PDP Stalwart Fears Jonathan May Lose Presidential Election

PDP stalwart fears Jonathan may lose presidential election
By Sylvester Ugwuanyi on January 12, 2015
A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Hassan
Jalo, on Sunday warned that President Goodluck Jonathan will lose
the February 14 presidential election so long as he continues to rely
on promises made to him by Abuja-based politicians.
He said the ruling party would be underestimating the strength of
the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) at its detriment.
The PDP scribe, who stated this while exchanging views with
reporters in Kaduna, said that the ruling party could only come out
victorious from the election by returning to the drawing board and
to the grassroots to mobilize for supports from the people.
Hear him, “PDP will fail if it relies on Abuja politicians because they
cannot decide who wins the presidential elections. The party must
go back to the drawing board and grassroots for it to come out
victorious in the 2015 elections. People are defecting in mass from
PDP at the grassroots.
“APC is a big threat to PDP because it is a formidable opposition.
People close to Jonathan don’t tell him the truth. The PDP is in a
serious problem – if it does not go back to the drawing board and
it keeps relying on the Abuja politicians.
“If the PDP does not do that I’m afraid anything can happen in the
2015 general elections. PDP is in danger. You see the plain truth is
PDP should not take APC lightly.
“APC is a very strong and formidable opposition party. And is a
threat to PDP. 2015 election will not be like any other elections.
Mind you, PDP has lost five formidable state governors. For PDP
to lose Kano and Lagos, which are highly populated area, forget it.
Kano and Lagos brings the highest votes in Nigeria.
“Any political party that can win the Northwest and Southwest and
get additional votes from Northeast, Northcentral, Southeast and
Southsouth will win the Presidency.
“Majority of the votes comes from the Northwest and Southwest.
And look at it that the PDP has lost Kano, Northwest and Lagos,
Southwest. PDP has messed up by losing Kwara, Adamawa and
Sokoto.
“When you take the Sokoto Caliphate, which comprises of Sokoto,
Zamfara and Kebbi, they vote in mass. And even in this 2015
election, they will vote in one direction from the way I’m looking at
things. And all this forms part of the Northwest. In Nigerian
politics, ones you win in the Southwest and Northwest, you have
won the presidency because that is where the bulk of the votes
come from,” he reasoned.
Jalo buttressed that the South-south and the South-east do not
bring in votes while the votes from North-east and North-central
are divided. “So, the bulk of the votes come from the Northwest
and Southwest. Nobody can win the presidency with the votes of
the South-south and South-east,” he said noting that the
calculation indicates that the PDP is in a clear danger.
He advised the party to stop relying on Abuja politicians and go
back to the grassroots where the votes come from, stressing that
“You cannot be in Abuja and go to tell Mr. President and the
National Chairman of PDP lies that I call win my state. And maybe
for a year or six months they’ve not been to their village.
“Those are the Abuja politicians, who only stay in Abuja and go
and tell Mr. President they will deliver their state for him only just
to get contracts and leave. And those are the people the PDP is
relying on.
“Abuja politicians are the problem of PDP. Mr. President should
know that he is been deceived. He should tell the PDP National
Chairman, ‘let everybody go back to their villages and mobilize for
the party.’”