Ahead of the February 14 presidential poll, some South-South ex-militant commanders in Edo State yesterday declared their support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
They also lauded the leadership of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta for endorsing Buhari, maintaining that the group (MEND) made the right choice.
The ex-militants told newsmen in Benin, the Edo State capital, that their position was in line with the expectations and hope of Nigerians for positive change and development, particularly, the development of the Niger Delta region.
The spokesperson for the group, Mr. Godwin Ogidigba, explained that the ex-agitators had implicit confidence in the ability of Buhari, whom he said, was capable of addressing the major challenges affecting various communities in the region, which were yet to be addressed by the present administration.
He said, “In recent publications in the dailies, you see MEND endorsing Buhari. People thought it was a joke. It is not. The fact remains that we need somebody that can address the salient issues that affect the Niger Delta region.
“Our brother has failed in those issues; our brother has failed to take us away from poverty, our brother has failed to bring development to the Niger Delta region.
“Just take a look at most of the Niger Delta communities. They still remain where they are, in spite of the fact that we have one of our own at the top, at the helm of affairs, nothing positive has changed in the region.”
Ogidigba argued that their choice of Buhari had nothing to do with religion or ethnicity but centred on their desire for unity in the country.
Ogidigba said, “Somebody who can stand and develop our region, that should be our interest and that is our interest. It is true that President Goodluck Jonathan is from the South-South region; he is our brother.
Katsina College releases Buhari’s WASC results
“But the problem is this: he came to meet the amnesty programme and since then he has not been able to improve on it, which means that the amnesty programme stopped when the late (President) Musa Yar’Adua died”.