1st February, 2015
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan would defeat APC candidate, retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in the northern part of the country in the February 14 presidential poll.
This was contained in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by Olisa Metuh, the PDP National Publicity Secretary.
Metuh also expressed optimism that the PDP would win more than two-third of the total votes cast and the required 25 per cent in all states of the federation.
This, he said, was because of Jonathan’s increasing popularity among the voting population across the country.
“President Jonathan will beat Buhari in the North not only because the PDP controls 12 out of the 19 northern states, but because they are pleased with the developmental projects he executed in the region,” he said.
Metuh said the various projects and appointments in the North placed Jonathan ahead of Buhari in the upcoming polls.
“Indeed, Nigerians in the North are eager to re-elect President Jonathan come February 14.
“Voters in the region appreciate the direct positive impact of the numerous development projects executed by the Jonathan administration in all sectors of life.
“President Jonathan ensured that out of the 2.7 million direct farm jobs achieved by his administration, over 2 million are in the North,” he said.
He added that the people of the region also appreciated the fact that Jonathan established the e-wallet system, which eliminated corruption in the distribution of fertilizer.
This, he said, made the product available to millions of farmers in the region, thereby boosting their productivity.
Metuh said under the Jonathan administration, Almajiri boys could go to school.
This, he noted, was the first of its kind, with over 150 special schools already built, while others were nearing completion.
He also noted that out of the 14 new universities established by the present administration, nine were located in northern states.
He stressed that northerners were also happy with Jonathan for his efforts in tackling desertification in the region especially with the establishment of more than 80 kilometres of 15–row Green Belt, among other efforts.
Metuh said the North had benefitted immensely from Federal Government’s intervention in polio eradication, treatment of VVF patients, and other areas in the health
sector.
He said the North also stands to benefit from the revitalisation of the railways, especially with the rehabilitation of the Minna-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano narrow gauge, the Markurdi-Lafia-Kuru-Bauchi-Gombe-Ashaka-Maiduguri line and Kafanchan –Kaduna line.
All this, he said, were expected to increase productivity in the region, nothing that roads in the region had received serious attention under President Jonathan.
He said that the Kano-Maiduguri highway, the longest stretch of road in the country, was now being successfully tackled in addition to the Abuja-Lokoja road.
Metuh said that there were other similar road projects going on in the region in addition to the dredging of River Niger from Lokoja to Baro in Niger.
He said there had been acceleration of work on the Geregu Power Station, the 700MW Zungeru Hydro-Power and the 3,050MW Mambilla Hydro-Power, among various dam projects being handled by the Jonathan administration.