GOODLUCK JONATHANThe struggle for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party intensified within the week with most of the governors elected under the umbrella of the party declaring their support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s ambition to secure the party’s ticket for the 2011 elections.SATURDAY PUNCH extensive investigations on the PDP race between Jonathan and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar showed that the President’s campaign team, led by Ambassador Dalhatu Tafida had made inroads into most of the states in the country.It was gathered that at the last count, 21 governors were supporting Jonathan’s presidential ambition.The breakdown shows that in the North-West, five governors are backing the Jonathan/Sambo ticket; North-Central, four; North-East, two; South-West, two; South-East, three; and South-South, five.SATURDAY PUNCH gathered that Jonathan had the support of virtually all the governors of the North-Western states except Sokoto and Zamfara.An official of the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign team told SATURDAY PUNCH that the President’s men were putting pressure on Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State to make him change his opposition to Jonathan’s ambition.It was learnt that even in Sokoto, the deputy governor, Alhaji Muktah Shagari, a former Minister of Water Resources under President Olusegun Obasanjo, was working for the President.The official dismissed speculations that Wamakko had supported Jonathan because of the judgement delivered in his favour by the Supreme Court.He argued that Wamakko won his case on merit at the Supreme Court on November 26, 2010 as Jonathan had refused to be involved in the judicial process in pursuit of his desire to create an environment that is conducive to the growth of democracy.“In the North-West, I don’t think we have any problem. We are not sure of Governor Wamakko of Sokoto State, but we are working on him. That is the only governor I know that is giving some problems in that zone,” the official said. “But we are sure of the deputy governor, although the deputy doesn’t control the delegates. The governors have control over them.”In the South-West, the two surviving governors of Oyo and Ogun states, Adebayo Alao-Akala and Gbenga Daniel respectively, are known to be arch supporters of the President.Authoritative sources said that even in the remaining parts of the South-West, the party’s structures in those states had volunteered their support for the President.It was gathered that Jonathan had pacified some members of the PDP from the South-West during his multiple visits to the zone recently. During the visits, Jonathan met with stakeholders in the zone.SATURDAY PUNCH gathered that at the meetings, the President took his time to explain things to the stakeholders in the zone. He was said to have promised the stakeholders from the states which lost their governors to judicial pronouncements that their concerns would receive due attention at the federal level.This followed a recent decision of all the governors of the South-West to back the President for the 2011 elections.Our correspondent gathered that the decision of the South-West governors, which was announced by Alao-Akala, was taken after a series of meetings between Jonathan and the core power brokers in the zone.In the North-Central geopolitical zone, those in charge of the political machinery of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation are contending with fresh challenges that have emerged with the seeming withdrawal of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, from the race.It was learnt that the Jonathan team was mounting pressure on Governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger State to reconsider his earlier decision after the exit of Babangida from the race.Aliyu was said to have told emissaries from the Jonathan team that it would be inconceivable for him to support any other aspirant apart from Babangida, who is from the state.With the present situation, Jonathan’s men are not sure of the Niger State governor and his Kwara counterpart, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who also lost the contest for the Northern consensus aspirant to Abubakar via the ruling of the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum.But SATURDAY PUNCH gathered authoritatively that the governors of Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi states were frontline supporters of Jonathan’s aspiration.Also, the governor of Zamfara, Alhaji Aliu Shinkafi (North-West) and Danjuma Goje of Gombe (North-East), who were in the camp of IBB, were said to have told Jonathan’s men that their support for the former military president was not as a result of zoning or the NPLF, but for personal reasons.Jonathan is banking on the fact that Goje has always opposed Atiku and had been an Obasanjo supporter and a Minister of State for Power under the late Bola Ige.SATURDAY PUNCH investigations, however, showed that Jonathan had a lot more work to do in the South-East geopolitical zone in spite of the declaration of support for him by the governors.It was learnt that the zone was viewed as a major worrisome spot for the aspirants involved in the contest for the presidential ticket of the party.A source close to the Presidency, however, dismissed the fears, insisting that out of the four PDP governors of the South-East; Jonathan could count on the support of a minimum of three.In the South-South, all the four surviving governors of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers are believed to have given their support in the forthcoming contest for the presidential ticket of the party to the Jonathan/Sambo team.The only state where Jonathan does not seem to have a trusted support in the South-South is Delta, where the governor’s election was recently annulled by the Court of Appeal in Benin.Before the annulment, former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan was said to have given discreet support to IBB in spite of the fact that Jonathan had met his condition to get the Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, out of the governorship contest in the state.SATURDAY PUNCH investigations indicated that Uduaghan and the acting governor of the state, Sam Obi, had control over the party machinery in Delta.It was, however, said that Obi was somebody the President’s men could reach and hold fruitful talks with.In spite of the support for Jonathan by the governors, our correspondent gathered that Abubakar had been holding discussions with the delegates.“Our aspirant is an experienced politician. He has been meeting the delegates directly, not through the governors. Besides, many of these governors are deceiving Jonathan. When the time comes, we will know the winner,” said one of Abubakar’s aides.The presidential primaries of the PDP will hold in January 2011, a situation which still gives room for the two aspirants to forge alliances ahead of the ballot.Comments :
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