Fomer Head of State Maj.-Gen. Buhari is likely to contest
presidential primary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.
His loyalists said that despite the anti-Buhari
lobby in the APC, the general would contest the
primary.
We have gathered that the anti-Buhari lobby in APC is made up
of two groups. The first group consists of senior Northern
politicians who want the general to bury his ambition in order for
a younger northerner to contest the presidential primaries. This
group is also said to be shopping for a guarantee that the
general will support whoever emerges as the presidential
candidate of the party.
The other group consists of members of the party who feel that
the former head of state is not popular in the South-East, South-
South and some parts of North-Central.
Top officials of the party confided in our correspondent on Friday
that the mega party was worried about Buhari's unpopularity in
these regions. The officials said the states were too crucial to be
toyed with.
One of the senior members of the party, who pleaded anonymity,
said, "We have realised that it will be a Herculean task to
convince a majority of the electorate in the South-South, South-
East and even some parts of North-Central to vote for the APC if
we field Buhari as our candidate.
"You will recall in 2011, he did not perform very well in the
South-East, South-South as well as Plateau, Benue and Kwara in
the North-Central. He is not so popular in those areas. We are
looking for a nationally acceptable candidate. Hence, the move to
make him step down."
Another APC top member who spoke on the condition of
anonymity with our correspondent, said, "We know that the
general is popular among the talakawas (ordinary people) in the
northern part of the country.
"We also know that he is still interested in the race based on his
pronouncements. But we also believe that he has tried. He needs
to allow the younger ones take a shot at the ticket.
"But if we prevail on him to discard his ambition, will he be ready
to work for whosoever emerges as the party's candidate? That is
the dilemma we are in now."
But Buhari's supporters are insisting that he must be allowed to
take part in the party's primary, and that he will support the
winner if he doesn't win.
Former spokesperson for the CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said only
the members of the APC could determine Buhari's fate.
He said, "Some people are afraid of Buhari and that is why they
are flying the kite. We know he is going to contest the primaries
and he may be the candidate of the party.
"We all know that democracy is a game of numbers, if that is the
case, let us wait and see what will happen during the primary.
The general's popularity has not waned.
"Those mounting pressure on him not to contest are those who
are afraid of him. They know that he means well for the country
and not for the pulse of a few people."
Similarly, the CPC governorship candidate in Enugu State in 2011,
Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said if Buhari could pull 12 million votes
during the 2011 presidential election with a "small party like the
CPC," then he could do better under a bigger party in 2015.
"That is why we, his supporters, are saying that he should be
allowed to contest the primary with other candidates. Irrespective
of his age, he is still strong. He is not corrupt, he isn't a religious
bigot and he doesn't care about where you come from.
"We must also know that GMB is an asset to the party anyway. He
has a "vote bank" through which he could draw come 2015.
Buhari, 70, has run for the office of the President three times
and, on all the occasions, was defeated by the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party candidates.
In 2003 and 2007, he ran on the platform of the ANPP and was
the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change
in the 2011 general election.

http://m.naij.com/news/43144.html

Buhari is a Good candidate to fight corruption but we need to make him understand religion should not be his priority as that is why we are so doubtful of him.

Up GEJ 2015

The man should be allowed to contest or he will pull out of APC and form another Political Party. To avoid this, he should be allowed to take part in the race, but we all know that when push comes to shove, he will not win.