As President Goodluck Jonathan launched a collection of his conversations with Facebook friends with great fanfare in Lagos yesterday, former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar shot ahead of the incumbent in a presidential opinion poll on the website of the ruling party, peoplesdemocraticparty.net.
In the poll which began on November 18, Mr Abubakar has so far polled 682 votes out of a total 1404, representing 48.3 per cent, while Mr Jonathan trails closely behind with 665 votes representing 47.1 per cent.
But 48 of the voters representing 3.4 per cent of the total figure, did not vote for either of the aspirants and nine others, representing 0.6 per cent, are still undecided. The last vote was cast at about 6pm yesterday.
It is not, however, certain if the voting pattern will change before January 13,
next year when the two aspirants and others face the PDP delegates at the party’s national convention. NEXT could also not confirm the details of the modalities used in the polls or to what extent it confirms Mr Atiku’s popularity.
A work in progress
When contacted yesterday, the spokesperson of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Sully Abu simply said, “I haven’t seen the poll yet.” But Paul Ibe, a media officer in the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation said in a telephone chat that the result proved that the former vice president is effectively mobilising ahead of the party primaries.
He said, “The turaki (Mr. Abubakar) is mobilising the people. He is in touch with the grassroots,” adding that his organisation did not manipulate the result of the poll as was being alleged.
Twenty state governors had last week endorsed the candidacy of Mr Jonathan.
Katsina State governor, Ibrahim Shema, who announced the decision of the governors at a news conference in Abuja, said they endorsed him for one term of four years.
Also, at the weekend, party delegates in the South East and South West geo-political zones reportedly backed the president’s ambition to contest in 2011. On his part, Mr Abubakar, was last month, chosen as the consensus candidate for the north. He was picked by the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) ahead of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, former national security adviser, Aliyu Gusau and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State.
Moreover, an opposition party, Nigerian Peoples’ Congress (NPC) has adopted Mr Jonathan as its candidate in the 2011 polls. A statement by the party’s assistant spokesperson, Godwin Ogar, said the party adopted the president at its national convention in Asaba, Delta State on December 18.
It’s a huge joke
Yesterday Mr. Abubakar dismissed the claim by the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation that the president has the backing of 585 delegates in the South West geo-political zone as a joke.
A statement by his campaign organisation described the claim by the Mr. Jonathan’s camp as a brazen exaggeration of the reality on the ground, adding that such delegates exist only in the imagination.
The former vice president, who also met with delegates from Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states at Ikeja yesterday, said the deluge of south-west supporters who swarmed the venue of the meeting exposed the lie being peddled by the Jonathan Campaign organization.
He noted that the president’s claim of solid control of the south-west delegates is not a done deal, because, according to him, hundreds of those delegates turned up at Ikeja to pledge their loyalty to him.
Mr Abubakar warned the Jonathan camp to avoid creating the illusion of victory before the battle by claiming it had secured 585 delegates in a region too politically sophisticated to fall for such propaganda and disinformation.
At a dinner with editors in Lagos on Sunday night, Mr. Abubakar, asked about his reaction to the reports that PDP governors have endorsed Mr. Jonathan, said, ‘‘Every person has the right to endorse who they want to, after all this is a democracy. What is not acceptable however, is people using their influence to force others to take a certain stance.” He added, “If governors as individuals decide they want to vote for Jonathan, that is well and good; but allow others to also have their say, do not use your position to intimidate those who want to vote for others.’’
He added that this indicates the difference in strategy between him and Mr Jonathan. He said while Mr. Jonathan relies on the governors to get him delegates, ‘‘I believe in talking to delegates one by one...in the end we will see whose strategy is right. Let us have a credible process so that everyone can say this is a credible process.’’Source:http://234next.com/
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