Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohamed has backed President Muhammadu Buhari to win next year’s elections, saying the 75-year-old was in good health.
Buhari last month announced that he would seek re-election in the February 2019 poll, ending speculation about his future political prospects.
“He is very strong and well,” Mohammed said in an interview on Sunday. “I have never lost sleep over the re-election”
Buhari had faced calls from some top politicians not to seek re-election because of health concerns.
In 2017, the president spent two lengthy periods – more than 100 days cumulatively – in Britain seeking treatment for an undisclosed illness.
During his first mandate, Buhari’s main challenges were the Boko Haram war and security at large, farmers-herdsmen clashes, corruption and civil strikes.
Another prospect to have declared his interest in the presidency is former Nigerian vice president Atiku Abubakar, who said he would vie on a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ticket.
Atiku, formerly of the ruling APC party, decamped in November 2017, accusing its leadership of “instituting a regime of draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy.”
