A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Hassan Jalo, said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan risks losing the February 14 presidential election if he keeps relying on the promises of those he called “Abuja politicians”.
The ruling party, he said, will be digging its own grave by underrating the strength and the challenge posed by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
Jalo, who spoke in a chat with reporters in Kaduna, said the ruling party could emerge victorious if it returns to the drawing board and to the grassroots to mobilise for supports.
He said: “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.
“The Southsouth and Southeast don’t bring votes while the Northeast and Northcentral are divided. So, the bulk of the votes come from the Northwest and Southwest. Nobody can win the presidency with the votes of the Southsouth and Southeast.
“So, if you look at the calculations, you will know that PDP is in a clear danger. If they don’t go back to the drawing board, stop relying on Abuja politicians and go back to the grassroots, where the votes come from, PDP is finished.
“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 mobilise for the party’”.
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