Next Saturday is the governorship election, where Nigerians would vote for governors in their respective states. SAMUEL OGIDAN x-rays the voting pattern and how far the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would go in retaining or winning more states.
On the April 11, 2015 Nigerians would once again troop out to elect the governors that would police the affairs of their states in the next four years. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the past 16 years had dominated the political arena, controlling 25 states until the defection of five governors from PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC). Even at that the PDP controls more states than the APC.
At the moment, the PDP controls 22 states, while the APC controls 14 states. The states at the disposal of PDP are; Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba in the North-east, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi and Jigawa in the North-west. In the North-central, the PDP controls Plateau, Benue, Kogi and Niger.
In the South-west, the PDP controls Ekiti and Ondo, while in South-south, it controls Delta, Cross River, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom. In South-east, the PDP controls Abia, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi.
APC on the other hand controls Borno and Yobe in the North-east, it controls Kano, Zamfara and Sokoto in the North-west. In the North-central, it controls Kwara and Nasarawa, while in South-west, the APC controls Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Osun. In South-south, it controls Edo and Rivers, while in South-east, it controls only Imo state.
During the presidential election the voting pattern change and if the trend continues in the governorship election, the APC may sweep the whole of North-west states, almost all the North-east and North-central states. The South-west is not left out in the equation as the APC controls the region except two states, while the South-south and South-east may be a hard nut for the party to crack.
However, another opportunity has come for both parties to test their strength to see where the pendulum will swing. The APC has gotten the presidential seat, a situation that made some political analysts to conclude that the pendulum may swing in favour of APC to get more states in the forthcoming governorship election than the PDP.
Bruised and humiliated by the outcome of the presidential election, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday met with some of its governors, governorship candidates and some state party chairmen to strategise on how to win more states in the forthcoming governorship election.
The meeting which started at 11:30am and ended at 2:15pm was held behind closed, even aides of the party chieftains were asked to leave the meeting immediately after the national anthem.
The meeting was chaired by the party National Chairman, Dr Adamu Mu’azu, with most of their governorship candidates in attendance.
The meeting, a party source revealed, was aimed at restrategising to stem a possible band wagon effect ahead of the governorship election by April 11.
Mu’azu, who understand the task ahead, encouraged the party members and the governorship candidates not to be discouraged by the outcome of the presidential election, insisting that they should use the outcome as a pivotal to launch into the enemy’s territories to get more states.
He said: “For us in the PDP, we want to state in very clear terms that we are not down. We are only at our redefining moment. Rather than demoralize us, this election has afforded us great lessons and we are now more than ever before reinvigorated for the race ahead.
“As we return to the electorate for the April 11, 2015 governorship and state assembly elections, we go recharged with faith in our heart. We assure all our candidates in the remaining elections that the party will stand with you, campaign with you and work vigourously to ensure your total victory at the polls.”
Mu’azu added that, “next week’s governorship election will certainly provide the Peoples Democratic Party a soft-landing after conceding the Presidency to the All Progressive Congress in the Presidential election on March 28, 2015.”
According to him, “I urge the PDP faithful to pick up the pieces and ensure that we return quickly to our old winning ways. There should be no room for voter apathy that was a major factor to our loosing the presidential election. While our opponents were savouring their famous victory, we should out flank them and corner at least two thirds of the states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“This is not an impossible target if we return to our elements with immediate effect. We have done it before and we can do it again. Nothing will be sweeter than PDP taking Lagos, our own Rivers State and IMO. Our candidates in these states are first class material who have fully penetrated the political structures of those states and are set to win.
“Our target in this remaining election should be to retain our present states and then sink our teeth into the heart of our political opponents and show that their presidential victory is nothing more than a one-off that won’t be repeated in a long while. Earlier this week, I reminded our gubernatorial candidates at Wadata House that one thing that won’t happen in this gubernatorial race is the so called bandwagon effect. The reason is simple. Our party is used to bouncing back whenever we experience a setback.
“The PDP in the past 16 years of democracy has maintained fair play consistently, this much the APC admitted in their response to President Jonathan’s speech conceding to President-elect General Muhammdu Buhari. The key to winning the remaining election is heavy turnout and voting the PDP all the way. There should be no tactical voting. Be consistent in your support for the party. What we experienced in the presidential election is merely a hiccup which we must cast out in the gubernatorial polls.”
Advising the party members on what to do, he said, “all PDP supporters must remember their pedigree, our track record and history of the party and the source of our electoral feats of the last sixteen years. We are the reason that democracy has taken root in Nigeria since 1999. This is something every member of our great party should be very proud of.
He said: “We have only lost a battle but the war to bring our country to the highest level of democratic governance is still to be won or lost. Our governorship candidates should go out and finish the good fight and come up trumps in the remaining gubernatorial and houses of assembly election on 11th April.
We remain the winning party and by God’s special grace we shall win again and again.”
Now that it is clear the election is not going to be a work over for the PDP, how prepare is the ruling party to retain its states and win more from the opposition?
