Buhari is currently in Saudi Arabia with Tinubu who is jostling to replace him in Aso Rock
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he would leave office on May 29, 2023, and not seek an extension beyond that day.
Buhari made the pledge in Saudi Arabia where he is currently performing the Islamic Lesser Hajj along with Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and Lagos strongman, Bola Tinubu.
There have been speculations that the Attorney General is working out a plan to keep Buhari beyond 2023 using the security situation of the country as the basis.
But Buhari told his audience in Mekkah that he would do no such thing.
“I swore by the Holy Qur’an that I will serve in accordance with the constitution and leave when my time is up. No ‘Tazarce’’ (tenure extension). I don’t want anybody to start talking about and campaigning for an unconstitutional extension. I will not accept that.”
A statement by one of the spokesmen to the president, Garba Shehu, said Buhari also tacitly expressed support to efforts to increase the role of technology in the nation’s elections.
According to Shehu, Buhari argued that the introduction of the card reader and electronic register was God’s answer to his prayers, having been cheated of his victory in three previous elections.
“After the third so-called defeat, I said, ‘God Dey’. My opponents laughed at me but God answered my prayers by bringing in technology. At that point, nobody can steal their votes or buy them,” the Buhari said.
Buhari who ended his visit to the Kingdom with the Friday Prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah said he will continue to abide by the constitution in all its ramifications and he will at all times supervise and deal with his ministers on the same basis.
According to Shehu, Buhari said in the remaining “eighteen months or so of my time left, whatever I can do to improve the life of Nigerians, I will do it for the country.”
Buhari also commended diaspora Nigerians in the Kingdom for representing the country well and projecting its good image.
Buhari also used the opportunity to urge citizens at home to be fair to his administration at all times, asking the critics to compare the security situations in the North East and South-South in 2015 and how things have improved as of now.
“My problem is the North West where people are killing and stealing from one another. I had to be very hard on them and I will continue to be very hard until we put them in line and bring back order,” he said.
Buhari urged Nigerians living in the country to respect the laws, remain law-abiding and do nothing to derogate from the many years of friendly and mutually beneficial relationships between the two countries.
Shehu said a leader of the community, Abdulkadir Maikudi, who spoke on behalf of the group requested the President to assist the privately-run Nigerian International School in the Kingdom by equipping it to provide science and technical education.
He quoted the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Yahaya Lawal and the Consul-General in Jeddah, Abdulkarim Mansur, of attesting to the good conduct of the nearly 1.5 million Nigerians there.
According to him, “Nigerian professionals are doing well and projecting a good image of our country.”
