As he meets A’Ibom PDP guber aspirants
By Umar Muhammad Puma
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, has said he has no money bags or big companies to support his presidential campaign but his strength is mainly with the ordinary people.
Reacting to the over 22 billion Naira campaign funds raked in by President Jonathan, Buhari said he is only relying on the ordinary Nigerians through the Crowd Funding Project which was launched in November 2014, to receive donations through selling of recharge cards at the cost of 100 Naira only.
“God knows and you know it. Go and ask my former running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, I heard him giving interview that when we started campaign with him he said he never thought there was such a large number of people in the north. So my strength is mainly with the ordinary people.
“You know 100 Naira is a lot of money for them, and I believe they will make that sacrifice especially when I told them that I’m going to sign the cheque to get even a kobo out of that amount. That is why I depend on them and we have taken this idea mainly from what happened in the United States.
“When Obama came out to contest, he was a coloured person; the big companies won’t support him. But he knows that he has foot soldiers, so when he came with this idea, he was able to finance his campaign without looking for money bags or anybody influential, so he remains independent and was hostage to nobody. This is what I want to achieve,” Buhari said.
He disclosed that so far, the project has received donations amounting to N54, 415, 386.70 from ordinary Nigerians across the six geographical zones in the country through direct deposit and sales of cards to the First Bank account No. 2026724405.
Buhari gave the update on the activities of the group while speaking with journalists in Abuja yesterday, saying currently, 82 support groups have been registered under the Buhari Support Group (BSO), with over 400,000 coordinators and a total membership of over 8 million across the length and breadth of the country.
“I know we live in difficult times in Nigeria, there are insecurity, corruption, poverty and above all, the uncertainty of life as it has become unbearable. I want to appeal to all our supporters to continue making sacrifice till we get the needed change. It is a real demonstration that when people come together and put their minds to it, change is possible”.
He dismissed claims that he is not reaching out to other aspirants that lost out in the primaries, saying it is not true as most newspapers carried his picture with Atiku when he visited him in his house.
Meanwhile, Gen Buhari is to meet with 22 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirants, who have been aggrieved over the conduct of the PDP governorship primary election in Akwa Ibom State.
An aide to one of the aspirants, who preferred to be anonymous, told our correspondent in Uyo on Monday that the aggrieved aspirants, otherwise known as G22, had been under intense pressure to defect to the APC.
He stated that the G22, who had earlier ignored the calls to defect to the APC by its governorship flag bearer in the state, Mr Umana Umana, were said to be reconsidering their position as they were reportedly not satisfied with how the national executive of their party had handled their grievances over the governorship primary, conducted on December 8.
According to the aide, the planned crossover to the APC is being facilitated by one of the APC governors in the South-South.
The source said: “The APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has expressly requested to meet with the 22 aggrieved PDP aspirants from Akwa Ibom State. The move is being facilitated by one of the APC governors in the South-South.
The aggrieved aspirants, who are expected to dump the PDP for the APC, include former Akwa Ibom State Deputy governors, Obong Nsima Ekere and Patrick Otu; a senator representing Akwa Ibom South, Helen Esuene; former Nigerian Ambassador to Russia and Belarus, Assam Assam, SAN; former Attorney-General of Akwa Ibom State, Ekpenyong Ntekim; former Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Effiong Abia; Asukwo Okpo, Larry Esin’ Prof. Richard King and Chris Abasi Eyo.
Others include Okpolump Ette, Aniedi Ufot, David Okpon, Dr. Samuel Udonsak, Jerome Isangedighi, Dr Peter Esu, Ita Udoh, Ime Ekanem, Micheal Etuk, Benjamin Okoko, Ime Akpanebe and Effiong Usin.
