BUHARI, ATIKU SHOULD FORGO PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS – BABA- AHMED

General Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have been advised to forgo their presidential ambitions in order to widen the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning next year’s presidential elections. Kaduna State interim APC chairman, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, gave the counsel in Zaria at a public lecture organised by the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Faculty of Arts. The former INEC secretary, who spoke on ‘The Role of the Citizenry in Ensuring Free and Fair General Elections in 2015 in Nigeria and its Implications for National Cohesion’, said APC’s capacity to stand the 2015 elections would be tested in its ability to provide a level playing field for its aspirants. Baba- Ahmed said since many believe the APC cannot lose in a credible election, the best chances for success for APC lies in the manner it comes to terms with its own internal challenges, and the way it manages sensitive issues such as the ambitions of its leaders. “The chances of the APC in replacing the PDP will be intimately linked to the manner it allows intra-party democracy and the choices it makes in terms of who flies its flags. If APC picks General Muhammadu Buhari to contest as its candidate, it is certain that President Jonathan will run against him. “This will ultimately create a very bitter and dangerous campaign, electioneering and the possibility of a hotly-contested electoral outcome, and may even result in post-election violence. If neither of them are candidates, and the APC does not field Atiku or any of the other ex-PDP titans presently in its fold, the nation may have an opportunity to vote for candidates with lighter baggage from their past,” he said. He, however, warned his party members that President Jonathan would be an asset to his ambitions and the PDP if the opposition fields a candidate whose weak points would be exploited by faith, ethnic and geo-political sentiments. The APC chieftain said between some of President Jonathan’s kinsmen who say win or lose he must be president until 2019, and many of General Buhari and APC’s supporters who think he and his party are now unbeatable, the nation is facing a frightening future.