Jonathan plots Buhari’s defeat in N’West

Posted by admin Elections 2011 Saturday, March 5th, 2011

Indications have emerged that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party have begun moves to neutralise the strength of the Congress for Progressive Change presidential candidate, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, in the North-West ahead of the April presidential poll.

SATURDAY PUNCH investigations on Friday showed that the President and the party had intensified pressure on the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum and its chairman, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, to forget the past and embrace the quest of the President to retain his position till 2015.

Our correspondents gathered that the PDP reconciliation committee headed by the governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, had started persuading the NPLF members to embark on an awareness campaign among the electorate in the North-West.

The investigation showed that the proposed campaign was meant to drum up support for Jonathan and his running mate, Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

It was gathered that the NPLF was had come to accept the candidacy of Jonathan and Sambo, but the group was insisting that its interest should be taken care of.

A top member of the PDP, who pleaded anonymity, said, “In spite of some hiccups, the NPLF and many powerful people from the zone will rather support Jonathan than back Buhari.”

Before the PDP presidential primaries, which was won by Jonathan, Saraki was a member of the pro-zoning group, comprising a former dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; ex-Vp Atiku Abubakar and a former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gussau, which insisted that the president must come from the North.

The group embarked on a long search for a northern consensus candidate for the PDP and eventually produced Abubakar, who was defeated by Jonathan at the primaries.

It was gathered that Ciroma had been told that Jonathan was not known to be a deceptive person and would not go back on his promise that he would not remain in power beyond 2015.

Further investigations showed that the Saraki committee had made a tremendous progress in its mission to ensure the reconciliation of all aggrieved members of the PDP.

The PDP NWC member said that Ciroma and the core members of the group had softened down on the issue of the presidency as shown by the presence of some core promoters of zoning in the Jonathan campaign team.

According to him, topical issues relating to appointments and how to integrate members of the group into the mainstream of the government were exhaustively discussed during deliberations with Saraki and the Ciroma group.

He said that the only seeming challenge before Saraki and his team was that Ciroma and his group “still finds it difficult to come out in the open to embrace Jonathan and to assume frontline position in the campaign.”

In a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Thursday, the Chairman of the Inter Party Relations Committee of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said that the Saraki committee was working assiduously everyday on the issue and was expected to address the nation presently.

He said that while it would not be right to make public the achievements of the committee, he was in no doubt that the group would come up with good results.

He said that the PDP would not underrate or underestimate any politician or party, and would ensure an intensified campaign at the grass roots to convince the voters to opt for Jonathan.

He, however, dismissed the claims that the massive turnout of people in Kaduna for the inauguration of Buhari’s presidential campaign was a source of worry to the PDP.

He said that it was a known fact in political campaigns that a massive turnout did not necessarily translate into voting strength in the election.

He recalled that the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, addressed some of the most massively attended rallies in Kano during the Second Republic, but recorded very low votes in the ancient city during the election.

He said, “The PDP is taking the issues affecting all groups very seriously. The chairman of the reconciliation committee appointed by the National Working Committee of the party (Dr. Bukola) Saraki, is moving and working everyday to solve this issue

“I can tell you that we have very high hopes that all differences would be resolved. I want to assure you that the Saraki committee would address members of the PDP and the nation on this issue.

“Let me tell you something I know about political rallies. We are not going to underestimate Buhari or anybody, but I know that rallies are not the exact representation of the voting strength of candidates.

“I know this because Chief Obafemi Awolowo addressed some of the largest rallies in Kano, but during the elections, he recorded low scores.”

Similarly, the Special Adviser to the President on Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas, said that Jonathan was expecting a high number of votes from the North-West and the South-West.

He said that the President’s visit to Ciroma was meant to send out a very strong message to Nigerians in accordance with his comment on September 18, 2010, when he declared for the presidency, that he had no enemies to fight and had no aversion for opposing political views.

“The concrete achievement is that dialogue is over and above acrimony and fighting. That is a powerful message that all Nigerians have to digest: That regardless of political disagreement, when the time comes for discussions to take place, that there have to be discussions and as I said, the discussions are on,” he said

In a telephone interview, the Chief Press Secretary to Saraki, Mr. Mohammed Garbadeen, said that all aggrieved members of the PDP would be brought on board the Jonathan train.

He said that the composition of the President’s campaign team was indicative of the fact that all aggrieved parties would be contacted and their issues addressed by the reconciliation committee.

A Special Assistant to Jonathan on Politics and a member of the Media Committee of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Mr. Bolaji Adebiyi, said that the presence of Dr. Raymond Dokpesi and Kanti Bello, a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and others indicated that the reconciliation was on course.

Commenting on the large turnout of people at Buhari’s rally in Kaduna State, the home state of Sambo, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicty to the VP, Mallam Sani Umar, said that the PDP would win the state.

He stated that a party that did not have a councillor could not pose a threat to the ruling party.

He said, “We are not intimidated. What happened in Kaduna was a bazaar of defectors. It is not a test of Buhari’s popularity.”

But Buhari’s spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said that the CPC presidential candidate would win the April presidential election.

Reacting to PDP’s comment on Buhari’s rally, he said, “If the CPC, without a councillor in Kaduna, could shut down the city, where the PDP had a rally, and the VP addressed a scanty stadium, then they must be living in a dream world.”

Odumakin stated that with the large turnout of people at Buhari’s rallies in Kaduna and Minna, it was obvious that the PDP was “on its way out.”

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