As Nigeria prepares for the March 28 presidential election, there seems to be trouble in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Board of Trustees over President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidacy.
It is reported that there is growing uncertainty in the the board, as members from the northern part of the nation are experiencing great difficulty in campaigning for the president in their home states.
One major member of the PDP told Leadership that people in the north are not sold on Jonathan’s second term.
National publicity secretary Olisa Metuh, and national secretary of the PDP Prof. Wale Oladipo in separate conversations with journalists denied the existence of such a problem, saying the party’s presidential candidate enjoys nationwide acceptability and would be elected for a second term in office.
Metuh claimed that they had not faced a problem campaigning for the president in the north, saying that the PDP would get more votes from the region.
“We don’t have any such problem, director of the campaign is from the North, deputy director is from the North and we have a lot more campaign directors from there also. We also have our governors who have consistently campaigned for the president. As a matter of fact, I can tell you that the bulk of supporters are in the North and we will have a lot more votes from the North,” he said.
Oladipo on his part said that suggestions that there was a of lack of support for Jonathan were all false.
He said, “It’s a figment of imagination of the proponents of such tale. It is most untrue. We all, irrespective of zone or state of origin are most proud of our humble, cosmopolitan, focused, accessible and well educated president and presidential candidate and his loyal vice. By the grace of God and with Dr Jonathan’s nation-wide acceptability, we are set to beat our perennial customer…Pa Buhari once again.”
But despite these claims, members of the board told Leadership that their misgivings are based on the reaction they have been getting in the north campaigning for Jonathan.
They said that the situation has not also been openly discussed among the kitchen cabinet members because of its sensitivity and the possible reaction of the president to it or that of his die-hard backers.
“Let me tell you that the PDP is staring at a situation it never thought it would encounter. We never thought we will get to a stage where our own supporters will turn their backs on us. We now have a situation where we don’t know what to do with the candidature of the president who seems to have lost a lot of support from the North and South West. It is even disheartening that he has lost some valuable votes within his south-south and south east region – something unheard of in the 2011 general elections,” the BoT source said.
The source revealed that even though it was impossible to change the president and vice president candidates, they are now exploring other avenues of ensuring that the president wins.
He said, however, that due to the huge interest shown by the outside world over the election postponement, they would have to be careful on how they go about ensuring victory for Jonathan.
One board member, who also hails from the north, said that most of the members have failed to control their states, despite what they had been telling the president.
“Look at what happened in Kaduna when the president went to campaign. Those people in Kaduna told him they are in control only for the president to go and be almost embarrassed by the kind of crowd that came to the Ahmadu Bello Stadium,” he said.
It will be recalled that Jonathan’s campaign rally in Bauchi had problems arising from youths stoning dignitaries with stones and slippers. In Taraba state, the president’s convoy was stoned by some aggrieved youths in Jalingo.
It is reported that there is growing uncertainty in the the board, as members from the northern part of the nation are experiencing great difficulty in campaigning for the president in their home states.
Goodluck Jonathan
One major member of the PDP told Leadership that people in the north are not sold on Jonathan’s second term.
National publicity secretary Olisa Metuh, and national secretary of the PDP Prof. Wale Oladipo in separate conversations with journalists denied the existence of such a problem, saying the party’s presidential candidate enjoys nationwide acceptability and would be elected for a second term in office.
Metuh claimed that they had not faced a problem campaigning for the president in the north, saying that the PDP would get more votes from the region.
“We don’t have any such problem, director of the campaign is from the North, deputy director is from the North and we have a lot more campaign directors from there also. We also have our governors who have consistently campaigned for the president. As a matter of fact, I can tell you that the bulk of supporters are in the North and we will have a lot more votes from the North,” he said.
Oladipo on his part said that suggestions that there was a of lack of support for Jonathan were all false.
He said, “It’s a figment of imagination of the proponents of such tale. It is most untrue. We all, irrespective of zone or state of origin are most proud of our humble, cosmopolitan, focused, accessible and well educated president and presidential candidate and his loyal vice. By the grace of God and with Dr Jonathan’s nation-wide acceptability, we are set to beat our perennial customer…Pa Buhari once again.”
But despite these claims, members of the board told Leadership that their misgivings are based on the reaction they have been getting in the north campaigning for Jonathan.
They said that the situation has not also been openly discussed among the kitchen cabinet members because of its sensitivity and the possible reaction of the president to it or that of his die-hard backers.
“Let me tell you that the PDP is staring at a situation it never thought it would encounter. We never thought we will get to a stage where our own supporters will turn their backs on us. We now have a situation where we don’t know what to do with the candidature of the president who seems to have lost a lot of support from the North and South West. It is even disheartening that he has lost some valuable votes within his south-south and south east region – something unheard of in the 2011 general elections,” the BoT source said.
The source revealed that even though it was impossible to change the president and vice president candidates, they are now exploring other avenues of ensuring that the president wins.
He said, however, that due to the huge interest shown by the outside world over the election postponement, they would have to be careful on how they go about ensuring victory for Jonathan.
One board member, who also hails from the north, said that most of the members have failed to control their states, despite what they had been telling the president.
“Look at what happened in Kaduna when the president went to campaign. Those people in Kaduna told him they are in control only for the president to go and be almost embarrassed by the kind of crowd that came to the Ahmadu Bello Stadium,” he said.
It will be recalled that Jonathan’s campaign rally in Bauchi had problems arising from youths stoning dignitaries with stones and slippers. In Taraba state, the president’s convoy was stoned by some aggrieved youths in Jalingo.
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