Ekweremadu, PDP governors working for Buhari's re-election - BMO claim

 According to the group, the recent meeting between the president and the governors is an indication of silent endorsement - The group also described the visit of APM's Akinlade to State House as a positive development, adding that president will not involve in anti-party activities With less than than 40 days to the February 19 presidential election, a pro-Buhari group, Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), has come up with what it described as an established fact on how top members in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are working for the re-election of the president. In a report available in the Vanguard, the group disclosed that PDP will suffer a shocking defeat come February as PDP bigwigs in the northern part of the country are now pitching their tents with the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari because of his enviable legacy of integrity. Legit.ng gathers the pro-Buhari advocacy group also claimed that members of the opposition party do not want to associate with the their party's presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Disclosing further in a statement by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the group said it can boast that governors from the southeast and the deputy Senate president, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, are working for the president. 

BMO statement read: “It is a known fact that there is no living politician with the cult-like followership and support Buhari has in some parts of the country as a result of his legendary integrity, so it is not a surprise that several PDP candidates in northern Nigeria have been openly canvassing for the president’s re-election. “The question begging for answer is: why are these candidates not campaigning for Atiku Abubakar or put his image on their campaign posters?” The organisation also described the meeting between President Buhari and southeast governors, and Ikweremadu as a secret indication that plans have been perfected by the governors to work for Buhari. It said: "Although the meeting was meant to be one where the governors were to show appreciation for federal government projects in the region, especially the contract award for the second Niger bridge, it came at a time the political figures were at odds with their parties. “On individual basis, Ebonyi state Governor David Umahi, has publicly left no one in doubt about his positive relations with the president whom he has hailed on several occasions for the infrastructural strides in the region, and of late his Enugu counterpart, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had been pictured wearing a lapel pin with President Buhari’s image.

“What is now left is for the governors and Senator Ekweremadu to be pictured with the viral 4 + 4 hand sign." On the visit of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM)'s governorship candidate in Ogun state, Adekunle Akinlade, to the State House with Governor Ibikunle Amosun, the group described the courtesy visit as a positive development, adding that apart from Akinlade, more candidates from the opposition parties are campaigning with the president's image. According to the organisation, the visit was suggestive of Buhari's nation-wide acceptability across region and party borderlines. It called on the members of the public to remain steadfast towards the re-election of the president, adding that Buhari has endorsed APC's Dapo Abiodun in Ogun state and will never involve in anti-party activities. It said: "We are aware of some disquiet among APC members on seeing the picture of the president with Governor Amosun and the APM candidate on the front page of national dailies after the weekend meeting at the Presidential Villa. “But just as the presidency has made it clear that the president would only back APC candidates, we don’t see the meeting as a contradiction of the stance. “It in fact shows the acceptability that President Buhari enjoys across party lines as opposed to the recent stage-managed endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar ,by insignificant political parties and politicians with no real electoral value.” 

earlier report show that President Muhammadu Buhari was reportedly meeting behind closed doors with governors from the southeastern part of the country. The meeting started shortly after the governors arrived the State House around 4.07pm. The deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, was also at the meeting. They were driven to the forecourt of the Presidential Villa in a bus.