The newspapers for Monday, December 5, reports on Buhari likely dropping Yemi Osinbajo in 2019 election and the possibility of the north fielding another candidate for the 2019 presidential election.
The possibility of Yemi Osinbajo running on the same ticket with President Muhammadu in 2019 is slim because of the close ties the vice president has with Bola Tinubu, according to a source.
Buhari shops for new VP as north rules out support for Buhari
The Daily Independent, citing a close source in the All Progressives Congress (APC) reports that the possibility of Osinbajo running on joint ticket with Buhari is very remote.
The source said: “It is very clear that Osinbajo is just bidding time with President Buhari. Everyone knows that he (Osinbajo) is a right hand man of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Even when the presidency claimed that Tinubu opposed his selection as running mate to President Buhari, the man himself came out to counter the claim saying Tinubu nominated him for the post.
“Given the current situation, we don’t see President Buhari running with Osinbajo in 2019 if he wants to contest again. The president from his body language is already looking beyond Osinbajo because he knows that if push comes to shove, he knows where the loyalty of the vice president lies.”
Source close to the president said Kayose Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti state and now minister of solid minerals and a former governor of Abia state, Orji Uzor Kalu who recently decamped to the APC are likely replacement for Osinbajo.
Meanwhile, the North has ruled out a blanket support for President Muhammadu Buhari if he decides to seek for a second term in 2019.
The New Telegraph reports that already, top northern politicians and powerful political blocs have been shopping for Buhari’s replacement ahead of the next general elections.
Buhari shops for new VP as north rules out support for Buhari
Spokesman for the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, told the newspaper over the weekend that the forum only supported the APC in the 2015 election because it fielded Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate who happens to be a northerner.
Multiple sources also confirmed to the newspaper that different interest groups in the North have put machineries in place to get an appropriate candidate to replace Buhari in 2019.
Possible candidates who may replace the president in the 2019 election include, Atiku Abubakar, Ibrahim Dankwanbo (Gombe governor), Rabiu Kwankwaso, Sule Lamido, Ibrahim Shekarau, among others.
In other news, the Sun reports that the war between the federal government and former Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi over management of the economy has generated mixed reactions.
Buhari shops for new VP as north rules out support for Buhari
Sanusi had, while speaking in Abuja at a policy monitoring dialogue, said the CBN had been lending to the federal government above the limits stipulated by the CBN Act of 2007.
Sanusi said the country was enmeshed in heavy debts, stating that out of every N1 Nigeria makes, 40 kobo goes to debt and 60 kobo is left for salaries, health, education, power, infrastructure.
He stated that CBN’s lending to the government since President Muhammadu Buhari came to office had spiked from about N1.5 trillion to over N4.5 trillion.
Sanusi said the country was enmeshed in heavy debts, stating that out of every N1 Nigeria makes, 40 kobo goes to debt and 60 kobo is left for salaries, health, education, power, infrastructure.
But the presidency has dismissed Sanusi’s claims, insisting that the Emir of Kano does not have the facts on the issues over which he criticised President Buhari’s administration.
It also said that $30 billion loan, which the government was seeking approval, was for the building of massive social infrastructure.
Reacting through the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the presidency admitted that the federal government had made withdrawals from the account, but not the volume of N4.5 trillion as Sanusi alleged.
On news on the anti-graft war, some ex-ministers who served under the administration of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan as well as some serving and ex-permanent secretaries and directors of budget and finance in charge of revenue-generating ministries departments and agencies, are set to be grilled by the EFCC over unremitted fund to the consolidated revenue fund account.
Buhari shops for new VP as north rules out support for Buhari
The Punch reports that the fresh investigation was sequel to a report by the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, that the federal government would prosecute any official of revenue-generating agencies indicted in the audit report, which revealed that N450bn was not remitted to the consolidated revenue fund account.
The unremitted amount, which involved about 33 revenue-generating agencies of government, was for the 2010 to 2015 fiscal period which falls under the leadership of Jonathan.
Meanwhile, the move by the minister of education, Alhaji Adamu Adamu’s to resuscitate the defunct Northern Nigeria Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies,NBAIS, using funds from the federation account has been opposed by the CAN, Labour and rights activist.
Buhari shops for new VP as north rules out support for Buhari
Vanguard reports that to get the board back into life, the minister had forwarded a memorandum to the federal executive council (FEC) seeking a special approval for a waiver to re-establish the national board for arabic and islamic studies as a parastatal of the federal ministry of education.
Vanguard learned from competent sources that although the memo had been received by the FEC, the presidency had asked that it be kept in view but it was unclear whether that had to do with funding or the mood in the land.
But the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and an activist opposed the proposal, describing it as distracting and completely unnecessary, especially at a time Nigeria was bleeding as a result of harsh economic climate.
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