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A History And International Relations Expert Dr Elochukwu Anas Egwuatu has tipped President Muhammadu Buhari’s ally and presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu to outperform the incumbent President, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Rotimi Amaechi, a Minister in the APC administration, among others.

The aspirant who made this known in a statement said the University Lecturer, “Dr Elochukwu Anas Egwuatu sent me the above-quoted statement, “I know that you will do better than Buhari, GEJ, Atiku, Amaechi, etc”, after he had sent me his widow’s mite in financial support of my 2023 presidential aspiration.”

According to Jideofo-Ogbuagu, who was a former presidential aspirant on the platform of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), “To put Dr Egwuatu’s attestation in context, he is from my hometown, he has known me since 1998, he does not humour anyone, he knows that I have never held any Government office and that it was to avoid being tainted by association, and he has hitherto been a staunch supporter of politicians like Muhammadu Buhari and Peter Obi.”

Jideofo-Ogbuagu added that “When I received Dr Egwuatu’s complimentary remark, though I had received many similar remarks from individuals of diverse backgrounds, I was again reminded of a 1984 comment by one of my former publishers.

“Mr Derick Deere was publisher of Shipping World & Shipbuilder, a British technical publication and oldest maritime magazine in the world. I had sent an article to him for publication and he invited me to his office for a conversation.

“I travelled from Cardiff, Wales to Basingstoke, England to honour his invitation. After pleasantries and tea, he said that he would not only publish my article but that he wanted me to be a consultant correspondent to his magazine and replace all the other correspondents he had been using.

“Now, all those correspondents were his fellow Whites and included Mr Allan Graig (his retired former editor) and other very senior maritime intellectuals, professionals and journalists, and all of them were at least twice my age (I was then just 26).

“I was curious to know why Dr Deere would take such a decision – replace all his distinguished White correspondents with me, a young Black man who only just started his research for a PhD in international maritime policy, on the basis of one article that had not even been published.

“Mr Deere gazed into my eyes and, without mincing words, said that his decision was because he had seen that I was very knowledgeable about maritime subjects and wrote “better than all (his) correspondents put together.”

“That was a shocking compliment, because his correspondents were world-renowned and were also my icons – people whose reports and columns I read religiously as a maritime student.

“That was the beginning of my long and mutually beneficial relationship with Mr Deere and his publications, a relationship that took me to all parts of the world, including the Arabian/Persian Gulf region during Iran-Iraq war and attacks on ships there.

“In the same way that I made sure that I did not disappoint Mr Deere, I will not disappoint Dr Egwuatu and all other Nigerians who support my presidential aspiration. It is in my character to go the extra mile to satisfy anyone who has reposed confidence in me”, the statement concluded.