Buhari should be allowed to concentrate on governance not 2023 – Tinubu

The National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu says President Muhammadu Buhari should be allowed to concentrate on good governance not talking about succession plan.

Tinubu stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.

According to him, well-meaning citizens will not talk about the 2023 politics now, saying Nigerians must assist the president towards ensuring speedy transformation of the country.

“We have just finished one election and Mr President is busy sorting out the Budget, working for the people of this country.

“Of course, restlessness of politics is going to be there, but any lover of this country will not talk about the succession plan yet. That’s the truth.

“We concentrate on working for the country; help the President to help the country. There’s nothing more than that.

“We cannot use 365 days in a year to work on politics, it’s not possible. Anybody talking about that now is just completely restless and not focused on the agenda of nation building and development of our country,’’ he said.

On alleged third term agenda, Tinubu said he believed Buhari’s words distancing himself from the plot.

According to him, Buhari has the character and the experience to resist such temptation even if anybody suggested it to him.

Tinubu recalled that himself along with Buhari had been in the trenches resisting a plot for third term by a former President to extend his tenure.

He said: “Any reasonable politician, who had worked with President Muhammadu Buhari will know that he will not (tamper with the Constitution).

“Distractors are always suspicious and will make accusations, but I was in the trench, in the struggle for democracy.

“I was in the trench and in the opposition with Muhammadu Buhari, till the Third Term agenda of a former leader of this country failed. I know he will never.

“He has the courage and the character to refuse such a temptation even if offered to him. I believe in him and I believe Nigerians should also believe in him.

“He doesn’t need to say it to me, I’ll argue it in the corner and everywhere they bring such a thing up.

“However, it’s very good to hear it from him. I say congratulations to a man of character and integrity. The challenge of turning the ship of this nation around is a continuum and a continuous effort and that is what we should get ourselves concerned with.

“Yes, politics is intoxicating, it’s flamboyant, it’s interesting, but we cannot continue in perpetuity one after the other, we have to relax, show concern for the people of the country and see to the efforts of the President that will manifest in the new, united and prosperous country. We are still not there.’’

The APC chieftain also played down talks about clamour for zoning of the Presidency to a particular geo-political zone of the country.

Tinubu said it was too early for a party that had just won an election to start talking about zoning, and that it was better to allow it address the issue of governance.