How PDP, ACN intend to battle for Lagos

Posted by admin Action Congress of Nigeria, Party Politics, Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) Sunday, March 6th, 2011

LAGOS — TO win Lagos in next month’s election, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have mapped out strategies to corner the 6.1 million voters of the state.

They are also raising a hefty war-chest for the political battle.

Sources told Vanguard, weekend, that each of the parties was planning an average of 300 rallies throughout the length and breadth of the state before the April 16 governorship elections. Other measures include soap box (campaign) rallies and media hype.

In respect of media campaign, the PDP has hired a consultant who was a top shot at a print media owned by one of the South-West governors, to strengthen its media team while the ACN is relying on the ‘formidable Alausa media strategists.’

Vanguard learnt that though a court order barred the PDP candidate from parading himself as the party’s guber candidate, he would kick off his main campaign any time this week as the court order was vacated last week.

Governor Fashola of the ACN successfully started his state-wide campaign, weekend, after speaking to journalists about his re-election bid.

To prosecute the battle, the two parties were said to have made a conservative budget of N1.8 billion. While the PDP may spend slightly over N1 billion, the ACN may put in N800 million.

At a mega rally held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, the ACN leaders including Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos, Malam Nuhu Ribadu (the presidential candidate), said the 14 million votes of the South-West zone were not for bargaining.

Losing deposits

The leaders, at the event vowed to resist all antics by any political party to rig the April general polls.

Indeed, Fashola said that ACN was set to claim massively all the slots in the South-west at the polls to ensure that the PDP lose their deposits in all the states.

Tinubu, at the event, urged party supporters and the electorate to ensure that they swept the PDP which he dubbed Poverty Development Party, away in the next election.

He lambasted the party for not being able to fix the problems besetting Nigeria for the past 12 years. Rather than ameliorating the situation, he said they added to the sufferings of Nigerians.

Tinubu, who declared that he was proud of Fashola’s achievement in the last four years of his administration in the state, charged the incumbent governor to ensure that PDP did not have five percent of votes in Lagoswp_posts