By Chimezie Godfrey
All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Comrade Salihu Othman Isah has revealed that he will not run to the presidency or to anyone in position of authority for endorsement on his quest to be the next President of the country.
Isah, a former Chairman, Civil Liberties Organisation(CLO), North West Zone says doing this is tantamount to encouraging corruption and nepotism right from the onset.
He said to him, it will not be business as usual as he was poised to doing things differently with the ultimate aim of taking the nation’s out of the woods.
It would be recalled that, it is a tradition for most aspirants and candidates to seek the endorsement of prominent individuals in the society including the incumbent President, governors and royal fathers among others to intimate them of their intention to contest for public office and request their blessings and buy in.
He explained that oftentimes, what they tell the aspirants or candidates is that they are fully in support knowing full well that it is all bumkum, bladderdash.
“I am aware of a former Nigerian president who tells every aspirant that he backs their aspirations and even if it’s my great grandmother, she would be told same thing.
“It is a question of telling them what they want and need to hear. And him or her, head or tail, it is any of them that would win, and when it thus happens, he or she claims the responsibility or glory and begins to make unreasonable demands and putting unavoidable pressure on the leadership. It has this ugly consequences.
“I laugh at Governor Yahaya Bello who took his Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to President Muhammadu Buhari. For what reason. For the president to do what with it? How unreasonable this is.
According to him, those the various aspirants or candidates run to for endorsement end up claiming “they made you when you eventually emerge and so must be patronised while in power.
He disclosed that he can only seek the face of God in his aspiration and the support of the mass of the country who are the actual voters.
“But what Nigerians do is pay visits to the so called powers that be who end up claiming to be godfathers who ensured their victory.
“So right from the very beginning they assume office with so much pressure such that distractions set in. At this point, offering the desired leadership and values becomes a disaster,” he said.
(Editor’s note: The headlune of this story was earlier wrongly credited to a royal father. The error is regretted)
