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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
As the activities for the 2023 general elections dgather momentum, President Muhammadu Buhari, has again spoken about his successor.
While granting an interview on Arise TV in 2021, Buhari had said he did not care about the person who would succeed him.
He later said although he had a preferred candidate, he did not want to reveal the person’s identity because “he may be eliminated if I mention his name.”
But speaking on Monday after joining other Muslims to observe Eid-el-Fitr prayers at the parade ground, Mambilla Barrack, Abuja, Buhari restated the commitment of his administration to free, fair and transparent process.
Asked to reveal who he would like to hand over to, the president said: “The person that Nigerians elect.”
Buhari also challenged the heads of military and other security formations in the country to go after terrorists and eliminate them.
He expressed the commitment of his administration to continue to work towards making the country safe for Nigerians, adding that farmers must be assured of their safety as they returned to their farms.
“We’ll continue to make the environment secure, especially when the rainy season is coming, so that farmers can go back to their farms and we wouldn’t have problem of food security.”
“Heads of the services; Army, Navy, Air Force, the Inspector-General of Police and so on, are very much aware of the situation. It’s their duties to know where the terrorists are and eliminate them,” he said.
Other prominent personalities who observed prayers at the same venue with the President include National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Munguno (Rtd); Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA); Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Inspector General of Police; Usman Alkali Baba; former Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau; and former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, among others.