Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
The Nigerian Presidency has said President Muhammadu Buhari feels that it’s too early to start talking about 2018 general elections when there are so many important and pressing issues on his desk.
This was in spite of the fact that some governors have been calling on the President to declare his interest to run for second term of office.
Indeed, a campaign office, which is the brainchild of the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu is due to be opened in Ibadan this Saturday to handle Buhari’s 2019 presidential campaign.
But the Presidency, through Buhari’s Personal Assistant on new media, Bashir Ahmad while debunking a news report by Reuters said 2019 general elections is not yet on the radar of the President.
Reuters had in the report, quoted the President to have granted a radio interview in which he allegedly said that he did not know whether he would seek re-election in 2019.
Reuters had cited Buhari as saying in the interview that the decision was both personal and also one for all Nigerians.
However, the Presidency denied the interview, saying the person who allegedly granted the interview was not Buhari.
Responding in a series of tweets, the Presidency said, “Good afternoon Reuters, could you kindly provide more details on this your report, which radio interview did President @MBuhari talk about 2019 election? #FakeNewsAlert,” Ahmad tweeted.
“This report from @Reuters is NOT true, President @MBuhari didn’t grant any radio interview where he talked about 2019 election, for Mr. President, it’s too early to start talking about next year elections when there are so many important and pressing issues on his desk.”
Reuters has deleted the fake story having discovered it was untrue.