Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019 after the expiration of his current term in office.

Obasanjo said he was making the call because of Buhari’s shortcomings in governance which he described as the ‘‘lice of poor performance in government—poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeeds—if not outright encouragement of it , lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality.”

In a special statement which he released on Tuesday, the former President condemned in strong terms all those calling on President Buhari to run for a second term in 2019 and urged the President to honourably dismount from the horse of leading Nigeria.

“President Buhari needs a dignified and honourable dismount from the horse. He needs to have time to reflect, refurbish physically and recoup and after appropriate rest, once again, join the stock of Nigerian leaders whose experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of this country,” the statement read in part.

“His place in history is already assured. Without impaired health and strain of age, running the affairs of Nigeria is a 25/7 affair, not a 24/7,” Obasanjo added.

Obasanjo said he was constrained to issue the statement because of the poor performance of the current All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the areas of tackling poverty and insecurity, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condoning of misdeeds, lack of hope for the future as well as poor national cohesion and mismanagement of the nation’s political dynamics.

He stressed that the same situation which made Nigerians to massively vote out former President Goodluck Jonathan was again playing itself out even as he accused President Buhari of turning a blind eye on various incidents bordering on corruption which he had pledged to eradicate.

He therefore urged Buhari not to over-push his luck nor over-tax the patience and tolerance of Nigerians and consider a deserved rest at this point to enable him adequate time to enjoy his retirement from active public service.

He said that a Coalition for Nigeria (CN) which must not necessarily be a political party should be established to ensure good governance, social and economic well-being and progress of the country.

He added that such a movement which he would belong to, may metamorphose into a candidate-sponsoring platform to vie for future elections in the country.

Read the full text of Obasanjo’s Special Press Statement in our Assessment section.