Presidential poll: South-East did not endorse any candidate(1)

As the February 2015 Nigeria’s general elections get nearer
and electioneering becoming tougher, some of the political
parties, their candidates and campaign teams are becoming
more desperate, and perhaps even more dangerous, resorting
to doing all manner of things, including application of
sophistry and telling of lies just to win the elections. And just
few days back this year, the false claim of endorsement, that
the South-East geo-political zone of the country hasendorsed
the PDP Presidential candidate for the 2015 Presidential
election, Dr. Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan, was published in
some newspapers as a news story (and believable in certain
quarters), knowing full well that it is a fabricated and
concocted tissue of lie, deliberately propagated to sway the
undiscerning ones among the southeasterners to vote for a
particular candidate, which is more reason why people have
to be very careful in information taking about the general
elections in this very desperate contemporary times because in
2011 Nigerians woke up one day to read or hear stories of a
candidate threatening to do this and that but which eventually
was a blatant falsehood deliberately published by another
candidate’s paid agent, simply to destroy the opponent’s
character and integrity and sway sympathy to the agent’s
candidate.
Though it was later retracted with apologies by both the
author and the newspaper, the falsehood or unfounded
allegation actually achieved its purpose of character de­
struction because even till date it is still being used as a
campaign tool against the man and is still believed by certain
people in the society. Given the potential danger and perpetual
enmity which such claimed endorsement could bring to the
southeast zone, no right thinking person or group comes out
openly to say they have endorsed any particular candidate in
an election, lest they become political enemies of some other
candidate’s geo-political zone or ethnic group, hence I
considered it auspicious to use this opportunity now to correct
the erroneous information being bandied about by some people
that the southeast have endorsed the PDP candidate or even
any particular political party’s candidate for the election.
Our people should learn from Yoruba to be discrete in politics.
In 2003, and even in 2011, no mention was made anywhere be­
fore the elections that the west had taken a decision to vote
for PDP Presidential candidates but there was such a pact,
which was only disclosed after the elections. But in the
present circumstance however, the southeast as a group have
not endorsed any Presidential candidate, and it is totally false
for anyone for personal cheap political gain to claim that the
zone have endorsed anyone. And whosoever is behind such
falsehood of endorsement, irrespective of their age or socio-
political positions in the society, simply spoke for themselves
and not for the entire southeasterners because in the south­
east zone of today supporters of the APC candidate, General
Muhammadu Buhari, for instance, are very many across the
zone, while an illustrious son of the zone, Chief Chekwas
Okorie, visibly the most patriotic contemporary Igbo politician,
is also running for Presidency, on the platform of his party, the
United Progressives Party (UPP), which he founded two years
ago in 2013.
The false endorsement claimants could not rightly claim to
have spoken on behalf of Chris Ngige, Ogbonnaya Onu, Rochas
Okorocha, George Moghalu, myself, C.Don Adinuba, Chekwas
Okorie, many professionals, teeming unemployed youths, busi­
ness men and women, students of tertiary schools who stayed
for long out of classes due the ineptitude of the Jonathan
regime, other political party’s members and even some
persons in PDP who may not want their names mentioned, all
of southeast zone origin. The claim is simply a mirage or hal­
lucination by those vociferous self-seeking characters
masquerading as Igbo leaders. The mood of the nation today
about the coming Presidential election is obvious, that the
country wants change and that the man General Muhammadu
Buhari is the person they want among the present contenders.
The southeast zone should not make themselves scape goats
or pariah but rather follow the trend.
Unless one does not want to tell one’s self the truth, it is an
incontrovertible fact that because of the failed promises of the
Jonathan regime very many number of easterners have
become discontent about his quest for another term, a
situation that has become gainful to APC, as the number of
people supporting Buhari today in the southeast zone is
rapidly increasing. Unless they are going to allocate voting
results, as they allegedly did in 2011 in the southeast in the
Presidential election, it is not going to be easy for President
Jonathan again in the zone, in terms of supporting his bid for
yet another term because one can fool the people some of the
time but certainly not all the time. One is apprehensive that
the claim of endorsement might be a ploy to return over 90
percent voting result to the PDP candidate again.
No one can rightly claim that the entire great number of
unemployed southeast youths who are suffering serious
financial straits and other forms of deprivations and adversity
have endorsed Goodluck Jonathan for another term of office.
In the face of failed promises, such as with the issue of
constructing a second bridge across the River Niger at
Onithsa, the Akanu Ibiam ‘International’ Airport, the Sam
Mbakwe ‘International Cargo’ Airport, and the numerous
dilapidated federal roads, as the improvement of the facilities
of the federal tertiary schools and hospitals, no one can
correctly claim the entire southeast people are supporting the
PDP Presidential candidate, no matter how the PDP and their
candidate are battling tooth and nail to deceive the people
again with visits to these projects during his campaign rallies
in the zone.
Sir Anueyiagu, is a public affairs commentator