The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has boasted that President Muhammadu Buhari will seek re-election in 2019, win and remain in office till 2023.
Lawal said this while addressin a gathering of youths at the Unity Fountain, Abuja, on Tuesday, at the beginning of a series of protests in support of the President.
The President who is on an extended medical break in UK, recently had a protest against his administration called off by its convener, Innocent Tuface Idibia, who cited security concerns.
Other civil society groups however went ahead with the protests provoking counter-protests by pro-Buhari groups.
Lawal told the crowd that President Buhari feels the pains and will continue his best to alleviate them
According to him, the President did not envisage the enormity of the challenges he met on the ground but was doing all within his power to set Nigeria on the path of sustainable growth.
He assured the protesters that the economic difficulties being experienced by Nigerians would disappear within “one year.”
He added that after President spends 8 years in office, no ‘saboteur’ will be able to return the country to the pre-2015 era.
“I’m here to thank you for the support you have been giving to this government. As a government, we are encouraged by your support. It is this type of support that encourages the President to do more.
“We want to assure you that this government is on top of the situation. As much as we understand the challenges that we are facing, there is no cure without medicine.
“It is for no reason that quinine is very bitter, but after you have taken it, you get well. I assure you that by the grace of God, in the next one year, Nigeria will have a booming economy. We know what they were doing to try to sabotage the activities of government to bring Nigeria back to economic prosperity, they will fail.
“Nigeria will never go back to the position it was before 2015. The foundation being laid by the government is solid. And nobody, even after the President has finished his eight years, can ever take us back to the pre-2015 days.”
He said that President Buhari would outlive those who wish him dead.
Also speaking, Moses Abdullahi, who is the convener of the Citizens Support for Good Governance in Nigeria, the organisers of the event, absolved the Buhari administration of blame for the current recession.
He said “Nigeria is going through a difficult phase, a phase which is not the making of this administration. It is rather a consequence of decades of bad governance, decay and maladministration by a few under a banner now synonymous with corruption.”
“Nigeria can only change when we support the government and do our bit and not allow ourselves to be used as agents of destruction and political thuggery.”
