The Presidency in Nigeria has said  the country would be sabotaged politically, socially and economically by the opposition if President Muhammadu Buhari declared his intention to run for the 2019 presidential elections now.

Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity stated this over the weekend while fielding questions during an interview.

Adesina explained that the President was keeping his ambitions close to his chest so that the opposition would not throw everything at him and dissuade him from contesting the elections.

“You know the peculiarity of Nigeria, particularly now. If the President speaks too early, it’s a problem. There is a lot of sabotage in the country. You have also heard so many have said “don’t run.” Because they know that if the President runs, other people should just run away because they don’t have the foggiest chance in hell to beat him.

“So they want to discourage him from running. Now, if he tells you “I’m going to run” and elections are still one year away, it gives them one year to sabotage the entire country from all fronts – politically, socially, economically – they would throw everything at him just to dissuade him from running.

“So, when you know that, why then do you speak early? I think it makes a lot of sense for you then to keep things close to your chest till it is time to then say “ok, I’m running” by which time they can do less damage,” Adesina said.

Buhari had last month during his meeting with governors elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress(APC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja asked for more time to seek the input and opinions of more Nigerians before making his intentions public.