2019: Miyetti Allah plans decision on Buhari, Atiku as election draws close

– The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore says it is getting set to pick its candidate of choice between Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar

– The Fulani socio-cultural association says it expect its members to come out and vote during the elections in 2019

– It says it ensured its members massively register ahead of the elections

The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural association, is preparing to decide on who to support between President Muhammadu Buhari and the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar as the country prepares for the 2019 election.

While Buhari is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku is flying the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Daily Trust reports that the national president of the organisation, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, and its secretary, Engr Saleh Alhassan, said in Abuja, on Monday, December 11, that the group will decide soon.

“We have ensured that our members are massively registered in the elections and should exercise their franchise in a peaceful manner wherever they would cast their votes.

“We expect our members to fully turn out to cast their votes. We are happy that the stereotyping of Fulani herdsmen has gone down due to the fact that the two perceived leading presidential candidates are Fulani.

“The polity has benefited from this development as we now have campaigns being issue-based and not on ethnicity, religion or other primordial sentiments. We believe this is healthy for the nation.

“On who we are going to support, we are still weighing what the two perceived leading candidates would bring on the table, what they have in stock for the pastoralists that are facing numerous challenges across the country and when we finished our assessments, we will invite the world to know our direction. But for now, we are asking our members to get ready with their PVCs and wait where we can negotiate the best for them, especially on their economic livelihood.

“We would look at the agenda that the two or any of the presidential candidates has for our members,” Bodejo said.

TrackNews earlier reported that a pro-President Muhammadu Buhari group, Re-elect Buhari Movement (RBM), recently declared that the emergence of former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2019 general election is the strongest indication that the president would win the election on a platter of gold.

This Day reports that while congratulating the president ahead of the election, the RBM, in a statement by its convener, Emmanuel Umohinyang, boasted that President Buhari would give the former vice-president a bloodied nose in the coming poll, adding that the ratification of the president as the sole candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election is a reward for good performance over the last three years.

However, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said President Muhammadu Buhari would not only be defeated, but would also be retired to his Daura hometown. Atiku’s declaration was a reaction to the remarks credited to the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Oshiomhole had said that the PDP candidate would suffer a heavy defeat in the forthcoming polls.