I hope the ACN and the North are reading this. I have said it that , even as I respect Buhari and I think he will be a good president , it might be easier , with the right support and in the Nigeria of today , to mould Ribadu into the leader to topple the PDP. I expected Atiku , at the PDP primaries , to do much better and for him to actually be in with a good chance . The result shows , even factoring in the inducement and bullying of delegates, that Nigerians are probably fed up of some folks . We know the delegates are sharks but many were probably put off by the sheer arrogance of Atiku only the past relic politicians possess as per being used to dictatorially getting their ways always. Ciroma and co miscalculated badly with how they stuck with a "business as usual" candidate when they should have noted that the likes of Ribadu and El Rufai are the way forward for the region. I hope the opposition , to include Buhari , will think carefully and learn from events. The opposition is now in a much stronger position , and will gain greater political support, because the PDP has GEJ as its candidates . I hope they will not squander this glorious chance. let us not forget that it is the PDP Primaries we witnessed. Nothing else . As at the last count 70% of Nigerians still want the PDP gone   Ciroma et al ignored the many polls that showed Atiku was the least popular candidate of all. Lets hope the ACN and the opposition to the PDP can read and interprete opinion polls better than Ciroma and co. On a good note the loud and foul-mouthed Blazay (biggest NL supporter of Atiku) should now be gone for good . His boy (Atiku) was b.itch-slapped terribly.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5663518-146/poll_firm_tips_ribadu_as_presidential.csp

Poll firm tips Ribadu as presidential favourite

By Ayo Okulaja
January 14, 2011 03:43AM

A poll conducted by a consultancy firm, Country- link has shown that Mr Ribadu has a better chance to win the presidential election in the country if he were to contest against only candidates from the northern part of the country. The opinion poll conducted over a period of one week by telephone calls and through copies of questionnaire distributed by email and by hand targeted seven contestants of the 2011 election that are of northern origin.

The polls gave Mr Ribadu a marginal lead over Muhammudu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Other presidential aspirants from the zone considered for the poll were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Sarah Jibril-both of the People's Democratic Party (PDP); the Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and his colleagues from the All Nigeria People's party (ANPP)-Bashir Usman Tofa and Dauda Birmah.

According to the collated results, Mr Ribadu led his contemporaries in expected competence, Willingness to deliver, as well as a potential unifying factor, scoring 39%, 32% and 40% respectively. However, Mr Buhari led in experience with 31% while Mr Atiku took the second position with 30%. Sarah Jibril, the only female contestant in the race scored 11% and 10% respectively for a possible unifying factor and in expected delivery respectively.

Mr Ribadu's second strongest point with 40% score was in the preferred candidate category, Mr Buhari came second with 27% while Mr Atiku was third with 21%.

Mr Shekarau was also strong as a unifying factor, scoring an impressive 10%.

After computation of scores in the maximum of 500 points, Mr Ribadu got 179 followed by Buhari with 133 while Mr Atiku got 93 to take third position. The undecided group totalled 17 points. Through computer and statistical analysis, a ratio was arrived at, placing Mr Ribadu in the overall lead with Mr Buhari and Mr Atiku being second and third respectively, while Mr Shekarau and Mrs Jibril also had a strong showing.

Former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa and former finance commissioner for Nasarawa State; Seidu Malami, as well as the former national secretary of the ACN Usman Bugaje did not feature in the polls because of their late formal declaration to vie for this exalted office. RThe party holds it special national convention for presidential nomination at the Onikan stadium in Lagos at 10am. The convention was initially scheduled to hold in Abuja but was postponed to Lagos earlier in the week.

Contenders for the party's ticket include the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; Nuhu Ribadu, former Governor of Sokoto State; Attahiru Bafarawa and former finance Commissioner of Nasarawa State; Seidu Malami.

E kabo sir. a tin reti yin.

Buhari and Ribadu i like and will support but i have a feeling Buhari would have the guts to deliver on quicker scale compared to Ribadu. Buhari could rule for 1 term and position Ribadu to succeed him and not forgeting Utomi.

This poll would have been conducted among elites in the north and is not a true reflection in my opinion. Buhari is more popular with the masses of the north compared to Buhari. By masses i mean those without telephones to recieve calls from the poll company, those who cannot even speak or understand english language, these are people who would vote , these are people who would risk their lives to protect their votes.

The biggest mistake for the opposition would be not to forge an alliance and i can see the selfish interest of Tinubu might make an alliance impossible. Although i wish and hope there is an alliance.

Lagosboy:

Buhari and Ribadu i like and will support but i have a feeling Buhari would have the guts to deliver on quicker scale compared to Ribadu. Buhari could rule for 1 term and position Ribadu to succeed him and not forgeting Utomi.

This poll would have been conducted among elites in the north and is not a true reflection in my opinion. Buhari is more popular with the masses of the north compared to Buhari. By masses i mean those without telephones to recieve calls from the poll company, those who cannot even speak or understand english language, these are people who would vote , these are people who would risk their lives to protect their votes.

The biggest mistake for the opposition would be not to forge an alliance and i can see the selfish interest of Tinubu might make an alliance impossible. Although i wish and hope there is an alliance.

There can be no defeat of the PDP without an alliance . The opposition should make no mistake about that. The question we must ask is wether Buhari represents a move away from the past enough for Nigerians , from all nooks and crannies , to go out enmasse to vote for him zealously. I think Buhari will deliver but I just can't shake the feeling that Nigerians want a break from the past to the extent that Buhari's ambition may fall victim to this mindset. Even if the vote is amongst the Northern elite , as you surmise, it is still laudable if one considers the fact that "inexperienced" Ribadu has been a respectable second to incumbent GEJ in all polls I have seen.

na_so:

E kabo sir. a tin reti yin.

Kilode ? Ki ni en wa mi fun? Ogbeni, e sho igba yin !!! Wahala yin se bere ni .

^^^^^^^^^^
story story.
What happened to  the planned merger with CPC? I hear the "baba so pe" politics has torn that "internal democracy" toga you guys had on.

Lagosboy:

Buhari and Ribadu i like and will support but i have a feeling Buhari would have the guts to deliver on quicker scale compared to Ribadu.

Spot On.

We have to give way to the new generation.Ribadu is ideal

na_so:

^^^^^^^^^^
story story.
What happened to the planned merger with CPC? I hear the "baba so pe" politics has torn that "internal democracy" toga you guys had on.

Don't worry about any merger . Better to busy yourself worrying about how GEJ will have his hands full soon like I said " wahala yin se bere ni" .

Gbawe:

I hope the ACN and the North are reading this. I have said it that , even as I respect Buhari and I think he will be a good president , it might be easier , with the right support and in the Nigeria of today , to mould Ribadu into the leader to topple the PDP. I expected Atiku , at the PDP primaries , to do much better and for him to actually be in with a good chance . The result shows , even factoring in the inducement and bullying of delegates, that Nigerians are probably fed up of some folks . We know the delegates are sharks but many were probably put off by the sheer arrogance of Atiku only the past relic politicians possess as per being used to dictatorially getting their ways always. Ciroma and co miscalculated badly with how they stuck with a "business as usual" candidate when they should have noted that the likes of Ribadu and El Rufai are the way forward for the region. I hope the opposition , to include Buhari , will think carefully and learn from events. The opposition is now in a much stronger position , and will gain greater political support, because the PDP has GEJ as its candidates . I hope they will not squander this glorious chance. let us not forget that it is the PDP Primaries we witnessed. Nothing else . As at the last count 70% of Nigerians still want the PDP gone Ciroma et al ignored the many polls that showed Atiku was the least popular candidate of all. Lets hope the ACN and the opposition to the PDP can read and interprete opinion polls better than Ciroma and co. On a good note the loud and foul-mouthed Blazay (biggest NL supporter of Atiku) should now be gone for good . His boy (Atiku) was b.itch-slapped terribly.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5663518-146/poll_firm_tips_ribadu_as_presidential.csp

Gbawe: do you actually believe that Ribadu is more popular than Buhari in the north? You and the writer in 234next must be under an illusion!

This survey's result cannot be reliable. A survey conducted among the elites in the north leaving out the almajiris who are the largest interest group in the north cannot be a pointer to the real situation of things. The elites in the north cannot be more than 5% of their entire population and so is their votes that few and insignificant. An average northerner - the almajiris et al believes so much in Buhari. In fact, some of them do not even know that Ribadu exists. Does that shock you? Buhari is a grassroot man and Ribadu is just the opposite. Even IBB will fail against Buhari in an all northern region affair. Ribadu himself will not believe the result of this poll.

Please wake up from this illusion.

Ribadu can't win whilst Buhari splits the anti-PDP vote.

He's welcome but as far as it gets, he's still a political neophyte.

I dey Laugh,
Regional Popularity Poll Indeed!