2019: I knew Atiku endorsement won’t stand, Buhari says as Igbos split over Enugu declaration

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he was certain that the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, by prominent leaders of South East on Wednesday will not stand.

He said he became aware that the people will not accept the endorsement because no sooner than the leaders pronounced their support for Atiku that some well-meaning leaders from the region asked him to disregard the endorsement.

“From that moment, I knew that the resolution would not stand, and alas, there it was,” Buhari said.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari as saying this on Friday when a select group of South-East leaders led by the national chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, visited him at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Buhari’s response to the endorsement of Atiku during a meeting of prominent leaders of the region in Enugu State on Wednesday is coming as different Igbo groups have distanced themselves from the Enugu declaration.

Buhari, who noted that he was not surprise with split that declaration had caused among leaders of the region said that his All Progressives Congress (APC) understood from the very beginning that security, corruption and the economy were the major problems of the country, and have been doing its best in terms of addressing them.

“We have done so much. Given the chance, we will do more. Given every chance, we will tell Nigerians where we were in 2015 and what we have achieved up to now. We will not get tired of speaking about the golden opportunity Nigeria lost during 16 years of the PDP. We earned money, which we didn’t use,” he said.

“The state of infrastructure we inherited was terrible – no roads, the railway was killed and power. They lacked conscience because anybody with conscience will not do what they did. We will report them to Nigerians. Let anybody lead this country but not the PDP. They were so reckless with the resources of the country

“If you ruin the economy, send your children abroad to get education, won’t they come back? I said it 30 years ago that this is the only country we have. We must stay here and salvage it together.

The leaders of the delegation, Engineer Emeka Ekwuosa and the national chairman of the UPP, Chief Okorie, who promised to mobilised support for Buhari in the region, told him that the Igbos and South-easterners generally understand the good things he is doing for Nigeria which they said, had unfortunately been misunderstood.

Earlier, Ohanaeze Youth had distanced themselves from the Enugu declaration and said that outdated leaders was not going to be the one to decide who people of the region will vote for as president in 2019.

READ ALSO: Many Nigerians ‘believe APC becoming a safe haven to some corrupt politicians’, CAN tells Buhari

Also to have rejected the endorsement of Atiku is Igbo World Union (IWU).

The group president general, Mishak Nnanta, had on Friday told newsmen in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital that both Buhari and Atiku stood the chance of winning bloc votes from the zone if any of them met their demands.

“Ndigbo have not decided on which direction to vote in 2019, be it the PDP or the APC presidential candidate, and no fewer individuals or stakeholders should mortgage the political future of Ndigbo as they did in 2015.

“So the Igbo World Union as the dependable body of Ndigbo in general did not support the stand of our elders who gathered in Enugu on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 and unanimously endorsed Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the preferred presidential candidate of the people of the South-East in the forthcoming election.

“We distance ourselves from such stand and categorically want to use this opportunity to state that Ndigbo have not endorsed any presidential candidate be it President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC or Alhaji Atiku of the PDP. At the right time, we shall gather and make our stand known to the whole world,” he said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now