‘Flagbearer, NOT successor’ — Melaye tackles Buhari over remark on APC presidential candidate

Dino Melaye, former Kogi west senator, says the use of “successor” by President Muhammadu Buhari in his address to the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors is undemocratic.

Speaking at a meeting with APC governors on Tuesday, Buhari said as the second term governors have been “accorded the privilege” of choosing their successors, he would require the support of the party stakeholders in selecting the person who would succeed him. 

“In keeping with the established internal policies of the party and as we approach the convention in a few days, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party,” Buhari had said.

Reacting to the statement on Wednesday, Melaye, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the deliberate use of “successor” suggested that Buhari wants to impose the next president on Nigerians.

He, therefore, asked Nigerians to guard against any form of imposition by the president in the 2023 election.

“Yesterday, the president made a statement that is sacrilegious, unconstitutional, dictatorial and shows some very inhuman tendencies. The president said the governors of APC should support him to choose his successor,” he said.

“The president deliberately used the word “successor” and not flagbearer or candidate of the APC. That statement has some negative imports and the negative concomitant effect is that the president wants to impose a president on Nigerians.

“We are in a democracy, we will not allow imposition, we will not allow the prescient to handle this country as if we are under a monarchical or hereditary system of government. It is sacrilegious, abominable and undemocratic for the president to talk about a successor in an election that has not been conducted.

“If he says they should support him for a flagbearer, it’s a different matter. I’m calling the attention of Nigerians to be at alert, because the battle to salvage this country from economical cankerworms and financial scavengers is a battle of no retreat, no surrender.”