How Jonathan, Buhari will battle for votes

President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and his major rival, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have remarkably rewritten former assumptions putting the contest into what has become the most competitive election since the return of democratic rule in 1999.

It is a battle being fought on every inch of Nigerian territory. Buhari, who in his former contests practically ignored several areas, is going out meeting and soliciting for votes from all over the country. Besides the strategic meeting with governors, he is also expected to address the concerns of traders in Onitsha. President Jonathan, on the other hand, has practically laid siege on the Southwest with the prospect of winning over the people of the region. A state by state detail of the battle on the ground is presented hereunder.

By Our Reporters

Anambra State

2011: Jonathan 1,145,169 Buhari 4,223

Anambra was a state Jonathan won with more than 99 per cent in 2011 with 1,145,169 votes. The president is believably headed for another victory in the state in 2015, but only fools will believe that the president could get the kind of victory he got four years ago.

The momentum for Buhari has been tempered in Anambra by internal divisions within the Buhari campaign especially around the personality of the leaders of the campaign. Senator Chris Ngige, who is leading the campaign in the state, is not in the good books of a handful of many other supporters.

Dr. Jonathan is also boosted by the unqualified support he is receiving from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA government in the state. Dr. Jonathan would win handsomely in the state, Buhari would not get 25 per cent but the bad news for the Jonathan campaign is that the swelled vote would not be obtained given the introduction of the
card reader.

Ebonyi

2011: Jonathan 480,592 Buhari 1,025

Jonathan got more than 99.5 per cent of the votes he got in 2011 and was helped by the fact that Buhari practically did not have an organisation in the state and the state opposition leader, Senator Julius Ucha was drained of resources.

However, with the reinvention of the opposition and the internal discord in the PDP that led to the movement of Governor Martin Elechi’s supporters to Labour Party, the APC could be tempted to smell an opportunity. However, chances of that were as at weekend not viable given recent efforts by the president to keep Elechi from being impeached.

Unless Elechi decides to play a rascal, Buhari will not get 25 per cent in Ebonyi