Buhari ends speculation by confirming he seeks re-election

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed on Monday that he would seek another term in the 2019 elections, finally ending months of speculation about his future after bouts of ill health.

The 75-year-old said he would seek his party’s presidential ticket to contest elections in February 2019 during a closed door meeting of the national executive committee of his All Progressives Congress party on Monday.

The announcement by Buhari, a northern Muslim who became the first opposition candidate to defeat an incumbent at the ballot box, was widely expected although stocks on the Nigerian market fell 1.01% on Monday to a three-month low.

“It takes away the concern of an open race, which would have fuelled uncertainty,” said a Lagos-based equity analyst.

Buhari took office in May 2015 after vowing to improve security and crack down on endemic corruption, but Africa’s top oil producer fell into its first recession in 25 years in 2016, largely caused by low crude prices and militant attacks in the Niger Delta, and its recovery remains fragile.

After Buhari spent five months in Britain in 2017 being treated for an undisclosed ailment, opposition groups and other critics said he was unfit for office and his administration was beset by inertia.

If Buhari is selected to contest the election, it is not clear who he will face as the People’s Democratic Party, which prior to the former general’s 2015 victory had held power since Nigeria adopted civilian rule in 1999, has yet to select a candidate.

“The president said he was responding to the clamour by Nigerians to recontest in 2019,” Buhari’s spokesman said.

Antony Goldman of Nigeriafocused PM Consulting, said it was likely Buhari would become his party’s candidate, even though it is riven by divisions. “Incumbency is still a powerful factor.”