*Nigeria needs a younger leader in 2019, says speaker at Chatham House
Two months after he returned from his medicals in London for an undisclosed ailment, President Buhari still operates from his official residence located in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Barely settling down to take charge of activities of state, news broke that Buhari would temporarily be operating from his official residence in the villa due to the renovation of his main office.
A foreign news agency quoted the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, as saying that while President Buhari was away on the medical follow-up, rats had a field day with the furniture, cables and air-conditioning units in his office.
“He has been using the residential office. What is important is that the job gets done. Whether he does it from his bedroom or his sitting room or his anteroom, it does not matter. Let the job be done. And the job will be done,” he said.
However, two months after, the president still shuttles between the office in his official residence and the new banquet hall located beside the main office, where he occasionally receives visitors.
According to Guardian, how long the renovation would last has not been disclosed by the presidency.
A text message sent to the two presidential spokesmen, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, for the presidency’s reaction to the matter was not immediately responded to. “Good evening sir. In August, we were told the president would be operating from his official residence due to renovation being done in his office by Julius Berger. The Guardian would appreciate a confirmation of when the president will start to work from his main office. Thank you sir. Regards,” The Guardian wrote in the text message.
But later in the night Shehu, responded this way: “No section of the law or constitution is breached. The entire presidential complex is both office and home to the president. He is right to use any part as his office so long as the job gets done.”
Meanwhile, the battle for the country’s topmost job in 2019, assumed a different narrative at the Chatham House – Royal Institute of International Affairs – yesterday afternoon during the third series of the six-part “Next Generation Nigeria” initiative of the world renowned institute.
At the event, the guest speaker, Samson Itodo, threw a spanner in the wheel of those campaigning for President Buhari to seek a second term on the platform of his party (APC) in 2019.
Itodo, who is the Head of Research, Policy and Advocacy, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) in Abuja, advised that the president should not bother throwing his hat in the ring again by reason of his age and health, for which he famously had two medical vacations of more than 100 days in London between March and August this year.
“The type of leadership we have in the country today is not the type we need if we want to move from being a developing nation to a developed nation,” he said.
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