Some civil society organisations have called on all presidential aspirants to save Nigerians the stress of having to face more issues than they already have by making sure they are healthy enough to contest the exalted seat.
Speaking in separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Rafsanjani, and the Executive Director of the Advocate for Peoples’ Rights, Victor Giwa, urged aspirants with underlying health challenges to focus on improving their health.
Rafsanjani, who is also the head of Transparency International in Nigeria, said, “Nigeria has a serious dysfunctional system. Anybody that is coming to take over the country has to seriously do a lot of rethinking, working, and strategic planning to address the numerous challenges we have in governance in Nigeria. Some of the people that offer to seek election in Nigeria, to a large extent, do not have the political will to be able to do the right thing to address these challenges.
“When someone is really sick and is not able to function in a manner that they are expected to, then that would be a problem. I would rather beg the aspirants who know that they are sick and would not be able to provide the required time needed for the presidency to not block other Nigerians’ contributions.
“They can always provide mentorship, leadership and advice from the outside. If you know that you are sick and want to contest the presidency, in the name of God and making this country work, please, do not (contest). We have a situation already where we have seen a president travelling every time for medical check-ups. We don’t want a repeat of that kind of situation.”
In his part, Giwa said presidential hopefuls must be fit to surmount the challenges that come with leading a country like Nigeria.
He noted that an unhealthy aspirant would not have the fortitude to face the problems of Nigeria, no matter their political experiences or ideologies.
“Looking at the picture of one of them, seeing the way he is looking, (you will see that) he is looking very pale and unhealthy. But the question is: ‘Is he competent health-wise?’ We have had people who had some medical challenges being governors and presidents and we saw how it ended. So, medically, does he have the fortitude to face the problems of Nigeria? My answer would be a definite no.
“One of them should be 75 or so. Are we ready to have someone in that age range as our president, looking at global standards and what is happening in terms of development? We are looking at younger people in government,” he added.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the North-Central region on the platform of the All Progressives Congress on Saturday said the presidential ambition of the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, would not be negotiated even if the zone produced the national chairman of the party in the forthcoming convention.
While reacting to a statement purportedly issued by a group identified as Stakeholders in Nasarawa State Council of the All Progressives Congress, APC while appealed to the governor to drop his presidential ambition, they said, “Yahaya Bello will contest and we will ensure victory for him by God’s grace.”
In a statement signed and by the Director-General, North Central Coalition for Leadership, Williams Oluwatoyin, at the official presentation of staff of office to newly approved, graded and upgraded traditional rulers in Kogi State, at the Muhammadu Buhari Civic Centre, in Lokoja, the group said, “A Bello presidency can’t be sacrificed on the altar of ‘cash and carry politics’. We, the authentic stakeholders in APC North-Central want to state categorically that we are in full support of Yahaya Bello’s presidential ambition and we regard the purported appeal for him to back out from the race as standing logic on its head.”
“By saying this, we do not by any means infer that nobody should vie for the chairmanship position in the North-Central. What has come to stay, through popular demand, is that Yahaya Bello will contest the presidency, notwithstanding where the party’s chairmanship position is zoned to. Even if the party’s chairmanship is zoned to the Okene Local Government Area, Yahaya Bello will contest and we will ensure victory for him by God’s grace.”
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