Presidential suitors enter race

Uncertainty over Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari running for a second term in 2019 has set off an early race to succeed him in Africa’s most populous nation, according to a senior ruling party official.

Buhari, 74, stayed more than seven weeks in the UK in 2017 to receive treatment for an undisclosed ailment, sparking concern about government paralysis and triggering speculation about the severity of his condition. He returned to Nigeria on March 10, but was expected to fly back to London for further care, his spokesman said.

“Because of the feeling that the president may not run for a second term, people are already gearing up,” Nasir El-Rufai, a senior official of the ruling All Progressives Congress and governor of the central state of Kaduna, said on Monday. “All of us are getting distracted by the coterie of ambitious presidential aspirants that are trying to kickstart the political process ahead of the normal timeline.”

A former military leader, Buhari in 2015 became the first politician to unseat an incumbent Nigerian leader in an election. Nearly halfway through his four-year term, he is struggling to revive growth in an economy that has been hit by a plunge in crude oil revenue and a severe shortage of foreign exchange.

Nigeria’s elections commission announced in March that the next presidential vote would be held on February 16 2019.

El-Rufai said that most ruling party members would like Buhari to seek a second term. “The president is saying nothing about his intentions.”