2015: Jonathan deserves to win 30 states, says Presidency

The Presidency, on Sunday, declared that its pre-election survey has revealed a tinge of overwhelming victory for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

This, the Presidency contended, was a challenge to the President’s supporters across the federation to set the target of making Jonathan win in not less than 30 states of the federation.

President Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Prof. Ahmed Rufa’I Alkali, made this known during an interactive session with the media in Abuja.

Alkali stressed further that the coast is now clear for the President to affirm his popularity in the 2015 Presidential election, having paid his due in delivery of good governance and dividends of democracy to all parts of Nigeria, despite daunting obstacles strewn on his path by opponents all times.

The Presidential Adviser expressed satisfaction with what he described as the overwhelming supports which the electorate in Nigeria accorded Jonathan when he formally declared his intent to run in the next presidential election, as attested to by the mammoth crowd that assembled at the Eagle Square, venue of the declaration last week.

He said nobody should be surprised by the wide margin by which President Jonathan will win the next presidential election because all his supporters will work hard to ensure that without recourse to rigging.

Alkali said that judging from permutations and survey conducted by the President’s committed well-wishers, it has become certain that Jonathan will ride on the crest of the mega goodwill he commands in every part of the country to win at least 75 per cent of the votes during the presidential election in 2015.

The former National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party said it was incumbent on supporters of the President to target victory in at least 30 states of the federation, while working hard to attain just that during the presidential election.

Alkali said the President deserved such a victory given the manner he has held the country together in the past three and half years amid perceived subterfuges, plot and  machinations by enemies of Nigeria to plunge the country into chaos and needless wars.

According to him: “If it is not President Jonathan, the question is: who will Nigerians trust at this critical and very testy time of Nigeria’s history as a nation?

“President Jonathan in the past few months has weathered the storm. He has made huge sacrifices. He had been exposed to terrible political oscillations while being denigrated severally by ill-informed and arm-chair critics, just for standing in defence of the corporate entity of Nigeria. Yet, the President remained standing and resolute never to give up on Nigeria.

“Who can Nigerians trust if not the President who has been able to blend the virtues of humility and calmness in leadership while also exercising uncommon boldness in tackling strange and nerve wrecking challenges that had never confronted any past regime in the country?

“Who else will Nigerians trust if not a daring and most sincere president who has struggled hard to restore energy, bring back the past glory of Agriculture, transform the aviation sector while leaving a lasting legacy in the transportation sector which is currently witnessing the re-building our rail system?”