Fred Ezeh, Abuja
As the political campaign for 2019 elections gathers momentum, a support group for the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Otu Nkwado Atiku ‘n’ Obi, has changed its campaign approach to target the people of the South East.
The support group said it decided to go that way because of the massive love and affection that PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has shown the people of the South East which were clearly demonstrated in his choice of vice president, Mr. Peter Obi.
Its National Secretary, Anyaegbunam Okoye, who led other officials and members to the group to the headquarters of Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign office, in Abuja, explained that the group is solely for Igbo people who are determined to participate in the electoral process that would herald the emergence of quality political leaders.
They have activated the structures of the group across Nigeria which would work through the platform for town unions, Ohaneze Ndigbo, age grades and other Igbo structures to woo support for the PDP candidates.
He said that Igbo people constitute a larger percentage of electorates in Lagos, Kano and other big cities in Nigeria. And they have credible town unions, Igwe and other groups through which they could be reached and convinced to support Atiku.
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He justified his confidence with the breakdown of figures from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which indicated that Kano, Lagos and other states have a high number of voters. “But if you check through the figures, you will discover that larger percentage of them are people from the southeast.”
He said that Lagos has approximately 45 per cent of Igbo voters and has 37 per cent of Igbo voters, not forgetting FCT with an impressive number of Igbo voters. “If they all participate in the election, then Atiku will win the election.
“We would reach out to them through their various town unions, traditional institutions and other platforms, and woo them to the side of PDP presidential candidate.
“Evidence has confirmed that a larger percentage of the electorates are in local communities and they are not too educated. We would take advantage of local languages to market their candidates.
“We would patronize radio and television stations that operate in local languages. That would undoubtedly enable the people to understand our campaign messages well they could make informed choices,” he said.