Convention: How Jonathan lost North-West •Why I congratulated Jonathan – IBB

FURTHER details emerged on Sunday as to why President Goodluck Jonathan lost four of the seven North-West states during the just concluded presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Political actors in the North-West geopolitical zone confirmed that many of the delegates who voted against the president in the North-West states did so as a result of protests against the state governors and leaders of the party.

Sources confirmed that the case of Kebbi State is fast assuming another dimension following the wide crack that has set in between the state governor, Usman Dakingari and members of the state House of Assembly

Members of the Kebbi State House of Assembly were said to have spearheaded the protest votes against President Jonathan after they had been dropped at the party primaries ahead of the national convention.

It was gathered that despite assurances from the governor, more than 80 per cent of the House of Assembly members were rejected at the House of Assembly primary.

That was said to have infuriated most of the lawmakers who then met with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who was said to have given them some concessions.

It was also gathered that former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Adamu Aliero, also played a part by assuring the defeated lawmakers of tickets of the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), which he had joined.

Sources said that the aggrieved state Assemblymen campaigned vigorously among the other delegates and ensured that he was defeated at the Eagle Square.

“The desire to vote against Jonathan was to prove a point to Dakingari, since he was the first northern governor to endorse Jonathan during the president’s declaration in September, 2010,” a source said.

It was gathered that the lawmakers would begin impeachment proceedings against Darkingari very soon.

A source confirmed that though many of the lawmakers would contest on the ticket of the CPC, they have resolved to make the next four months ungovernable for the governor.

Another source said that there was also the suspicion that the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Dr Haliru Mohammed, also played a role in the defeat of Jonathan in Kebbi State.

A source said that his emergence as acting chairman also swayed some delegates since Dr Bello is not a popular person in the political structure of the state.

A source who said that Kebbi Assembly members might be contemplating impeaching the governor, said that the leadership of the CPC in the state believed that doing so would ensure their victory at the April polls.

A similar situation played out in Sokoto, where the loss of the senatorial primary by Senator Abubakar Gada, one of the arrowheads of President Jonathan’s campaign was suspected to have been orchestrated by Governor Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko.
Many of the House members who lost their bid to return to the Assembly were also said to have insisted on defeating the governor and his deputy, who were backing Jonathan.

In Kano, the failure of former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso to carry his supporters along led to the defeat of Jonathan in the state.

Kwakwanso was said to have only worked for himself, while allowing others who contested House of Assembly seats to get defeated.

Besides, a source said that Vice-President Namadi Sambo had sometime accused Kwakwanso of double dealing and that he was seen hobnobbing with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was said to have promised to bankroll his gubernatorial ambition.

The source said that a meeting had to be set up between the vice-president and Kwakwanso where the former Kano governor was said to have firmly promised to deliver his delegates and the state to Jonathan.

Sources also confirmed that Atiku’s victory in Zamfara and Niger were actually influenced by the former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, who was said to have insisted on proving a point in line with the consensus arrangement.

Babangida was said to have personally spoken to many of the delegates on the need to vote for Atiku.

A source, however, said that the consensus leaders refused to put their neck on the line for Atiku’s sake in other states.

But the decision of the PDP to stick to the state by state voting was also said to have finished off Atiku’s plans in the convention.

It was confirmed that the Atiku Campaign Organisation twice wrote the PDP to canvass against the adoption of the state by state voting but that the PDP insisted that it was important to vote along the state lines because it had received protests on the list of delegates from certain states.

A source also said that the PDP insisted that it would be easy to deal with any protest relating to the delegates list from a particular state if the votes were put in a single box.

Sources said that another round of tension is brewing in Bauchi State following the narrow victory achieved by the president at the national convention.

Two former ministers from the state were said to have worked for Atiku while there were suspicions that the infighting between the camps of the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed and that of Governor Isa Yuguda might have done much to undermine the president’s popularity.

A source even suggested that the FCT minister might have been indifferent on the outcome of the voting in his home state since he was sure of delivering the Federal Capital to the president.

Meanwhile, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has said there was nothing political in his decision to congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan on his emergence as the standard-bearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stating that he did so as a statesman ever keen to stabilise democracy in the country.

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