Seven governors, including Nasiru el-Rufa’i of Kaduna State, met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Friday, ostensibly to beg him to re-contest in the 2019 election.
Others who met with the president alongside with el-Rufa’i were Abubakar Bello of Niger, Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Jibrilla Bindo of Adamawa and Simon Lalong of Plateau.
El-Rufa’i, who spoke to state house correspondents after the meeting, said governors want Buhari to continue running the country beyond 2019.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) leadership has said repeatedly that Buhari has the right to seek reelection, but has not told them he will run again yet.
Even a recent comment by chairman of the APC governors forum, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State that governors had given Buhari automatic ticket to run was condemned by the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.
But according to El-Rufai, people are free to continue to speculate about the 2019 elections but he and other governors are interested in continuity and stability of the country.
Curiously, most of the governors in Aso Rock to persuade Buhari to run are those seeking reelection themselves and hoping to use Buhari as a tool to get reelected.
He said: “We are politicians and those of us you see here want the president to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that.
“We believe in Mr President, we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019, we have no apologies.
“Whether they are right or wrong is beside the point. Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion but as governors, and most of us here with the exception of Yobe governor, are first-term governors.
“We are interested in continuity and stability and we want the president to continue with that.
“Like our leader, the governor of Kano said, we just happen to be here by coincidence and we went to pray and decided to felicitate with the president and we feel satisfied that anytime we see him, he is getting better and better.’’