Pastor Paul Enenche has endorsed the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi for this weekend’s election, describing him as “the way to go”.
“A picture they say is worth a thousand words. This picture was randomly taken by a photographer some time ago but is speaking volumes right now, especially in this season,” the Founder and Senior Pastor of the Dunamis Gospel Centre wrote on his Facebook page Monday evening.
“What do you see? What can you hear? Are you in doubt about the way to go? The way of integrity, authenticity, honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, capacity, productivity; here is the way to go.”
His endorsement comes in the wake of Obi’s backing by another cleric Apostle Johnson Suleman of the Omega Fire Ministries.
Obi, 61, has emerged as the first third-party candidate to challenge the dominance of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which between them have governed since the end of military rule in 1999.
Nearly 100 million will vote on February 25 in Africa’s most populous nation to choose the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms with Nigeria struggling with widespread insecurity and economic malaise.
A former southeast Anambra state governor, Obi has captured the interest of many young voters with a campaign offering hope for change from the patronage politics and old-guard candidates fielded by the mainstream parties.
Some polls show Obi leading, but analysts say the wealthy businessmen faces a challenge to win over enough voters in the mostly Muslim north, a key block of ballots that helps determine Nigeria’s election.
To win the presidency, candidates must garner the most ballots and also 25 percent of the votes in two-thirds of the country’s states.
Nigeria is almost equally split between the mostly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south with three main ethnic groups, Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo, and hundreds of local languages across the country.
Election campaigns in the past often featured candidates appealing to their ethnic base to win over voters.