Seven governors,  including Gov. Nasiru El Rufai of Kaduna State,  on Friday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at  the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and reiterated the need for him to re-contest in the 2019 presidential election.

El Rufai, who spoke to State House correspondents after the closed door meeting with the president, said though their meeting was apolitical, the governors  wanted him to continue running the country beyond 2019.

According to him, people are free to continue to speculate about the 2019 elections  but he  and other governors are interested in continuity and stability of the country.

He said: “We are politicians and those of us you see here want the president to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that.

“We believe in Mr  President,  we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019,  we have no apologies.

“Whether they are right or wrong is beside the point. Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion but as governors, and most of us here with the exception of Yobe Governor,  are first term  governors.

“We are interested in  continuity and stability and we want the president to continue with that.

“Like our leader, the governor of Kano said,  we just happen to be here by coincidence and we went to pray and decided to felicitate with the president and we feel satisfied that anytime we see him, he is getting better and better.’’

Other governors,  who met with the president  alongside with El Rufai,  were Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger; Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe,  Yahaya Bello of Kogi,  Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano,  Jibrilla Bindo of Adamawa  and Simon Lalong of Plateau.

They swell the rank of those calling for continuity. Recently, Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, endorsed Buhari for second term.