said that Buhari’s declaration had rested “undue claims by people coming forward with beggarly and funny attitudes asking the president to run in 2019”.
“Imagine a group suggesting that if he did not come forward, they will sue him; I find such attitude very funny because the APC has capable hands that can lead the country”.
He said that there was much hardship in the country, and urged Buhari to focus on improving the local economy to make life better for ordinary Nigerians.
Boko, who admitted that “things are picking up gradually”, said that much needed to be done especially at the states and local government levels.
He advised Buhari to leverage on the country’s comparative advantage on agriculture by investing more in it so that Nigeria could export more products and earn foreign exchange.
He also commended the federal government’s efforts at diversifying the economy and called for effective strategies toward attracting more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).
“Foreign investments are critical to the growth of the economy because they create more jobs and improve the quality of manufactured goods,” he explained.
He also advised Buhari to beef up national security and the fight against corruption in the country, urging the courts to demonstrate more commitment to ridding the country of the menace.
Boko, however, criticised government’s decision to publish the names of suspected looters, saying that the list would have been more valid if it came from the courts.
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