With just a few days to the February 16 presidential election, a new twist has been introduced into the race with the endorsement of the two leading candidates – President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party – by one group or the other.
Although endorsement of candidates running for political office is not new to Nigerians, the fanfare associated with the recent gale, both by the candidates and the various endorsing groups, makes it appear that this could be a key determinant of who will emerge victorious in the elections.
First, it was the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku, by the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organisation, Afenifere, that sparked of the last minute rush.
The National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on learning about the PDP’s endorsement by Afenifere, also went into action to mobilise a faction of the same group to Ibadan, led by Senator Ayo Fasanmi to also endorse the APC Presidential candidate, Buhari.
Penultimate Sunday, five organisations, the Northern Elders Forum, Pan-Niger Delta Forum, Middle Belt Forum, Ohaneze Ndigbo and the mainstream Afenifere, at a summit held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, also endorsed Atiku .
Among the bigwigs at the event were Ango Abdullahi, Edwin Clark, Ayo Adebanjo, John Nwodo and Bitrus Pogu.
Interestingly Ohaneze had, two weeks ago, endorsed Abubakar but the General Secretary, Uche Okwukwu, went against the group’s decision as he appeared to have endorsed President Buhari for a second term in office.
In giving their joint endorsement, the leaders explained that after assessing the credentials of the leading presidential hopefuls, they came to the conclusion that the PDP candidate had the capacity, ability and integrity to reposition Nigeria.
They pointed out that Atiku has committed himself to restructuring the country if given the mandate while accusing Buhari of not showing interest in restructuring the country despite the setting up of a committee headed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai by the APC to examine the possibility.
Leaders of the group who took turns to speak also accused the president of not doing enough to tackle the security of the nation and orchestrating constitutional crisis.
Reacting swiftly to his endorsement, Atiku said it was a loud statement that there was hope for the country.
In a statement, the PDP candidate said, if elected, he would lead a Pan-Nigeria team that would lead Nigeria to greater heights.
“I am moved to tears that in the midst of deep divisions and deliberate use of instrumentalities of state to set our people against themselves in the last three and a half years, responsible and respected leaders across Nigeria have agreed to come together for the purpose of endorsing my candidature for the February 16th, 2019 Presidential elections,” he had said.
Atiku said he would run a properly federated Nigeria through constitution.
Jolted by the development, President Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, attempted to downplay its significance, noting that the president won in 2015 despite a similar gang up against him.
“The Peoples Democratic Party is hiding in the bunker of ethnicity to avoid their inevitable defeat but that won’t change anything,” Shehu said in a statement on Sunday.
According to him, “The current scenario resembles efforts to stop Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 by the same characters. It is an effort to repeat the old experiment that failed in 2015. They failed to stop him from coming to power in 2015 and they will fail yet again on February 16th.”
APC and Buhari, which dismissed the endorsement as a non-issue but hurriedly celebrated the endorsement of Buhari by retired military officers the following day. The generals and former military governors were led to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by a former Military Administrator of Lagos State, Buba Marwa for the endorsement.
Among them were a former Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Jubril Ayinla; 17 former military administrators; two lieutenant generals; 13 major generals; two rear admirals; eight air vice-marshals; 12 brigadier generals; eight navy commodores; and nine air commodores.
Marwa, while speaking after the event, said the retired officers were impressed by Buhari’s achievements.
The question being raised by political analysts is: Of what value is the endorsement of candidates by groups and associations to their elections success? While many believe the endorsement of candidates by socio cultural organisations and groups may positively influence the candidates’ success, others feel differently.
To the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, he believes that the endorsement of Atiku by the socio cultural organisations, penultimate Sunday, is a positive signal that the PDP candidate will win the election, saying the leadership of respected voices of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities that endorsed the presidential candidate of the PDP is an incontrovertible validation of the scientific polls by the London Economist Intelligence Unit and the William and Associates team.
Saraki, who is the director-general of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, also described the results of the scientific polls as the true reflection of the wishes of the electorate.
Speaking with The Point, a constitutional lawyer and former Secretary of the Labour Party, Barrister Kayode Ajulo, was more worried with the way Afenifere carried out the endorsement issue.
He said at the endorsement of both Buhari and Abubàkar, the leader of Afenifere was absent, wondering why politics has polarised the Yoruba organisation.
“Some Afenifere came to endorse Atiku, some Afenifere also came out in Ibadan on January 29 to endorse President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“The question now is where is Pa Fasoranti? I know Afenifere has been polarised, but why is it that it is Adebanjo that will be running around to endorse a candidate for Afenifere?
“I am a Yoruba man and I am a member of Afenifere, Pa Fasoranti is a known leader of Afenifere,’’ he said.
The National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard, Adeola Soetan, is of the view that the endorsement is just a jamboree, saying it will not have any effect on the outcome of the election.
He told The Point, “The endorsement is a mere jamboree. How many people can the leaders of these groups influence towards voting for a candidate? Most of these groups’ leaders cannot win their wards. They are just deceiving themselves.”
Comrade Sola Olawale of the Campaign for Democracy also toes the line of Soetan, saying on Election Day, it is one man, one vote and most of these group leaders don’t even come out
to vote.
By this Saturday, Nigerians will know how the endorsement will influence the results of the
election.