Demonstrations have broken out in Northern Nigeria as Northern youths protesting against their governors over their alleged "sell-out" at the PDP delegate Primary took to the streets.
Hundreds of Muslim youths poured into the streets of the northern cities of Kaduna, Bauchi, Katsina and Hadejia at the weekend in protest, burning PDP flags and membership cards, witnesses told elombah.com

On Sunday, the PDP campaign headquarters in the northern city of Sokoto burned, but the cause was unclear, local radio reported. But so far some of those youths in the North have not taken laws into their hands, according to reports available to elombah.com

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's easily won the Peoples Democratic Party primary vote last week, but his candidacy remains has stirred anger because many Northers argue a northern candidate should have been given the nomination.

OPERATION YAKI


In Katsina, the home state of Jonathan's predecessor, the late Umaru Yar?Adua, fiery sermons were delivered in mosques during Friday prayers urging Muslims not to vote for PDP candidates, local media reported.
Mass text messages on mobile phones have also been sent condemning northern state governors as "the enemies of the north and Islam" for supporting Jonathan instead of Atiku Abubakar, who challenged the president for the nomination.

One of the text messages sent to elombah.com reads: the gay northern governors who voted for Goodluck Jonathan have xtian titles and prayed God to punish them. read: Allah ya tsinema Reverend Murtalla Nyako, Bishop Shehu Shema, Pastor Sule Lamido, Apostle Aliyu Akwe Doma, Deacon Isa Yuguda and Primate Idris Ibrahim. They are the enemies of the North and Islam. VOTE FOR BUHARI! Pls forward same to others.

Prominent northerners in Nigeria's ruling party, including the losing candidate in its presidential primary, held meetings at the weekend to plan their next move following President Goodluck Jonathan's victory last week.


Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, defeated by Jonathan in Thursday's vote, met with ex-military ruler Ibrahim Babangida and former national security adviser Aliyu Gusau, all of whom are prominent northern opponents to Jonathan.


"They were reviewing the primaries," said Garba Shehu, Abubakar's campaign spokesman, but gave no details on the outcome of the meeting.


Some analysts have said Abubakar and his northern supporters could strike some sort of deal with opposition parties to try to ensure Jonathan does not win the April general election. There are talks of gENRAL Muhammadu Buhari reaching some sort of agreement with Atiku since the alliance talks between Buhari's CPC and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN has flopped.

"We have resolved to renounce our membership of the PDP for the injustice meted on the north over the zoning arrangement and have started consultation on which of the northern candidates to vote for in the presidential election," said Ahmad Yazid Rafindadi, who led the protest in Katsina.

However, some governors of states in the North, over the weekend insisted that their decision to vote for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate was hinged on the exigencies of national unity, patriotism and the need to uphold tenets of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

All three major opposition parties have nominated northern Muslim candidates.
Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, running under the Congress for Progressive Change banner, is particularly seen as a potential threat to Jonathan if he forms an alliance with another influential party.
But despite the bluster, the extent of northern discontent with Jonathan remains difficult to gauge.
It was unclear whether the protests resulted from politicians co-opting youth gangs and sending them into the streets, as has been done in the past.
"There is strong public anger against northern PDP governors for going against the popular will of their people in supporting Jonathan in the primaries," said Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, a political science professor at the northern Ahmadu Bello University.
"Certain political forces are no doubt exploiting this public disenchantment, especially the religious aspect of it."
Some had also predicted that Jonathan's primary run would result in violence and that Abubakar, an ex-vice president, would be a strong challenger.
In the end, Jonathan handily defeated Abubakar. There has been an upsurge in violence in recent weeks, including bomb attacks in the capital Abuja and the central city of Jos, but it is unclear whether it is directly linked to Jonathan's run.
"The whipping of religious sentiment in the north against , President Goodluck Jonathan is a dangerous development to the sustenance of democracy and national peace and stability," said Shehu Sani of the northern Civil Rights Congress organisation.
"It is equally true that politicians and Christian clerics in the south are also using religion to promote and rally support for Jonathan against northern candidates."
The Northern Elders Assembly, which challenged Jonathan's candidacy in court, blames northern PDP delegates who supported the president.
"The delegates should have thought that the choice of President Jonathan would provoke religious sentiment, which is very dangerous," Tanko Yakasai, a spokesman for the group, told newsmen.

www.elombah.com


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Sweet. Atleast, with their decision to not vote Jonathan, this would make the results a lot more polarized, and thus, "more convincing."