With what appears to be marginalisation of the South East by PDP and APC in the zoning of their vice presidential slots, Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, writes on the tough task facing the parties in the region.
“It ain’t over till it’s over” is a famous quote attributed to basketball coach, Yogi Berra, in July 1973.
In politics, this quote is applicable. The reason is simple: in the game of politics, there is almost always final intrigues, last minute calculations that change the probability of political action.
To win Nigeria’s presidential election, for example, a candidate has to score at least 25 per cent of the votes in two-thirds of the states (24) and carry the majority vote nationally.
So far, in terms of governorship spread, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controls 21 states, All Progressives Congress (APC) 14, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) 1.
It is obvious that given the present scenario both the candidate of the PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan, and APC, Mohammadu Buhari, would clearly be walking a tight rope in the contest slated for February 14.
The earlier permutation by most political pundits before the APC settled for Prof. Yemi Osinbajo from the South West as its vice presidential candidate was that with the South East in tow for a VP slot, Buhari’s last shot would have hit the target with greater ease.
But with what most South Easterners see as the neglect of the zone, there are indications that the zone will provide the real battleground.
Expectedly, the APC, realising that it should not leave anything to chance, seems to be devising new strategies to give the region a sense of belonging.
In its frantic move to woo the area and defuse the PDP stronghold in the region, it was gathered that the APC might zone the Senate presidency to the South East, if it wins the 2015 elections.
It was also gathered that the South South would be pacified with the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The two regions were being considered for the posts because the North and South West have the president and vice presidential slots.
But PDP has continued to be upbeat at chances in South East, ruling out the APC’s likelihood of winning the presidential poll in the zone.
Recently, the ruling party described APC scramble for South East votes as “will-o’-the-wisp, sheer delusion and a mid-day feverish dream”.
According to the PDP, the zone will deliver 100 per cent bloc vote to it in the February general elections. The ruling party, in a statement, by its National Vice Chairman, South East, Austin Akobundu, said the area, apart from being a solid fort for PDP, would rebuff the APC’s alleged “ideology of lies, deceit, divisiveness and violence”.
The statement noted that there is no place for the APC in the South East, asking the opposition party to focus elsewhere.
“The bitter truth for the party is that the five states of the South East are solidly in support of the PDP and will deliver a bloc vote for President Jonathan and all our candidates in the February elections.
“We therefore wish to advise the APC, its presidential candidate as well as other candidates not to waste energy in the zone. APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, would be humiliated in the elections, as he had nothing positive to offer the electorate in the zone in particular and the nation in general.
“When Buhari was military head of state, he did not remember the South East for any concrete project. The only legacy his draconian rule left for Ndigbo was the unjust hounding and jailing of credible South East leaders which included former Vice President Alex Ekwueme and former Governor of the old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo. The extra-judicial killing of innocent citizens is scar that even hyssop can’t wash,” said the PDP.
APC speaking through its South East Zonal Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, said the PDP would not be able to get as many votes as it got during the 2011 elections.
Okechukwu vowed that APC would stop the jumbo votes the PDP had in 2011.
“We will stop the jumbo votes they (PDP) gave themselves in these areas. In 2011, General Mohammadu Buhari did not have agents in these places; today the mega platform that we have, which is the APC, has the capacity and will deploy agents there.
“For example, in Imo, there were about 1.4 million voters; they claimed that 1.3 million voted for Jonathan, meaning there was over 90 per cent voters’ turn-out which has never happened anywhere in the world. Also in Rivers State, out of about 1.9 million voters, they claimed 1.8 million voted for Jonathan. This kind of turn-out was not recorded in Kano or even Lagos. People are wiser now. We will not allow this kind of fraud this time around because we will checkmate them,” APC noted.
Even Ekwueme, who PDP said that Buhari jailed for 301 years, had told Jonathan not to expect bloc vote from South East.
TheNiche gathered that the thinking in the South East is to play safe, so as not to put all its eggs in one basket in case there is change of power.
A source that preferred anonymity disclosed to our reporter in confidence that “while working for the PDP, it pays us in the South East to also be part of the APC campaign. There is the possibility of APC winning the presidency, and South East will be in the lurch, so that we cannot lose out”.
At the meeting of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu recently, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, was hushed down when he moved a motion for the adoption of Jonathan by the South East.
Although PDP still holds sway in the South East, it was gathered that with the stronghold of the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on the state, his performance and popularity profile, as well as the strong mobilisation going on in the area, the zone, no doubt, will be a battlefield to scramble for votes.
