It is the second week of 2018, and the anticipation for the forthcoming general elections which will be held in the coming year is heightened already.
The last election cycle in Nigeria experienced an unprecedented change as for the first time in the nation’s history, an incumbent president was defeated.
However the Buhari government has generally not performed at the level his constituents had imagined he would, many of them displeased with the continuous blaming of the past administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Consequently, many of the people who campaigned vigourously for Buhari in 2015 are refusing to do so now, even outrightly opposing his 2019 bid.
The following are some of the clergymen who no longer want President Muhammadu Buhari in office.
Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka
The outspoken Enugu-based Catholic priest, of the Adoration Ministry Enugu, gave a shocking message to the president in his new year message.
Having endorsed him in the last general elections, he warned the president against contesting for a second term. With claims that President Buhari would be shamed should he contest in 2019, Reverend Mbaka made known that he is the cause of his problems.
In his new year message, he was quoted as saying “The Lord says, Nigerians, he says, captive Nigerians, you will be speedily rescued; Nigerians, things are very very difficult, hard and tough nowadays; the hardship is not from God, they are man-made; the wicked cabals and satanic agents in this country have wickedly kidnapped the goodwill and good intentions of Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari; his good intentions have been kidnapped;
“President Buhari must wake up and sit up immediately or…heaven demands him, heaven demands Buhari, our President to change all those who are holding and caging him in captivity; if he will not change them, he will be changed; Mr. President wake up; sit up; God said you are toying with the privilege given to you; there is no time; Nigerians are dying in your hand; people are not happy with your system. Change or you will be changed…
“So, Mr. President, as I was waiting on the Lord, I’m asked to advise you, don’t come out for 2nd tenure, after this, retire, peacefully. Mr. President, you are the cause of your own problem. God gave you an adviser, a wonderful mentor, a visionist, a matriarch, in the person of your wife, Aisha, but you don’t want to listen to her, that woman is heartbroken because she understood that you are not yourself. Come back to yourself or you will cry by the time you will be sent out of office. So, those who are encouraging you to come out and run again, they want to disgrace you shamefully and publicly.
Reverend Gabriel Israel
The founder and President of the New Life Word Church, simply said God told him President Muhammadu Buhari should not seek reelection in 2019, adding in his new year prophecy that ‘the Nigerian flag will fly at half-mast this year.’
Bishop Seun Adeoye
The General Overseer of the Sufficient Grace and Truth Ministry, Rehoboth Arena, Okinni, Osun State, advised the president not to contest in 2019. He urged him to follow the good example laid by the late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the Bishop urged the president to shun all entreaties by selfish politicians to drag him into seeking re-election.
Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie
The Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos Archdiocese criticised the president’s first term performance. According to the former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, president Buhari’s performance so far had been below the average mark, which does not support the calls for his second term.
Okogie maintained that those calling Buhari out for another shot at the Presidency do not mean well for Buhari and the nation. “They are simply enemies of Nigeria,” he insisted.
This post was first published on Newsroom.ng.