The recent trend of endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by reputable individuals and groups is a true reflection of the situation on the ground across the country, according to the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO).
It said in a statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, that it came from real people whose lives have been touched by the three-pronged programme of the Buhari Administration.
BMO 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.
“Here is a Union which had, until recently, been ambivalent on President Buhari, but having taking a cursory look at the past three and half years in relation with the preceding sixteen years, NULGE through its President Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, concluded that the President is trustworthy and deserves a second term in office.
“We know that aside from supporting NULGE’s drive for local government autonomy, the President’s insistence that bailout funds and the Paris Club refunds disbursed to the states are used to pay salary arrears, even at council levels, must have resonated well with them.
“It is also not surprising that the local government employees, champions at the grassroot level, are impressed by the Buhari Administration’s National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP), which also 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 President Buhari on February 16. The rice farmers’ 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 latest, and by no means the least, is the decision of former staff of defunct Nigeria Airways to hold two mega rallies in Lagos on February 8 and 12 to drum up support for the President on the basis of the part-payment of N22.6bn of their entitlements, after fourteen years of neglect and frustration by various PDP-led administrations”.
The group also noted that the endorsement of President 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.
“Opposition elements had for some time been celebrating the endorsement of Atiku Abubakar by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and a handful of tired Generals, but the solidarity visit to the President by several former Generals, Admirals and former Military Administrators across several generations is 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 and 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 as well as institutionalised 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 Goodluck Jonathan”.
BMO however noted that unlike what obtained in the PDP years, these endorsements are not financially induced.
“No Nigerian can readily forget how some shameless political jobbers and elites trooped to the Presidential Villa in the run up to the 2015 election to declare support for former President Jonathan in exchange for wads of dollars.
“But this time, not even the PDP can, as a matter of fact, suggest that President 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”, the group said.