David Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, yesterday indicated that President Muhammadu Buhari will contest and win the 2019 presidential election, adding that those wishing the President dead would die before him.

According to Ceoafrica, this was as he stated that by the end of Buhari’s second term, he would have put the country on a sound economic footing that it would be difficult for anyone to return the country to what obtained during the Goodluck Jonathan years in office.

Addressing hundreds of protesters, who locked down a section of the Three Arms Zone in Abuja in demonstration of their support to the Buhari administration, the SGF said those fighting the present government benefited immensely from past proceeds of corruption.

Flanked by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, he told the protesters that though some of Buhari’s critics wanted the President dead, but asserted that they would instead die before him

“Shamelessly, they accused the President of not performing. And, in fact, some of them wished him dead. But I can assure you that by the grace of God, he will outlive all of them”, he declared.

While stating that government was on top of the current situation in the country, Lawal said, “as much as we understand the challenges that we are facing, there is no cure without medicine. It is for no reason that quinine is very bitter, but after you have taken it, you get well”.

He disclosed that the President never envisaged the challenges that plagued the country in the last dispensation, promising an economic turn-around in the next one year.

His words, “Baba Buhari did not anticipate the problem that we are in. I am sure you are all aware. The people who caused this problem are the ones challenging the government. I tell you that they will fail in the name of God.

“In fact, they have failed. You are aware of the economy that the President inherited, the economy in which revenue has virtually collapsed. The infrastructure is nowhere to be seen, The roads and schools were dilapidated. The hospitals were abandoned, and the people who caused it are not worried at all.

“I assure you that by the grace of God, in the next one year, Nigeria will have a booming economy. We know what they are doing to sabotage the activities of government to bring Nigeria back to economic prosperity but the President is also aware. They will fail”, he said.

The SGF, who implied that the President would contest and win the 2019 presidential elections, said no one would be able to take Nigeria back to the days of ex-President Jonathan, at the completion of Buhari’s second term of office in 2023.

According to him “Nigeria will never go back to the position it was before 2015. The foundation being laid by the government is solid. And nobody, even after the President has finished his eight years, can ever take us back to the pre-2015 days.

“This, I can assure you. I assure Nigerians that the President is aware of the temporary suffering we are going through. It pains him, but the pains have to be borne this way for prosperity and goodness to return to our country”, he said.

The pro-Buhari protesters walked from the popular Unity Fountain in Maitama to the entrance of the Presidential Villa, where convener of the Citizens Support for Good Governance in Nigeria, Comrade Moses Abdullahi, said the country was passing through a difficult phase as a result of bad governance.

“Nigeria is going through a difficult phase, a phase not of the making of this administration, but rather a consequence of decades of bad governance, decay and maladministration by a few, under a banner now synonymous with corruption”, he had said.

Also speaking, Shehu apologised for the initial obstruction by security agents at the main gate of the presidential villa.

His words, “There was a communication gap at the Villa gate because the police there did not know who was coming and I hope we will learn from this. You people put this government in place and you want to show support for what the government is doing, nobody has a problem with this.

“So, we welcome your demonstration; we welcome your support because this is what will keep the government strong.

“The war against corruption has enemies, very powerful enemies; enemies who have resources; the kind of money that even the government does not have. So, we need popular support like your own otherwise the war against corruption would be defeated”.