The reelection bid of President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) does not appear to be enjoying a popular support among the elite. A concerned civic group is currently tasking Northern leaders to come up with an “acceptable” presidential candidate.

Concerned Advocates for Good Governance (CAGG), a pro-good governance and effective leadership group is saddling the North with the challenge.

National Coordinator of the group, Olusegun Bamgbose, a Lagos lawyer, who made this known to this reporter in an online chat on Sunday said: “We are advocating for Transparency, Equity and justice Accountability (TEA). We strongly believe that any government that will adopt this principle of TEA, the principle of good governance will fare well.”

According to Bamgbose who said he was speaking for the group, “The North has a golden opportunity to produce a leader that will mar or make Nigeria come 2019. It has collectively been agreed that the North must produce the President come 2019. It will be politically unfair and unjust for any Southerner to contest the forthcoming Presidential elections.

“The battle to possess State House is actually between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar and the APC presidential flag bearer in the person of Muhammadu Buhari.”

While Buhari, the incumbent president hails from North West, Atiku, a former Vice President is from the North East. They are both qualified to rule Nigeria.

However the good governance group says there are certain things that must be considered before the right choice. “One, let’s look at the economy. It’s true that Atiku has not been president but he is more knowledgeable in the area of economy than Buhari. One cannot but agree that the unity of Nigeria has never been so fragile as it is now, no thanks to IPOB, herdsmen. We actually need a detribalised leader to douse the tension.

“Let’s look at the international community. The truth of the matter is that with the recent body language of US and Britain, they may not likely support the return of Buhari as President. This portends great danger to our relationship with them.

“In fact, one of the biggest banks recently said that Buhari’s second coming will ruin the economy of Nigeria. Theresa May did not hesitate to submit that Nigeria ranks as one of the poorest nation in the world. This is certainly not a good comment.

“Bill Gates, when he came visiting did not hide his feelings when he publicly condemned the economic system adopted by Buhari’s regime. That it’s not proactive. The most prominent traditional rulers in the North are Emir of Kano and Sultan of Sokoto. They have at various times condemned Buhari’s government.

“Certainly even if by any means Buhari wins second term, our economy will be in shambles. What differently will Buhari do to transform Nigeria apart from his lacklustre economic performance so far.

“Certainly the investors will certainly go on break should Buhari win in 2019. Internally the former leaders are not with him. Meaning there will be internal crisis here are there. It’s therefore obvious that his second coming will be highly turbulent. As a group we have carefully and critically appraised his fight against corruption as a fiasco. It’s a complete failure,” the group said.

Continuing, they claimed that US agencies have said that corruption persists in spite of the fight against corruption. “Sultan of Sokoto has equally spoken in the same direction. The summary of it all is that Buhari does not deserve to be elected for second tenure. Age is certainly not on his side, this he has said himself.

“Nigeria deserves a new leader that will forge a new economic from with the international community. Buhari’s four more years will certainly lead to more hardship and killings. We are tired of excuses for failure to deliver on the dividends of democracy.

“We shall therefore urge Nigerians to elect orally eject Buhari from State House come 2019. It’ll be a pure political gamble to reelect Buhari. He has failed Nigerians. We need a more dynamic leader to lead us out of the woods. Atiku is technically better than Buhari. He will not only restructure Nigeria but reposition Nigeria.”

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