Brave Dickson
The National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) has said that it did not endorse the Social Democratic Party Governorship Candidate in Rivers State, Magnus Abe.
NYCOP in a statement made available to our correspondent through its National President, Matthew Dighi said at no time did NYCOP endorse a governorship candidate for the March 18 election.
The reaction came days after one Emmanuel Barinuazor who is laying claim to the national presidency of NYCOP, endorsed Abe for governor and went ahead to feature portraits of himself and Abe in a poster to give more effect to the endorsement.
According to Dighi, “NYCOP is not a political organization and does not endorse political candidate(s) but can only support a candidate from the Ogoni axis if other Ogonis are not contesting same position.
“In this case, not only Abe is contesting for governor from the Ogoni axis as we have two additional Ogonis that are contesting for governor too.
“The fair thing NYCOP can do is to urge all contestants to be agents of peaceful election in Ogoni and call on all eligible voters to come out on election day and vote their choice candidate(s).
“We remain the custodian of Ogoni youths and have equal respect for all the governorship candidates from Ogoni, hence we can not endorse any and leave the rest behind.
“Therefore, we use this medium to distance NYCOP from the purported endorsement of Abe for governor with reason being that we have other Ogoni candidates that are contesting same office.
“The Emmanuel Barinuazor who is parading himself as the NYCOP National President is an impostor that lacks the capacity to endorse any candidate on behalf of NYCOP.
“We urge the general public to beware of Barinuazor and do not have any dealings with him on any issue related to NYCOP.”
 has said that it did not endorse the Social Democratic Party Governorship Candidate in Rivers State, Magnus Abe.){kind=link}