ABUJA — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declared on Monday he would seek re-election next year, in a move that put an end to months of speculation.
“President @Buhari has just announced his intention to seek the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and contest for a second term of Office in the 2019 elections,” the presidency said on Twitter.
Buhari posted the remark in the nation’s capital of Abuja following a meeting with the national executive of his ruling APC party.
“Victory is sure by the grace of God and together we must continue to sanities Nigeria’s political environment,” said Buhari in a statement issued by the presidency.
Buhari, a 75-year-old former general and military head of state, was voted into power in 2015 on a platform vowing to crack down on endemic graft and stamp out the Boko Haram insurgency devastating the country’s northeast.
His government has made gains against the militant group, but Boko Haram is still capable of staging deadly attacks on military and civilian targets.
Buhari has been criticized for aggravating Nigeria’s worst recession in 25 years by introducing a currency peg that spooked investors and depleted foreign reserves.
There are also questions about his health after he spent much of 2017 in a London hospital with an undisclosed illness.
The 75-year-old spent much of last year in Britain being treated for an undisclosed ailment, triggering accusations by opposition groups and other critics that he was unfit for office and that his administration was beset by inertia.
Many Nigerians jokingly call him “Baba Go-Slow”.
Buhari will seek his All Progressives Congress (APC) party’s presidential ticket to contest the 2019 elections, the presidency said on its Twitter account.
The former general led a short-lived military regime that was overthrown in a coup in 1985.
In 2015, the northern Muslim defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), riding a wave of popular resentment against widespread corruption. — Agencies
