[size=14pt]NASS election: Buhari’s loss in N/West jolts Arewa[/size]
Tuesday, 12 April 2011

APPARENTLY jolted by the outcome of the National Assembly election, which showed that the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), led by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), failed to do well in the North-West geopolitical zone as expected, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), on Sunday night, summoned a meeting of its chieftains in Kaduna.

Although it was learnt that the meeting was meant to be a closed one, sources said that the ACF had called the meeting to assess the fate of the presidential candidate of the CPC, Major-General Buhari, in view of the failure of his party to capture most of the North-West states as expected during the National Assembly election.

Sources confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the CPC was also worried by the outcome of the National Assembly polls, which confirmed a routing of the party by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the North-West.

[size=14pt]Ahead of the general election, the CPC chieftains had calculated that religion and ethnicity would form a major determinant of the election[/size] and that while the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was expected to pick most of the seats in the South-West, the CPC would win in most of the northern states.

On the basis of that projection, the opposition parties had calculated that they would be able to force a rerun in the presidential election.

But while the ACN won in most of the states of the South-West, the CPC could not record significant wins in the northern states.

The CPC is coming a distant second in the states of the North-Central, while PDP had won big in the North-West states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa and Kano.

A source told the Nigerian Tribune that the ACF’s meeting would enable the top leaders to examine the implications of the National Assembly election for Buhari and at the same time come up with some ways forward.

The meeting is also said to involve some affiliate groups, which would be given specific assignments after the appraisal.

Said the source: “The Arewa Consultative Forum has called a joint meeting today (Monday) in Kaduna of most northern groups to appraise the Saturday election. The meeting is to express surprise at the results from most of the North-West and design the way forward. It came as a big surprise that the CPC failed to capture the zone.”

But another source said that the defeat of the CPC was not surprising because the party was not on the ground in the zone.

He said: “It is not enough to show a big crowd on television. How many of the people in the crowd have voter cards? How many of them are ready to withstand the pressure and remain in the queue for as long as possible to cast their votes? The CPC is simply not on the ground in the North-West.”

Also, the leadership of the CPC was said to have been seriously jolted by the results coming from the North-West.

It was gathered that the party had dispatched a strong team to begin a series of strategic meetings in states like  Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Jigawa.

Presidential candidate of the CPC, Major-General Buhari, was also said to have concluded plans to meet with the Alhaji Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), which coordinated the Northern consensus arrangement.

It was learnt that while Buhari had kept the NPLF at bay all along, his party’s faltering start in the North-West had compelled him to seek Ciroma’s assistance.

A source in the know told the Nigerian Tribune: “The CPC has raised teams to Kano, Sokoto and Jigawa states. [size=14pt]They are also to meet with the Adamu Ciroma G15. General Buhari himself is already seeking the backing of the Ciroma group. They (teams) have already left for these states.”[/size]

It was learnt that the CPC was not only unhappy with the results from parts of the North, its leaders, at a meeting on Sunday, also rejected  the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), though a formal statement has not been issued.

A source said the party’s reaction might be unfolded after  Saturday’s presidential election.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/20319-nass-election-buharis-loss-in-nwest-jolts-arewa

can they really be this dum.b?

religion and ethnicity?

lol

sbeezy8:

religion and ethnicity?

lol

Oh yes! Buhari didn't bother campaigning, those Yar Adua cabal peeps that hired the almajiri's felt that pumping text messeage calling GEJ a zionist and kaffir who is anti-Islam would do the trick. It seems to have fauled woefully. lol!

Even the few almajiri's that turned up to vote were caught as underage voters! Damn! They thought these elections would be business as usual.

This is just the beginning of buhari's disgrace in Northern Nigeria, imagine a South-south man demystifing a general in his own palour!

How many states had CPC controlled in Nigeria's history? Now d are angry at the successes of d RULING PDP; let them go and sleep!

While Jonathan was campaigning, Buhari was threatening Nigerians with violence.

I see a land slide victory for Jonathan.

Those NPLF/ACF which have never has any positive impact on the common masses and which I thought Buhari was against are the ones he is running to.

Mr. Anticorruption is even holding meetings with the likes of IBB, Atiku to strategize means of winning.

he he he he

Don't mind the Arewa jokers.

When I analyzed how the elections will turn out, some people here on NL who knows next to nothing about politics dismissed it. Now, all my predictions are coming to pass.

Some folks are ignoring the fact that, the political survival of all PDP governors in the north depends so much on Jonathan's victory this saturday. If GEJ loses (which is very unlikely) and Buhari wins, the ripple effect on the April 26 governorship and state assmblies elections in the north will be overwhelming in favour of CPC. That is why those PDP governors will leave no stone unturned to make sure that their PDP man - GEJ wins come April 26. Besides that, a good number of them are strategizing for 2015. Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Shinkafi of Katsina, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi and Babangida Aliyu of Niger are known to want to take a shot at the presidency in 2015. You can see how Sule Lamido especially has been dismissing the ethnic card being played by the Arewa guys who are largely political orphans.

Alliance or no alliance, I can see it glaringly that GEJ will win this election at first ballot.

This NPLF/ACF has absolutely no power over the electorate at all, they are just decieving themselves, the igbo's are voting 4 GEJ not becos of ohaneze or s/east govs but becos of the presidential candidates, GEJ appeals most to them, OPC does not have to endorse GEJ before the yorubas vote 4 GEJ, if GEJ appeals to their taste, they'll vote for him. The north is simply tired of the oldman called buhari that has been contesting since the beginning and has been loosing, even many of the NPLF/ACF members left to support GEJ becos they have seen the light!