The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has described the recent trend of endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by reputable individuals and groups as a true reflection of the situation on the ground across the country.
The group made this known in a statement jointly signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and secretary, Cassidy Madueke, on Tuesday, February 5, in Abuja, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The campaign group said the endorsement came from real people whose lives were touched by the three-pronged programme of the Buhari-led administration.
It said: “Perhaps more instructive is the endorsement by the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), a group that has membership spread across the country,’’ the group said.
“The union until recently was ambivalent on Buhari, but after taking a cursory look at his administration, concluded that the President is trustworthy and deserves a second term in office.”
The BMO said Buhari supported NULGE’s drive for Local Government Area (LGA) autonomy.
It added that Buhari also insisted that bailout funds and the Paris Club refunds disbursed to states were used to pay salary arrears, even at LGA levels, stressing that the gestures must have resonated well with them.
The group said:“It is also not surprising that the LGA employees, champions at the grassroots level, are impressed by the Buhari administration’s National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP), which includes Africa’s largest national school-feeding programme.
“Also of note, is the decision of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) to mobilise its 12.2 members across the country to vote for Buhari on February 16.
“The rice farmers’s position is based on the disposition of the APC administration to agriculture which has seen an increase in local rice production by two million metric tonnes in recent times.”
The group said former staff of defunct Nigeria Airways would also hold two mega rallies in Lagos state on Friday, February 8 and Tuesday, February 12, to drum up support for the president.
It explained that the rally was on the basis of the part-payment of N22.6 billion of their entitlements, after 14 years of neglect and frustration by various PDP-led administrations.
The group also noted that the endorsement of Buhari by 71 retired generals led by retired Vice Admiral Jubrilla Ayinla, a former chief of naval staff, could not have come at a better time.
It said the opposition elements had for some time been celebrating the endorsement of Atiku Abubakar by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and a handful of retired generals.
It added that the solidarity visit to the president by several former generals, Admirals and former military administrators across generations was bound to send a clear message to all Nigerians.
“Like the retired generals said in the course of the visit, the president has done a lot to change the face of infrastructure in the country.
“We dare say he has changed the mindset of Nigerians on retired military officers in a democratic setting, unlike some retired generals who offered nothing, but decayed infrastructures, while institutionalising corruption.
“It is also instructive that, at least, one of the retired military top shots was a PDP-era minister, known to be one of the closest persons to former President Goodluck Jonathan,’’ it said.
The campaign organisation, however, noted that unlike what obtained in the PDP years, the endorsements were not financially induced.
The group added: “No Nigerian can readily forget how some political jobbers and elites trooped to the Presidential Villa in the run up to the 2015 election to declare support for Jonathan in exchange for wads of dollars.
“But this time, not even the PDP can, as a matter of fact, suggest that Buhari would use money to mobilise the retired generals and other credible groups that have been throwing their weight behind his candidacy.
“This says a lot about the new lease of life the president has brought to governance and for which Nigerians are prepared to give him a resounding victory on February 16.”
Meanwhile, we previously reported that BMO on Friday, January 1, said the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) vindicated Buhari.
The group made this known in a statement jointly signed by Messrs Niyi Akinsiju and Cassidy Madueke, the group’s Chairman and Secretary, respectively, in Abuja.
