The president’s victory in the just concluded PDP primaries must be seen as a hollow one. This ‘'win'' is the easy part of the campaign by a very desperate Jonathan. The odds were stacked in his favour.
The president’s victory in the just concluded PDP primaries must be seen as a hollow one. This ‘'win'' is the easy part of the campaign by a very desperate Jonathan. The odds were stacked in his favour.
With the massive rigging of the PDP primaries at the state level by equally desperate governors who, like President Jonathan, are battling a hostile public that has been alienated by their incompetence and misrule, not to mention the shameful bribing of delegates with government money, this 'victory' should be considered as a pyrrhic one – an exercise that does not advance Nigerian democracy, but rather, is bound to further dismay and antagonize the citizenry even as it spells doom for Jonathan and the PDP leviathan in the general elections of 2011. It doesn't augur well for Jonathan as far as his presidential ambition is concerned. Nigerian voters across the land should be determined more than ever before to seek credible alternatives to the PDP merry makers whose undemocratic proclivities have made their existence a living hell in the last eleven years.
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In my last essay, I drew the attention of the country to the shameful conduct of the PDP primaries in particular and their potential consequences on the polity. That commentary can be accessed at the following link on the saharareporters.com website, amongst others: http://www.saharareporters.com/article/what-happens-when-government-behaves-terrorist-entity
You don’t need the powers of a clairvoyant person to know that a crooked and corrupt process can only produce an outcome like the unedifying spectacle that Nigerians witnessed at the PDP primaries in Abuja. That obscenity is being celebrated by Mr. President and his kith and kin, ideologically speaking, of course. It speaks volumes. What this means is that Jonathan and his PDP will reproduce another ‘’419’’ election this year – it is in their character – unless the good people of the country stop them.
The unimpressive showing by Jonathan in much of the North should be viewed with apprehension by his campaign team. In the April polls, Jonathan is likely to lose in the North where Buhari's CPC is getting entrenched. A similar scenario is to be expected in the South-West (S-W) where the PDP's support is almost non-existent now, what with the redoubtable ACN whose strong presence in the region has all but obliterated the PDP from the consciousness of the average S-W citizen.
Both the ACN and the CPC are also taking over what used to be considered as PDP strongholds in the Middle-Belt and especially in key states like Benue and Plateau where the extremely unpopular Governors Suswam and Jang, respectively, are certain to be booted out of the government houses they are currently occupying. The ACN should have a comfortable win in Benue. It's bid to capture the state has greatly been enhanced by Senator Akume's decision to join the party. Rejecting Suswam's illegal and anti-people attempt to constrict the democratic space in the state, Akume has joined the ACN camp with his formidable political machine. Other political heavy weights like Senator Akaagerger and General Onoja (rtd.) have also reportedly migrated to the ACN camp. Another factor favouring the ACN in Benue State is their choice of a governorship candidate in the person of Professor Steven Ugbah, a highly respected and popular American-trained academic whose pedigree and vision have rekindled hope in the hearts of Benue residents who have been at the receiving end of the polarizing Suswam and his misgovernance.
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In the South-East (S-E), Governor Peter Obi’s APGA is expected to make an impressive electoral outing as was the case in 2007. It is likely to win most of the states in the zone.
To make a long story short, so to speak, Jonathan's support base seems circumscribed - limited to the small states of the Niger Delta. Even there, the ACN has made serious in-roads. Besides, many suspect that the PDP has never really won any elections in the Niger Delta where, in almost all the polls since 1999, ''seaslide'' ‘Wins'' in the region have been orchestrated with the help of heavily armed thugs, the police, the army and the SSS. A case in point is the last re-run governorship election in Delta State.
But by far the most potent obstacles in the way of Jonathan's presidential ambition are his PDP and its track record for over a decade now. The PDP and its current owners like Jonathan, Obasanjo, Anenih and the state governors have constituted themselves into perhaps the most dangerous enemies of the Nigerian people and their democratic aspirations. The rampant misery in the land coupled with unprecedented insecurity and lawlessness are directly attributable to the bad governance on the part of the PDP which has held sway at the centre and in most states of the country since the military officially left the political scene in 1999. So, only Jonathan and his fellow anti-democratic elements are celebrating his 'win' today.
Nigerians in their majority are anxious to express their disgust by voting to secure their future through credible alternatives.
Aonduna Tondu ([email protected]).
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