Ahead of the commencement of presidential campaign throughout Nigeria next Sunday, November 18th, 2018, one of the presidential candidates is asking all his friends at home and abroad for generous assistance in terms of prayers, financial and practical support. The practical support is for specific items such as banners, vehicles and logistics.
In the very short appeal to his friends, Dr Obadiah Mailafia of the African Democratic Congress, (ADC) asks them to regard it as a solemn and urgent Macedonian call to give their support to a worthy cause.
Titled “Letter of Appeal for Support” and carried under an Obadiah Mailafia Presidential Campaign Organization letter head, the appeal is justified by the physically impossibility of calling all his friends and associates within and outside Nigeria by voicemail and hence the option of sending a general email directed at those who believe in the cause he declares to be championing.
Articulating his cause in terms of people, power, peace and prosperity or the 4 ‘Ps’. In the accompanying text, the presidential candidate added his party and candidature as representing the “Third Force” that he credits with “driving the momentum for a new rebirth and transformation”. He added how Africa and the world need a New Nigeria “that is democratic, stable and prosperous” and how his party represents the hope for a new national rebirth.
Rating the ADC as the third most popular party in the country, with a strong and growing followership among youths and women in particular, the candidate is following up on a previous appeal that would enable the party carry its campaigns to the 36 states of Nigeria and Abuja.
Those who are in doubt are asked to feel free to contact the presidential candidate directly on telephone number +234-8036590990, giving the Zenith Bank Naira and Dollar account numbers of the campaign organization as 1006140963 and 5070919706 respectively.
Dr Mailafia might have inaugurated a new manner of fund raising that is not typical of wealthy political parties. It is a further sign of the new ways of saying and doing things that may characterize the impending campaign featuring over 50 candidates. If it is true that the ADC is the third most popular party in the country, then his fund raising and campaign tactics could become innovations. The coming campaign promises a deal then.
By quality of education and international exposure, Dr. Mailafia is expected to outflank all other presidential candidates in the rhetorical imagination of Nigeria. Whether that would happen in practice is what observers are watching out for. Otherwise, he has been here and there in the vital arteries of the global order — Oxford University, the Nigerian Central Bank and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group, (ACP).
