There is no alternative to Buhari come 2019 says Governor El- Rufai

President Muhammadu Buhari remains electorally unbeatable with his attachment to the people unwavering, despite recriminations by the elite class on social and conventional media, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said.

Governor El-Rufai, who is also Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Committee on Restructuring, also affirmed President Buhari’s endorsement of the committee’s recommendations on restructuring, saying the President was ready to give up his powers if it would help to move the country forward. Governor El-Rufai’s claim of Buhari’s endorsement of the report was immediately pooh-poohed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which challenged the governor and the APC to forward the committee report to the National Assembly.

The PDP in its response said Nigerians, having been once deceived by the lies and propaganda of the APC, would not be taken in for a second time. Affirming the president’s electoral invincibility, El-Rufai in an interview on Channels Television said: “I do not have any doubt in my mind that we are going to win the next elections; not only in the centre but we are going to preserve our 24 states, and even more,” he said.

Insisting that the president remained popular despite insinuations to the contrary in conventional and social media platforms, the governor said: “We are not saying this foolishly; this is scientific. We are monitoring the pulse of Nigerians, not the pulse of a section of Nigerians and I am confident that we are going to win the 2019 elections. “We know the pulse of the nation, we know where we are losing support, we know where we are gaining support; I have no doubt in my mind that we are going to win the 2019 elections. “There are two pulses of Nigerians – there is the pulse of the Nigerian elites which is the noise that you hear in the media, the social media and so on; then there is the pulse of the people. “If you remember how many people came out to welcome President Buhari in Kano, then you will know that there are two Nigerias.” Affirming the President’s endorsement of the APC Committee report on restructuring, El-Rufai said the President will sacrifice any of his powers if necessary, to move the country forward.

“If giving up power will make Nigeria progress, he will give all of it up. Not just part of it, but all of it. This is the real Buhari that many people don’t know. It is the most comprehensive review of this subject matter ever in Nigeria’s history. “APC’s true federalism committee differs from other confabs in at least two ways; first, previous confabs were conclaves of the elite. The government picks who goes there, they decide who participates, and it is mostly old people with a sprinkle of a few women. Our committee opened the space for everyone.

“More than one-third of the membership of our committee were women. More than a quarter of the membership were young people, below the age of 40. It was a very broad range of consultation. Many opposition figures have expressed support for the report. We have proposed more than 20 alterations to the constitution. Everything we did is in the best interest of Nigeria. “So, this is the first time that a platform has been given to young people and women and those that are vulnerable to give their voices to what shape of the federation they want to see. Because old people like me, 50, 60, 70 cannot define the future for Nigerian youth below the age of 40. What young women and our people see is completely different from what old people see.”