President Muhammadu Buhari will not pick his successor in 2023, his media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina, has declared.
Adesina made the declaration in reaction to the request by the Senior Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, that the president should be involved in who succeeds him in 2023.
Speaking on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Monday, Adesina said much as Buhari would take interest in who would succeed him, he would not influence his emergence.
His words: “The President knows that by May 2023, he would have finished his second term as president.
“Pastor Bakare has said he should be interested in who succeeds him.
“He would be interested in who succeeds him, but he will not manipulate the process to pick a successor.
“The President will not pick a successor, if you know him.
“He is not somebody like that, but yes he will be interested in the process and he has said that he will ensure that there will be a free, fair and credible process and nobody will come to use money and resources to bamboozle his way to the leadership of the country, it will not happen.”
He stated further: “The president will ensure that Nigeria is in safe hands.
“There is no point having worked from 2015 to 2023, having made gains, advances and then hand Nigeria over to looters once again or to allow looters use stolen funds to seize power.
“Every position you hold which has a time limit, you should begin to think and plan towards the final day in that position.”
