Watch: Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi on his plans to transform Nigeria’s economy and democracy into a $5-trillion economy
Nigerians wait in line outside an election centre in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, for their first parliamentary by election in 30 years on July 30, 2018. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Abdulsalam Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress – the party of Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s current president – has announced his plans to transform Nigeria’s economy and the country’s democratic institutions into a $5-trillion economy.
Abubakar, who has become the most prominent challenger to Buhari ever, made the announcement in Port Harcourt, in an apparent bid to sway undecideds to Buhari’s camp in the upcoming national election.
Abubakar, who is also the former chairman of Nigeria Trade Union Congress, said on Tuesday he would be a candidate in the next general election in 2019.
The election is still a few months away, on Monday, but Abubakar’s surprise announcement could see Buhari re-elected into another term as president in 2019. He is currently on the run following a coup attempt when he accused the government of being behind a bombing that killed 44 people on Friday.
The former Nigeria Navy captain and former vice president, who is often known as “the saviour”, was jailed from 1997 to 2005 for corruption. He was forced to resign from the presidency in 2007 following a military coup.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to achieve the economic transformation he promised Nigeria and Nigerians,” Abubakar said in a Tweet on Tuesday, hours after he announced he was set to contest the next general election, which is set to be held in 2019.
“That is why, as president, I must be a man of action. I want to transform the economy and the governance systems of Nigeria. I believe I can be a good president for Nigerians.”
Abubakar was on a whirlwind tour of Africa recently as he went to Benin, in the west of the continent, to launch the launch of his campaign headquarters.
He was also accompanied by some of Buhari’s loyal