Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was in Yola, Adamawa State, on Wednesday night in a desperate move to sway Christian votes to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the rescheduled polls.
This
is coming amidst hot speculation that elections may not hold this
Saturday in three states of Adamawa, Borno and Kaduna, as alleged by
Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
PDP).
The speculation followed a meeting of President Muhammadu
Buhari with the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Kaduna states, as well
as the service chiefs two days ago.
On his Yola mission,
Osinbajo’s plane touched ground at the Yola International Airport at
about 7:15 pm and he was driven straight to Catholic Secretariat, where
he was billed to meet with leaders of Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN).
Details of his engagement with CAN were not made public.
However, SaharaReporters learnt that the VP had pleaded with Christian
leaders to consider endorsing the Buhari government for a second term.
SaharaReporters
further gathered that Osinbajo left the meeting disappointed as CAN
leaders were said to have bared their minds on topical issues,
highlighting the failure of the present regime.
A source at the
meeting said “it was frank talk; Christian leaders were blunt to the VP
on their grievances against the Buhari regime”.
It was further
gathered that CAN Chairman and Catholic Bishop of Yola, Most Rev.
Stephen Dami Mamza, had earlier declined the VP’s request to have
audience with Christian leaders.
Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF), was said to have persuaded CAN to
grant audience to Prof. Osinbajo on three conditions: it would not be a
media event; the VP would not canvass support for any APC candidate,
including Buhari; and the VP will respect the conditions.
SaharaReporters
can report that the meeting ended in deadlock, as the VP could not
provide answers to many questions regarding the plight of Christians
under the Buhari regime.
In particular, CAN wanted the VP to
explain why the government neglected Leah Sheribu and other Christian
faithful from Chibok who are being held by Boko Haram terrorists.
The
VP, as learnt, was asked to explain why the government agreed to a
negotiation which only favoured Dapchi Muslim schoolgirls, at the
detriment of Leah, a Christian faithful.
Osinbajo could not
explain why no action was taken to ameliorate the suffering of the
people of Numan, who were persecuted by herdsmen for a long time. Also,
they wanted answers on Amnesty’s report on Air Force bombing of
communities in Numan.
The meeting, which ended in deadlock, saw Osinbajo depart Yola around 9:00pm
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