2023: Presidency hots up, as Ayom’s election posters flood Abuja

From Fred Itua, Abuja

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, presidential campaign posters of a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and managing director of Granite and Marble, Mr. Moses Ayom, have flooded major streets of the nation’s capital, Abuja.

Inscription on one of the campaign posters seen by our correspondent, reads: ” Moses Ayom for President, the struggles continues”.

In the poster, Ayom’s photograph was sandwiched between first republic leaders drawn from different parts of the country.

Ayom, who hails from Benue State, is one of the early contenders for the position of the President of Nigeria. Though he’s yet to declare his intentions to vie for the position, some groups, especially religious leaders, have been mounting pressure on him to join the race.

Last month, religious leaders, drawn from the Middle Belt states, including Imams and Bishops, said they were putting their differences aside in their drive to produce a consensus candidate.

At a meeting with Ayom, they noted that Nigeria will do better if it pays respect to merit, hardwork, capacity and competence in electing leaders.

Imam Idris Musa, who led the league of Imams to the meeting in Abuja, noted that the Middlebelt had not produced a President since Nigeria embraced democracy despite its being “the melting pot of the entire country with over 200 ethnic nationalities and diverse religious orientations living peacefully. The Middlebelt is a mini Nigeria.

“There is a North and South because there is a Middle between them. It is now time for that middle to also feel a sense of belonging to the larger body,” The clergymen insisted.

Adopting the position of their Christian counterparts, the Imams said: “We noted with happiness the position of our brother Christian Clergy which visited you last week. We read in the papers with excitement the points they succinctly made for your candidacy. We align ourselves with their sentiments and pray that you succumb to our call for you to lend your youth, your energy, your experience and your compassion to help heal the current challenges facing our country.”

In a recent chat with newsmen, Ayom noted: “Like I said, there is a limit to which you can keep people in the sun. People say that even though a goat doesn’t bite, if you push it too much, it will bite you. It might not happen now, but I am saying that this time is the best to allow Middlebelt to rule this country.

“If this is done, there will be peace. The other time, a train was attacked in Kaduna; there are lots of threats to peace in Kogi and all that. The message we are preaching is that we should promote a sense of belonging for Middlebelt people by giving them this opportunity.

“We have done a lot for this country. So it a time bomb if we keep dribbling the Middlebelt. In short continuously ignoring the Middlebelt is a time bomb.”