Certainly, if endorsement is all that is needed to win an election, then one can conveniently conclude that the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has won the March 28 presidential polls.

By Jude Opara

The latest in the spate of endorsements and support is the mobilizing of thousands of volunteers by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) for the purpose of going to all the nooks and crannies of the country to campaign for President Jonathan.

The volunteers who were trained during the week in Abuja were told to return to their respective wards and promote the candidature of President Jonathan to ensure victory at the polls.

Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization (PDPPCO), Dr. Ahmadu Ali, urged the volunteers, made up of young men and women, to go out and campaign and convince the electorates on why they should cast their votes for the PDP not just in the presidential election but also down the line.

He equally advised them to use what he described as the numerous achievements of the President in the last five years to campaign.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan (R) and Nigerian Vice President Namadi Sambo greet supporters at a ceremony in Abuja on November 11, 2014. AFP PHOTO

“Go all out and do the needful, don’t look for trouble and don’t allow yourselves to be intimidated by anybody. The important thing you must know is that people on the side of government cannot be intimidated. You should always be vigilant and relate with the police stations closest to you at your various locations and report any suspicious character so as to maintain peace.”

The man behind the masquerade and the Director General of TAN, Dr. Ifeanyi Uba, while addressing the volunteers charged them to see their assignment as that of marketers who have deadline to meet, adding that their task is even easier because they have a candidate that is easy to sell. President Jonathan, he insisted, has done enough to deserve a second term in office hence the need for the foot soldiers to be bold to flaunt his ‘numerous’ achievements.

His words: “Your task is very easy because no matter what the opposition is doing, President Jonathan is still the candidate to beat in this election, so you must be cordial, confident and persuasive in the propagation of the transformation agenda of the President and the party so as to convince voters to vote for the PDP.

“We believe that with 100,000 volunteers, the message of transformation which the President has been delivering to the Nigerian people will be spread to every part of this great country and let me say it that we want to get more Nigerians to add to the 18 million people that endorsed the President during the TAN rallies because we have over 68 million voters registered for the election and if we work very diligently we will surely win the election.”

Volunteer scheme

Chief Olisa Metuh, the national publicity secretary of the PDP while thanking TAN for the zeal in campaigning for the PDP also described the volunteer scheme as an unparalleled innovation since the country began political party campaigns because it reaches the grassroots more efficiently.

Noting that the most important thing is for the PDP to win the presidential election, he advised them to be wise because TAN is not sending them out to go and look for trouble but to go and sell the advantage of the party which he insisted could be easily seen in the many developmental projects of the administration of President Jonathan.

Many analysts believe that it will do the political parties more good when they begin to engage in issue-based campaigns like this by showcasing what they believe they have done, and what they intend to do if elected instead of the spate of hate campaigns that have even overheating the polity.