The Presidency has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari remains a “disciplined soldier” of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and will, in all the coming elections, support only those candidates fielded by the party and no other.
The declaration was made on Wednesday in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
The Presidency said the declaration was a warning to party members who had defected, and some others who were still in court against official candidates of the APC.
The Presidency said that such people were on their own and nobody outside the party tent should link what they were doing to Buhari.
It said the president wished to be quoted as saying that he was the “occupant of the high office of the President by the Grace of God who used the instrumentality of the APC to bring him to power with a historic verdict in 2015.”
The Presidency said in 2019, the president was returned with a bigger majority.
According to it for the first time, a non-PDP government came to power with a huge majority after 16 years of the Fourth Republic.
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It said the president’s constant constant refrain was: “I will not betray or undermine my party by supporting candidates other than those of the APC.”
The Presidency said the statement was not against any particular candidate.
It said, however, that the stand was clear that only those candidates fielded by the All Progressives Candidates, APC, would enjoy the support of the president and they were the ones he would campaign for.
“However, we welcome support for our candidates at all levels by other parties,” the Presidency said.
The president said he would continue to support the party at all levels to enforce discipline, synchronization and coordination.
The Presidency said the president had also directed officials in and around the Presidential Villa and all those engaging in loose talk to resist making controversial statements that eventually ended up hurting the party and the government, thereby providing a weapon for the opposition to use against the administration, the party or its candidates in the coming elections.
