Ex-militants back Buhari, flay Jonathan

Some South-South ex-militant
generals and commanders in Edo
State on Wednesday announced
their support for the presidential
candidate of the All Progressives
Congress in the February 14
presidential poll, Maj. Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari ( retd.).
They also commended the
leadership of the Movement for the
Emancipation of Niger Delta for
endorsing Buhari, insisting that the
group’s (MEND’s) action should be
treated with seriousness.
The ex-militants told journalists in
Benin, the Edo State capital, that
their position was in line with the
expectations and hope of Nigerians
for positive change and
development, particularly, the
development of the Niger Delta
region.
The spokesperson for the group, Mr.
Godwin Ogidigba, explained that
the ex-agitators had implicit
confidence in the ability of Buhari,
whom he said, was capable of
addressing the major challenges
affecting various communities in
the region, which were yet to be
addressed by the present
administration.
He said, “In recent publications in
the dailies, you see MEND
endorsing Buhari. People thought
it was a joke. It is not. The fact
remains that we need somebody
that can address the salient issues
that affect the Niger Delta region.
“Our brother has failed in those
issues; our brother has failed to
take us away from poverty, our
brother has failed to bring
development to the Niger Delta
region.
“Just take a look at most of the
Niger Delta communities. They still
remain where they are, in spite of
the fact that we have one of our
own at the top, at the helm of
affairs, nothing positive has
changed in the region.”
Ogidigba argued that their choice
of Buhari had nothing to do with
religion or ethnicity but centred on
their desire for unity in the country.
He noted that although the
amnesty programme had brought
some relief to youths in the region,
some of the terms of the
agreement had yet to be
implemented.
Ogidigba said, “Somebody who can
stand and develop our region, that
should be our interest and that is
our interest. It is true that
President Goodluck Jonathan is
from the South-South region; he is
our brother. But the problem is
this: he came to meet the amnesty
programme and since then he has
not been able to improve on it,
which means that the amnesty
programme stopped when the late
(President) Musa Yar’Adua died.”

Source please?

The punch