Some former Niger Delta militants, under the aegis of Coalition of Association of Ex-Agitators, on Sunday, endorsed the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), and the Delta State governorship candidate of the party, Chief O’tega Emerhor, for the 2015 general elections.
The militants, who made the endorsement at Ughelli, said President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party had failed the people of the Niger Delta region in particular and the nation in general.
The National President of the group, General Israel Apkodero, said the ex-militants came to the decision after realising that Jonathan was only empowering his Ijaw brothers to the detriment of other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta.
Akpodero said the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta were the exclusive beneficiaries of the Federal Government amnesty programme and that the President only fooled the Urhobo nation with a ministerial appointment given to Chief Steven Oru, a few months to the end of his tenure to attract the votes of the Urhobo.
The ex- militant general said they were endorsing Buhari because of his pedigree and good track records as an upright, focused leader, with the right frame of mind to fight corruption that had brought the nation to her knees.
He said the group’s decision was to express their bitterness and displeasure with the total neglect of the Urhobo nation by the PDP Federal Government and to also fault the manner the Federal Government had been handling the amnesty programme since its inception.
He accused the President of refusing to initiate the third phase of the amnesty programme, which would have benefited the youths of Delta Central, saying they were ready to fight for what was rightfully theirs.
Emerhor commended the ex-militants for the endorsements, saying it was for the benefit of Nigerians and Deltans.
He said Nigerian youths must stand up and defend democracy by saying ‘no’ to all forms of electoral violence during the 2015 general elections.
The APC governorship candidate said his government would declare emergency on unemployment in Delta State with N10bn within the first 100 days in office.
