Senate President Bukola Saraki has revealed that he is considering running against President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election.
The 56-year-old former Kwara State governor made the disclosure in an interview with Bloomberg at his Abuja residence.
“I am consulting and actively considering it. I believe I can make the change,” he said.
Saraki defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in July.
He would face opposition from the likes of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo; former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and former Kano State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, who have all signified interest in the PDP ticket.
Saraki’s defection to the PDP came amid a wave of such departures from the APC, including dozens of senators and at least two state governors.
After security operatives surrounded his home last month for undisclosed reasons, the secret police temporarily blocked access to the National Assembly on August 7, in what Saraki said was an illegal attempt to impeach him. The head of the State Security Services was dismissed over the deployment.
“If a government can go and lock up an arm of government – and it’s never happened in our history – we should all be very concerned,” Saraki said. “We should not be surprised that they would use security agencies for elections.”
Saraki, who defected from the PDP to the APC in 2014, said the opposition party has learned its lesson.
His words: “The PDP has learnt its lesson from the loss in 2015, and I think unfortunately the APC did not learn from their victory.”
