After Humiliating Atiku: Jonathan Begs Core North

President Goodluck Jonathan has begun moves to woo the core north after he inflicted a humiliating defeat on former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar at  yesterday’s presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Jonathan won the election by a landslide of 2,736 votes to Atiku’s 805 votes at the end of the voting exercise which started late yesterday and ended in the  early hours of today.

In his acceptance speech, Jonathan said: “The Peoples Democratic Party has spoken with one strong voice… Our people have chosen the unity of our country  above all other considerations.”

The third aspirant, Sarah Jubril scored only one vote.

Although Jonathan won by a wide margin in many states, especially in the South-South and South-West, Atiku had the upper hand in the core North such as  Sokoto, Zamfara,  Kano and Niger. In Bauchi, the president beat Atiku by a slight margin of two votes, even though the governor, Isa Yuguda, chaired  Jonathan’s campaign in the North West zone. The race was similarly close in Borno, where the president’s margin of victory was just six votes. Analysts said  the voting pattern in these states showed that the voters there were swayed by the intense campaign that the ticket must be won by the North, because the  party’s zoning arrangement wanted it that way. In 2007, Nigerians had elected Umaru Yar’Adua, a Northerner. After he died earl;y this year, Jonathan  succeeded him and by September he expressed interest to seek what would have been Yar’Adua’s second term ticket. Some Northern elements vehemently opposed  him and coalesced under an umbrella group, called the Northern Forum. The group, in a consensus arrangement put forth Atiku’s nomination as the candidate of  the ‘North’. That North has proven not be all inclusive as Northern states, with a preponderance of Christian population, including Atiku’s home state,  Adamawa, voted for Jonathan.

In the midst of  the euphoria of victory, President Jonathan, P.M.NEWS learnt today, has not failed  to get the message of rejection  by the aggrieved  Northern states. According to sources,  the poor performance in the core North is said to be troubling the President to the extent that rather than celebrate  his victory, he is said to have begun moves to woo PDP supporters in the affected states to join his camp.

A source in the presidency who spoke with P.M.NEWS this morning, said there was no cause for celebration as the President believes there is much to do ahead  of the main election coming up in April this year.

The source said: “President Jonathan is trying to reach out to the core North where he didn’t do well in the primary in order to bring everybody together to  work for the victory of PDP in the general election.”

Before voting began yesterday, the aspirants were allowed the opportunity to address the delegates and speak about their agenda. Atiku, who spoke after Sarah  Jubril, was very critical of Jonathan and used acerbic language to deride the president.

Atiku tried to put Jonathan’s administration down when he said: “After eight months in office, the current leadership cannot point to one concrete  achievement… Even the Niger Delta amnesty programme, which he (Jonathan) inherited from the late President Yar’Adua, has been hopelessly mismanaged.”

Jonathan countered Atiku by saying that “our leaders and the delegates know all of us. They know our history, they know our competencies and they will select  whoever they like. Even with challenge in the Niger Delta, if we had not tried, our production wouldn’t have been at the maximum.”

On the eve of the primary, Atiku had met with former military dictator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, in Minna to plot Jonathan’s fall. But all  the scheming and back-slapping, including the endorsement by the powerful gay lobby,   did not fetch Atiku the party’s presidential ticket at the end of the  voting exercise. Atiku even lost in his state, Adamawa, where Jonathan garnered 76 votes against Atiku’s 31 votes.

Analysts who predicted a tight race for both Atiku and Jonathan were proved wrong as Atiku suffered a humiliating defeat this morning. Professor Kabiru Mato  of the University of Abuja had told VOA during an interview that there was the possibility of either Atiku or Jonathan being chosen as the standard bearers  of the PDP in the April election. But that seemed far-fetched for Atiku as the outcome of the primary has shown.

According to Mato, “Each of the two major candidates, in my view, has ample opportunity and chance of striking a major political victory, especially in the  last hours leading up to the primary. So, the pendulum can swing either way. I think it would depend to a great extent on what advantages the two major  candidates would take in the minutes and hours leading up to the party primary.” At the end, Jonathan floored Atiku.

— David Odey

How PDP Delegates Voted
Nos States Jonathan Atiku
1.                  Abia                     80                         1
2.                 Adamawa           76                       31
3.                 Anambra            47                       31
4.                 Akwa Ibom      141                         0
5.                 Bayelsa                67                         0
6.                 Bauchi                  46                      44
7.                 Sokoto                  32                     84
8.                 Rivers                 128                        2
9.                 Benue                   75                     15
10.              Borno                    33                    26
11.              Niger                      16                     94
12.             Ondo                       69                      6
13.             Osun                        99                      1
14.              Ogun                      80                     3
15.              Kogi                       84                  24
16.             Ekiti                       76                     1
17.            Kebbi                     33                  44
18.            Kaduna                 82                   41
19.            Plateau                 70                     5
20.           Oyo                     107                   10
21.            Katsina             147                    11
22.           Delta                  114                      7
23.           Enugu                 89                      9
24.           Kwara                 61                    26
25.           Ebonyi               82                       2
26.           Edo                     63                       0
27.          Cross River    105                      0
28.          Kano                    21                    98
29.          Imo                   123                       3
30.         Nasarawa          53                        3
31.         Jigawa             100                     17
32.        Yobe                   29                     20
33.        Lagos                  52                       3
34.       Abuja FCT         24                       3
35.      Zamfara                7                     70
36.     Taraba                  62                     16

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