Your endorsement a loud statement, Atiku tells Afenifere, PANDEF, Ohaneze, NEF

• Confirmation that Atiku will win the election – PDP

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has described his endorsement by Afenifere Renewal Group, Middle Belt Forum, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) as a loud statement that there is hope for Nigeria.

The Forum of Nigerian Elders and Leaders had during its meeting held at Sheraton Hotel Abuja on Sunday, thrown its weight behind the former vice president.

Atiku in a statement he personally signed on Sunday said that the endorsement had buoyed him to lead a Pan-Nigerian team that would give practical interpretation to what had been done by the time he takes leadership of the country on May 29.

He said, “I am moved to tears that in the midst of deep divisions and deliberate use of instrumentalities of state to set our people against themselves in the last three and a half years, responsible and respected leaders across Nigeria have agreed to come together for the purpose of endorsing my candidature for the February 16th, 2019 Presidential elections.”

“The endorsement by the leading lights of our nationalities – Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum, Pan-Niger Delta Forum and Middle Belt Forum is a loud statement that there is hope for our country as we go to the polls in a few days.

“Today, we put aside all our prejudices to elect a President with religion and ethnicity playing no role in our elections. I profusely thank our leaders across the country who have created this wonderful moment for us to come to the table of brotherhood. Once again, and in the words of our old National Anthem, we can proudly sing: “Though tribes and tongues may differ, in brotherhood we stand”

The former vice president assured that he would run a properly federated Nigeria through constitutional reforms to bring out the best from all sections of the country to make Nigeria work again like in the past when the Saudi Royal family came to Nigeria to access Medicare.

Atiku said, “Many countries of the world have been led into disintegration by strongmen (one in each country) and we have seen how individuals who understand the management of diversities have rallied their people for unity.

“I have been chosen to unite our people and exactly that I will.

“We will promote an inclusive Nigeria based on productivity that every section of Nigeria will bring out the best under their soil, and in their brain to make Nigeria assume its position in Africa and the global community .

“It would be 100% for every section of Nigeria as I would not understand any arithmetic outside that.

“I enjoin our people across Nigeria to come out en-mass to vote on February 16 to pull our country from the brink and propel it to greater heights so we can live a better life.

“Take my words as a covenant with Nigeria.”

In a related development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) will lose the 2019 election going by the endorsement of its presidential candidate by different groups and individuals.

PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said this at a press conference on Sunday, in reaction to the endorsement of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, by Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum, Pan-Niger Delta Forum and the Middle Belt Forum.

Ologbondiyan said: “The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), after consideration of all factors, reinforced the global unanimity and affirmation by various credible and independent bodies within and outside Nigeria, including the Afenifere, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Northern Elders’ Forum, the Pan Niger Delta Forum, the Middle Belt Forum, among several others, that Atiku Abubakar will win the February 16, Presidential election.

“Nigerians have chosen democracy with its tenets, as a way of life, including justice and constitutional freedom it offers the citizens to determine who their leaders should be at any given time, and nobody, not even President Buhari, can take away this freedom and rights, under any circumstance whatsoever.

“Nigerians know how the PDP restored, nurtured and allowed our democracy to thrive to the extent that it was possible for the opposition to win in a general election with President Buhari as the major beneficiary. The PDP allowed a free and fair election, respected the will of the people and handed over power to President Buhari, without any shenanigans that would have denied him victory.

“Now that Nigerians are determined to vote out President Buhari from office due to his incompetence, divisiveness, executive high-handedness and corruption, he must not allow his ambition to set our nation on fire.

“We therefore urge President Buhari to avail his mind to accept his imminent defeat when it eventually comes on February 16.

“President Buhari should know that Nigerians have chosen Atiku Abubakar as their next President to return our nation to the path of national cohesion and economic prosperity. This national consensus is bigger than President Buhari or any other Nigerian for that matter.”