There will be no vacancy in the Presidency in 2019,

There will be no vacancy in the Presidency in 2019,
members of the National Caucus of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, have declared in a
seeming lure to President Muhammadu Buhari to
seek a second term.
The national caucus, comprising serving and former
governors, the National Assembly leadership, and
selected members of the national executive of the
party, at the meeting said the endorsement of
President Buhari for a second term would help to
stabilise the polity in the face of what members
described as the 16-year rot inherited from Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP.
Meanwhile, the national chairman of the party, Chief
John Odigie-Oyegun, has dismissed insinuations of
a threat against his position, just as the caucus,
Tuesday night, constituted a committee to resolve
all pending issues in the party.
One of the issues agreed on at the meeting, was
that President Buhari should be given opportunity
to seek a second term. Though the issue of a
second term for the President was generally agreed,
caucus members, however, also agreed that it
would be too early in the day to kick start a second
term campaign for the President.
It was also gathered that the issue was brought up
as a way of resting restiveness among some party
leaders, who have been divided over their various
aspirations for 2019. The positioning by different
party leaders on 2019 has been blamed for the
problems that led to the crisis in the National
Assembly and also the inability of the party to
inaugurate its Board of Trustees, BoT, till date.
“With Buhari contesting in 2019, those who have
been squabbling will now have to queue up behind
him and put the interest of the party ahead,” a
source privy to the development revealed
yesterday. Remarkably, leading senators in the
party on Tuesday night met in Abuja where they
also pledged to unify themselves in the face of the
prospect of losing their influence to the more united
PDP caucus.
Odigie-Oyegun dismisses threat to his office
Meanwhile, Odigie-Oyegun speaking to reporters at
the end of the caucus meeting on Tuesday night
dismissed reports of pressures on him to resign his
office. He said: “I am not aware that my office is
under threat.
I led the party to the State House. It amazes me,
occasionally it annoys me. That is one of the things
you have to endure when you are in a position like
mine.” Noting the trend of the meeting, Odigie-
Oyegun said that a committee had been constituted
to resolve all the crises in the party.
Speaking on the performance of his party’s
government almost one year after taking over
power, the national chairman pleaded for time on
the part of Nigerians. He said the government
would come on full stream when the 2016 budget is
passed.