…Quote Me, Jonathan Will Beat Him Silly, Says Richard Akinjide
Former Governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji La¬wal Kaita said on Monday that General Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) will win next month’s Presidential elections.
Kaita, an APC chieftain told the Daily Times in a telephone interview that from all indications, Gen.Buhari is set to clinch victo¬ry in the February 14 polls.
But former Attorney Gen¬eral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide expressed confidence that President Goodluck Jonathan would beat Gen. Buhari “hands down.”
Akinjide, one of the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the brain behind the 12/2/3 formula that brought former President Shehu Shagari to power in 1983 said, from his thorough analysis of elections in Ni¬geria, Jonathan would de¬feat Buhari.
But Kaita rubbished the analysis, saying: “That’s his own analysis, but from our own calculations, Buhari will win”.
According to Kaita, the APC is not relying on votes from the north alone but from the masses across the country who will vote en mass for Buhari.
He expressed confidence in Buhari clinching the victory, saying that the APC is getting more popular every day as a lot of people are demanding change at the centre.
But, Chief Akinjide in an interview with the Daily Times thinks otherwise. His words: “There is nothing much between them, each of them will make political statements, campaigns and then will face the polls and then the results.
“I have a very strong be¬lief that President Jonathan will win again. Really, I’ve made a thorough analysis of elections in the country and there is no part of the country I’ve not travelled to. I don’t believe in what many magazines and many news¬papers are shouting. But when the time comes, you will be surprised that PDP will win hands down”, he stressed.
On claims by the opposi¬tion that Jonathan would lose on account of non-performance in the last six years, Akinjide said: “Those saying that are talking rub¬bish. The opposition con¬trols a lot of the newspapers and they are shouting all these. And they are telling lies but the public will not accept it at all. I have many reasons to believe that Pres¬ident Jonathan will win the elections hands down across the major part of the country”.
He said his projection is based on a thorough analy¬sis of elections in Nigeria “and from my experience- I contested election into the parliament twice and I won both times; and on two oc¬casions, I have served the federal government, first as Federal Minister of educa¬tion and later as Attorney General of the Federation. I have reasons to believe that people are more interested in peace than in violence”.
On claims that the north would use its numerical strength to sweep out Jona¬than from office, Akinjide said there is nothing like a monolithic north again.
His words: “I say there is no north. They’ve created 36 states. You can no longer talk of north or south or east or west in that context, certainly not. So, forget all these old colonial mentality of north, south, east or west; that era is gone forever and will never come back”.
He also expressed confi¬dence that contrary to fears of violence during the elec¬tion, the polls will be peace¬ful all over the country with the winner and the loser ac¬cepting their lots.
Source: Daily Times
