A former minority whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Samson Osagie, has advised the All Progressives Congress to tackle the herdsmen attacks problem across the country, saying the party may lose the 2019 elections if it fails to address the
crisis.
Osagie, who spoke to our correspondent on factors that might militate against the party come 2019, said President Muhammadu Buhari must do the needful to regain the party’s lost trust from Nigerians.
The lawmaker maintained that the ongoing Fulani herdsmen killings would cause defeat of the party in 2019 if left to
continue.
He said, “Government must ensure that it reverses the kind of killings that Nigerians have witnessed. It is a possibility that, if not well handled, it would cause electoral misfortune for the APC.
“And I think the handlers of this administration, and of course, the administrators of our party are quite conversant with this and I expect and hope that things are being done to correct those impressions, as it is a very sad situation for our people.”
Speaking on former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s controversial letter to President Buhari, Osagie said, “One gratifying aspect of that letter is that it praised the current President in two major areas, security and fighting corruption.
“I believe that you cannot write off this administration totally as having failed, even though the challenges before this country are quite enormous.
“It is only natural for people to cry out when they have the kind of challenges that we are having. The decision to run or not to run is that of the President because it is also his fundamental right to ask for a second term.”
He added, “Ultimately, the decision on who becomes the next President is left to the Nigerian people. I just believe that Obasanjo was exercising his right to advise the President on what he felt was the way to go forward for Nigeria.
“I don’t think it is in bad faith; he just spoke his mind as a stakeholder and as someone with his wealth of experience in governance; I believe he was only trying to help the Presidency.”
