Kaduna voted on religious sentiment, says Sambo

Vice President Namadi Sambo has attributed the poor performance recorded by the People’s Democratic Party in Kaduna State during last Saturday’s National Assembly elections to a religious conspiracy by some northerners against the presidential ambitions of Goodluck Jonathan. The vice president who spoke through his senior special assistant on media, Umar Sani, said that the defeat was not targeted at him but at the PDP. He said that those who voted against the PDP in the state were mostly Muslims who saw the coming presidential election as a religious contest between Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, and Muhammadu Buhari who is a Muslim.

According to him, “Some people have been going around the North warning that any Muslim that votes for PDP or any other party outside CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) is not a genuine Muslim and will be punished for that.

“They have already made up their minds to vote for CPC because of Buhari without minding the calibre of candidates they voted on Saturday. Many of those who were elected are not even known by the electorate and they did not campaign. But because of the presidential agenda which they are so much interested in, they voted for CPC. But I can assure you that Sambo will deliver his ward to PDP and the entire Kaduna state come Saturday.”

Mr. Sani told NEXT that many of the places lost by the PDP had always voted for Mr. Buhari since 1999, adding that the party would have captured all the seats if the presidential election had come first.

“In 2007, when the presidential election was conducted first, the PDP was able to capture Kaduna Central which had always been controlled by the ANPP (All Nigeria People’s Party). This is because the people are much interested in where the president comes from,” he declared.

The special assistant said that Mr. Sambo won his polling unit when he contested the governorship election in 2007 and had always maintained a cordial relationship with his people. Mr. Sani said that President Jonathan would emerge victorious in Saturday’s election despite all the scheming by certain people in the North to scuttle his chances.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5689587-146/story.csp

This excuse of voting based on belief is the most unfortunate one I've heard in recent times. The Vice President should accept that he failed to deliver his state and not giving excuses. If the people made up their mind to vote for Buhari based on religious sentiments, then where did PDP get the votes in Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, etc, which are predominantly muslim more than Kaduna?

Bintus2much:

This excuse of voting based on belief is the most unfortunate one I've heard in recent times. The Vice President should accept that he failed to deliver his state and not giving excuses. If the people made up their mind to vote for Buhari based on religious sentiments, then where did PDP get the votes in Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, etc, which are predominantly muslim more than Kaduna?

Guy you won't understand this phenomenon if you don't reside in a divided area like kaduna. My brother did tell me the exact same thing last thursday evening while i was still in KD. He said a Ghanian muslim asked him why we were so bigoted in Nigeria cos of what he had heard muslim clerics preaching in mosques about the elections. The thing is, in a place like kaduna or plateau you can get muslims or christians to vote in one direction by just playing the religious card. If you noticed, the christian PDP senatorial candidate in southern kaduna, Esther Nenadi Usman won the with over 400,000 votes. Just wait and watch how overwhelmingly Jonathan will win southern kaduna and how woefully Buhari will perform there on saturday.

People make too big a deal about religion in naija.

I saw a graphic one time of per capita beer consumption per year in the world. Nigeria was one of the highest in Africa, and looked like one of the Western countries.

Now, there is NO way it can be only Christians drinking that beer, Muslims must be drinking too

It is kind of a silly thing to let divide us, imo.

^ Religion is not a devisive instrument in the SS, SE or SW; but immediately you cross the river Niger there is a world of difference there. The problem is historical and has to do with violence meted to christian dominated tribes  over the years in the name of religion. Now the area is so divided that a City like Kaduna is like Israel with the jews on one side and Arabs on the other. While you'll find a brewery in the southern half of kaduna City with clubs and all, the northern part of the City is the Islamic half. A christian coming into the state would be advised by his colleagues to rent his/her flat at the southern half where the rates could almost be twice what it is in the Islamic part.

About the beer consumption, well i passed through Zamfara over the weekend and i saw many of hausa chaps downing beer at Mess and Mammy market. Yes they do a bit of drinking but alcohol is usually only sold around military and para-military mess in sharia states.

That is the most ridiculous excuse ever . . .  his name was not on the ballot . . .and there were other candidates who lost. If I lived in the sate, I would definitely make sure to avoid anything that has to do with him for this. Jeez!!

@edoyad: If a man from a minority tribe becomes Muslim, does he identify more with Northern Kaduna than Southern?

@ekitibear that one's a bit tricky. The thing is there'v been many instances where muslims from other tribes have been slain during riots. That's why some people still argue that it's not just a religious thing, it's ethno-religious mixed with intolerance.

Kobojunkie:

That is the most ridiculous excuse ever . . .  his name was not on the ballot . . .and there were other candidates who lost. If I lived in the sate, I would definitely make sure to avoid anything that has to do with him for this. Jeez!!

Guys, there's this online service that lets you campaign to your Friends specially to those who may not have access to the Internet. Let's win this election men. Its obvious that Ribadu is the right guy.
http://thetimeisnownigeria.com/campaigns/sms_message/new


Read what really happened at the alliance talk here:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/04/why-acn-cpc-talks-collapsed/

Guy you won't understand this phenomenon if you don't reside in a divided area like kaduna. My brother did tell me the exact same thing last thursday evening while i was still in KD. He said a Ghanian muslim asked him why we were so bigoted in Nigeria cos of what he had heard muslim clerics preaching in mosques about the elections. The thing is, in a place like kaduna or plateau you can get muslims or christians to vote in one direction by just playing the religious card. If you noticed, the christian PDP senatorial candidate in southern kaduna, Esther Nenadi Usman won the with over 400,000 votes. Just wait and watch how overwhelmingly Jonathan will win southern kaduna and how woefully Buhari will perform there on saturday.

@edoyad,
do not be decieved, i am from imo state. the bishop that conducted the thanksgiving service of bode george(a federal criminal) is not a muslim claric but a christian that reads the bible. a christian that knows his right from left. a christian that sees the pains these criminals are imposing on the poor masses.
every failure has excuse. now they promise to win the presidential in that same place, can't u ask them how? if the reason for failure was what they mentioned, why are they promising to win this time(maybe rigging)?
what reasons are obasanjo giving for his failure to deliever? are u saying anyone who vote against pdp is now crazy after 12 useless yrs in power? what can pdp do in 4 yrs that they have not done in 12yrs?
if i am the northerners, i will make this country ungovernable if jonathan wins.
this same pdp agreed on rotational presidency so why are they changing now?