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Northern Votes : Secret campaigns against
Jonathan mount By Danlami Nmodu
Newsdiaryonline Mon Feb 21,2011
President Goodluck Jonathan
President
Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign for
northern votes is suffering
stiff opposition behind
the scenes,
newsdiaryonline
has learnt. Despite the votes he garnered from northern
delegates that enabled him to defeat former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar,it has been gathered that
some secret campaigns
to ensure that a
northerner is voted as the next president is going on.Whether
the secret campaigns are being led by PDP chieftains is unclear.
``Those who are the opinion moulders, those
who tell us things and we listen to them are telling us not vote
for Jonathan’’, Said a source close to one of the governors in a
northern state.The governor is one of those close to the
president. ``Those leading the campaign say people should vote
for Shekarau,though some others prefer General
Buhari.’’
But why
not Nuhu Ribadu
?``Well some people say he does not have the experience yet,the
source said .But Ribadu
is also a victim of some secret campaigns against him. ’’Some of
those who have helped Ribadu in
the past are up in arms campaigning against him
apparently due to his
activities while in office as Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC’’.
Newsdiaryonline
has learnt despite these secret campaigns some pro Jonathan
governors are convinced that the
president will win the election. ``Our problem is not winning
the elections. I know we can win but our fear is what will come
after the victory’’, a governor in one of the far northern PDP
controlled states said.The fear is that if
there is any suspicion of foul play,people may protest.
Actually political commentators and
analysts have been drawing parallels with the unfolding mass
action in North Africa and some Arab states. They say that if
there is any rigging, the Egyptian scenario may unfold in
Nigeria too.
 But
all these secret campaigns
are coming at the time Jonathan appears to be doubling up
efforts to woo northern PDP chieftains who have been resolutely
pro-zoning. The story exclusively broken by
Sunday Tribune
in
indicate that the
president met with
Alhaji Adamu Ciroma leader of the Northern
Political Leaders Forum,
NPLF in his Abuja home.
Daily Trust today also said Atiku
Abubakar, Generals
Ibrahim Babangida and Aliyu Gusau may have been at the meeting
as well. According to the
Trust ,Jonathan
wanted a one on one meeting with Atiku Abubakar but
the former Vice
President preferred a
group thing supervised by Ciroma. And that was why Jonathan met
with Ciroma.
 Whether
such meetings will translate into an open declaration of support
for the president remains to be seen.Atiku
recently declared
that his group was amenable
to dialogue. Jonathan’s camp too has insisted that he wants to
carry everyone along.That is why he is insistent on a thorough
dialogue with aggrieved stakeholders so as to strengthen the
party ahead of the April polls.
But the challenge from the CPC, ANPP and
ACN will continue to remain as a thorn in the flesh of the
Jonathan campaign. Interestingly, it is the PDP formula
which zoned the
presidency to the north-an agreement that has now been breached
–that is being used as a
yardstick to measure PDP
and by extension,Jonathan’s alleged unreliability and
untrustworthiness.
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