A pro-Buhari group in the South-East, known as the Zikist-Buharist-Movement (ZBM), has lauded the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the zone for organising a successful presidential rally for President Muhammadu Buhari in the area.
The group made the commendation in a statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Chief Stanley Ohajuruka and Mr Godwin Onwusi, and made available to newsmen in Enugu on Thursday.
It thanked the governors, traditional rulers, traders and market women associations as well as other APC stalwarts and Buhari’s pro-groups for the rousing reception they accorded the president in all the five states during the tour.
The statement was entitled, “Governors, traditional rulers and good people of South-East – Big thanks from ZBM.”
The group said it was “overwhelmed by the large turnout, warm and sincere reception to Buhari.”
It appealed to the electorate in the zone to extend the same goodwill to the president by voting massively for him on Feb. 16.
“ZBM’s commendation is anchored on the fact that the uncommon warm reception accorded Buhari by the governors, monarchs and good people of the South-East is reminiscent of the Zik’s type of politics.”
“We cannot easily forget how the great Zik of Africa, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was the first patron of Ohaneze, cultivated the famous East-North political alliances in 1960 and 1979, which has remained our most glorious era in the Nigerian politics.
“It is our considered opinion that Ndigbo can do better to produce Nigeria’s president of Igbo extraction in 2023, so let us repeat the glorious history,” the group further stated.
It argued that voting for Buhari would be “a renewal of Zik’s alliance with the North, where Buhari’s vote-bank of 10 million to 12 million voters is domiciled.”
The group said it was convinced that Buhari’s re-election remained the surest and quickest route to achieving Nigeria’s president of Igbo extraction in 2023.
It expressed the hope that the wonderful reception accorded Buhari in the South-East “will naturally strengthen the ties between the people and the president.
It also hoped that the gesture would help to stimulate more infrastructural development in the area, especially the construction of the Eastern Corridor Railways.
The group described the promise by the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, on restructuring as ambiguous and a mere campaign stunt.
It said that having studied pages 152 and 153 of Atiku’s manifesto, “his plan on restructuring is opaque” and not as robust as mouthed on campaign grounds.
The group urged South-East politicians to begin to position themselves strategically to produce the nation’s president in 2023. (NAN)