Osinbajo will never replace Buhari in 2019 if buhari should die today – Northern elders

By Eric Patrick


The Northern Elders Forum has declared that the Acting
President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo cannot replace President
Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 should anything happen to Buhari who has been abroad for a medical follow-up.

Chairman of Northern Elders Forum, Professor Ango Abdullahi, said should President Muhammadu Buhari
 fail to seek re- election in 2019, the North must retain the presidency by fielding a candidate through the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, party.

Abdullahi said although Professor Osinbajo, according
 to the constitution, should be allowed to complete the
 current tenure being Buhari’s Vice, he must not contest in 2019 should Buhari fail to recontest for a second term.

“The constitutional provision says that in the event 
that the president dies in office or becomes incapacitated for one reason or the other and cannot perform the duties of his office, he will be succeeded by the Vice president.”

“But no one is in a position to know at what point he
 is going to recover fully and come back to office, or whether the unexpected could happen. The northern elders insist that
Osinbajo cannot replace Buhari in 2019.”

“If the worst case scenario happens, and Buhari is not 
back on seat, the constitution is very clear that the vice president takes over.”

“And what we then expect is that he will take that tenure
 to its logical end and from there, the politics of power sharing will take precedence over anything else,” Abdullahi said.

He also said that, “When the unexpected happens, in
 2019, we will be back to our position that the north should be treated equitably and fairly.”

“And we expect that another northern candidate will 
emerge as presidential candidate on the platform of APC.”