It is a moment of decision and the volatile political situation in Nigeria is getting more intense by the day with political gibes aimed at outsmarting opponents. In this report, GEORGE OKOJIE takes a look at the campaign, attack strategies of support groups.
The fact that presidential contest in the forthcoming general election is a two way race between the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party can no longer be disputed.
And in an election this close, the different groups are becoming increasingly aware that the quality of campaign becomes especially important if they must convince the voters to elect their candidates.
To a remarkable degree those canvassing for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election have been able to exhume the ills of the past administration led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to portray it as a party whose candidates must not be given a second shot in power.
As expected, Atiku’s support group ability to throw counterpunch and absolve him of any blame had since made the 2019 general election the worst wire –to-wire negative campaign in modern presidential politics.
At any given opportunity, the teeming members of the Re-elect Buhari Movement (-RBM) have told whoever care to listen that they decided to throw their weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid because of the urgent need to reposition the country and rescue it from charlatans who they said are bent on ruining the country.
o show strength, the convener of Re-elect Buhari Movement Mr. Emmanuel Umohinyang has based their campaign for the presidents re-election on his achievements in office to convince the voters.
According to him , more groups are springing up on daily basis to ensure the re-election because of the confidence people have in him, adding that paucity of funds will not in any way affect political campaign for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said Nigerians who came together to form RBM are already aware of the president’s pedigree of integrity and prudence and very well that he will not open national vault for personal aggrandizement.
He insisted that if not for the way Buhari tackled the problem of insurgency the terrorists would have invaded many other parts of the country to wreak havoc, saying the president must be reelected to consolidate on successes recorded so far.
Umohinyang said , “This was the man the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi endorsed for the 2007 election and we had also taken our time outside that endorsement from our great mentor to look a Nigeria from 1999 to 2019 and we couldn’t fault that position taken by that erudite lawyer.
“We watch events from the coming of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was his vice. We also saw other successive governments and the last administration led by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan gave us the zeal that we must not sit at the fence and allow the country to go the way the elites want it.
“That was why in the month of June we called ourselves, sat and felt we can see what we can do to contribute to help the country move away from this path of destruction that we found ourselves and on that note we threw our weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari as candidate of the All Progressives Congress and to the glory of God and support of Nigerians , coupled with the technology that was introduced in 2015, he won the election.
” If you look at what that president has done between then and now you cannot compare it with the 16 wasted years of the PDP . So RBM became a child of destiny and we sat down and felt we needed to project the works of this administration. RBM as you know may be a political pressure group but we belong to different political parties. The members are members of different political parties . I am not a member of the APC .
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“So we have a focus and that focus is to support Mr. President to rebuild Nigeria not for any particular gain to say but just to see that the pattern the government had taken to rebuild and reshape our country is sustained.
‘’That is one reason RBM was formed and that is the only reason RBM is in existence and by the grace of God by the time we get Nigerians to get the president reelected on the 16th of February next month, we will also hold a press conference to short down the platform RBM because it is not there to galvanize support for any governorship candidate of any party. That is the focus and I can assure you the focus will not be broken.”
He said it was high time Nigerians realized the fact that Nigeria’s economy would have collapsed totally if not for the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Umohinyang who is a social commentator said the problem of the country started with mismanagement of the country’s resources.
He said, “The president inherited a rotten economy. What were given then as statistics were deceits, they were bogus statistics. What the government has done is to pull down the structures because the foundation was weak.
“As if it was built with quick sand. What the president did was to bring it down and begin to build a house that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has destroyed, to the extent that we were now living in a house that would have collapsed on us if it was not rescued by the Buhari administration.
“Don’t forget the prophesy of the Coordinating Minister under the previous administration, Dr economy Ngozi Okonjo Iweala . That is what we are experiencing now. We are not saying we have gotten there in terms of economy but we are saying with what the president is doing, we will get there if given another four years.
‘’ This is what the RBM saw and continued to support him. It is for us to retrieve our country back from these charlatans.”
He added that the country has moved away from the politics of endorsement by certain individuals , saying the so called godfather are no longer relevant because,” the people are now wise and nobody wants to be led to the pit.
The people will look at the performance of the government and decide where to pitch their tent.
“The people will not allow themselves to be used again by the so – called leaders. Development wise, this government has done more for the people of the South – East compared to the sixteen years of the PDP.”
Rising in defence of the PDP candidate, the National Coordinator of Atiku For Better Nigeria (AFBN), Barrister Benita Dike-Israel lashed out at groups labeling former Vice President Atiku Abubakar a corrupt politician, warning them to desist from such mischievous misconception.
Dike-Israel who leads a group of legal advocates urged other professionals to look at Atiku’s competence for the job and support him.
She reiterated that no one has the right to brazenly accuse another of guilt over a crime he or she hasn’t been convicted of.
Dike-Israel called on groups whose sole campaign mantra is “Atiku is Corrupt” to desist from such unsubstantiated gibberish, targeted at maligning the hard earned reputation of the Wazirin Adamawa .
She urged them to rather focus on pertinent issues of national importance that will enhance the quality of the discourse towards the forthcoming elections geared at producing leadership that will assuage the hardship in the land.
According to her, Atiku Abubakar has repeatedly at different public forum, debunked allegation of involvement in corrupt practices as a public officer, adding that the records are clearly there for all to see.
She made particular reference to Atiku Abubakars’ consultations with stakeholders in Rivers and Bayelsa states in the run-off to the PDP presidential primary elections, at which Atiku unequivocally declared in response to the misinformation making the rounds that he never at any time stole public funds while serving as a public officer, that on the contrary his outstanding success in business was rooted in his private sector initiatives.
Dike-Israel stated that Atiku was already successful in business before going into partisan politics and subsequently becoming the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
