By Temidayo Akinsuyi
Ahead of next month’s presidential election,
some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-East
are finding it difficult to market the candidature of President
Muhammadu Buhari in the region, Daily Independent has gathered.
Though
the region has witnessed a sizable number of leaders from the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), who have joined the APC after the 2015 general
elections, findings across some states in the South East reveal that
many of the leaders are wary of campaigning for President Buhari who is
seeking re-election for another term.
Sources told Daily
Independent that the hesitation of the APC leaders stems from the
hostilities from majority of the youths who are sympathetic to the cause
of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leader,
Nnamdi Kanu.
It would be recalled that IPOB had last year called
on President Buhari to bury his ambition to run for second term in 2019
general election or he would be unmasked.
An APC leader in one of
the South-East states who spoke on condition of anonymity said while he
was convinced that President Buhari had done enough for the region
despite getting few votes in the zone and as such deserved re-election,
it is difficult campaigning for him as many of the youths “are not
willing to hear anything about Buhari or APC in the South East”.
He
continued: “I still believe that President Buhari will score more votes
than what he got in 2015 in the South East but I must admit that the
hostility by some youths, especially the pro-Biafra ones, is not
creating a conducive atmosphere to campaign for him.
“Many of
them are saying what they want is restructuring and not presidential
election. Some of them are even saying it is Buhari that brought
‘Operation Python Dance’ that killed many of their youths.”
Also
speaking, another APC member confirmed to our correspondent that while
many people believe President Buhari had done well, they were afraid to
come out and identify with him, especially now that the campaigns has
started.
“I must admit it has been challenging. Most of the
youths don’t want to hear you talking about Buhari. They may even attack
you and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
“It is very
easy to do that when there is a major rally as everybody will troop out
to see the dignitaries but after that, you are on your own,” he said.
However,
speaking with our correspondent, Osita Okechukwu, a chieftain of the
APC and Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), said IPOB could
not constitute any threat to President Buhari’s campaign or re-election
because they were a fringe group who were in the minority in the region.
Okechukwu
said it was an erroneous impression that campaigning for President
Buhari would be difficult in the South East based on the activities of
IPOB.
According to him, the population of IPOB members was not up to two percent.
He
said the position of the group concerning President Buhari should not
be taken as the entire position of the South East region.
“There
is nothing like that. It is an erroneous impression. What is the
percentage of IPOB membership in the South East? Are they up to two
percent? We are talking about election with PVCs and not about IPOB.
“This
is a fringe group which doesn’t really have a say in the scheme of
things. We cannot take the position of a fringe group to equate the
position of the entire people. We are saying that since 1970, the second
Niger Bridge has been on the drawing board.
“This is the
president that brought the first bag of cement, the first shovel of
gravel, first shovel of sand and so on. Nobody can dispute that fact.
“The
dilapidated Enugu-Onitsha (road), the bail-out funds for salaries and
pensions. Buhari is also the first person that paid the Biafran police
who served during the Biafran war. So, these are the facts of the
matter, it is not about propaganda.”
In a related development,
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it was a fallacy that the
governors of the South East were not campaigning for its presidential
candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking with our correspondent, Kola
Ologbondiyan, the party’s National Publicity Secretary who described PDP
governors in the South East as committed stakeholders to the Atiku
presidency, said any governor campaigning against Atiku was campaigning
against himself.
“There is no South-East governor that is not
committed to the Atiku presidential project. These governors are members
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and they are working for our
party.
“Those claiming these governors are not committed to
Atiku’s presidential election, is there anywhere the governors have said
‘go and vote for Buhari or APC?’
“Has any governor in the South
East publicly come out to tell the people ‘don’t vote for Atiku, vote
for Buhari?’ I also know that there is no South East governor that will
publicly come out and say ‘don’t vote for Atiku, vote for Buhari’.
“None
of our PDP governors will do that because it is clear that injury to
one is injury to all. If any governor says don’t vote for Atiku, such a
governor is already campaigning against himself,” he said.
Source:- Independentng
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