The Presidency has assured that President Muhammadu Buhari will not handpick a successor at the end of his tenure.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, gave the assurance Monday evening while responding to issues on the Channels Television programme, Politics Today, anchored by Seun Okinbaloye.
According to him, the President will not leave office for looters but he will not take steps that will circumvent the electoral process.
It would be recalled that the General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, had on Sunday charged President Buhari to show interest in who succeeds him.
But in his comments on Monday night, Adesina said although the President will be very interested in who succeeds him, he will not bend rules or manipulate the electoral process, saying “we know him, he is not somebody like that.
“The president will not pick a successor. Will he be interested in the process? Yes he will.
“He will ensure that there is a free, fair and credible election; that nobody will come to use money and resources to bamboozle his way into the leadership of the country.
“It will not happen. The President will ensure free, fair and credible process but to hand pick a successor? No, he will not do that”, he said.
On if President Buhari was listening to the advice by his friend, Pastor Bakare, Adesina said: “the President will ensure that Nigeria is in safe hands. There is no point having worked, having made gains, having made advances since 2015-2023, to hand Nigeria over to those who will take her back or hand Nigeria over to looters once again or you allow looters to allow stolen funds to work for them to seize power. No, that will not happen.
“The President will be interested that much in who succeeds him but he is not going to impose anybody.
“Rather, he is going to create a free and fair process and Nigerians are then going to determine who the next president should be.”
