Both Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, the two main protagonists, began on Wednesday their final thrust to breast the tape for Aso Rock and run the country in the next four years, picked in a Presidential fight straight between an incumbent and a General who was once Head of State.
Whoever coasts home would score a first for himself. Neither has ever won an election.
Buhari ruled by military fiat between December 1983 and August 1985, having toppled the civilian regime of Shehu Shagari.
Jonathan became President in May last year after the death of Umaru Yar’Adua, and before then, Bayelsa Governor, sequel to the impeachment of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
Unlike Buhari, whose year-old Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has no structure in the South, and did not win a single seat there in the National Assembly (NASS) vote last Saturday, Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has presence in all the 36 states, and has won the Villa since 1999.
However, Kaduna youths under the aegis of Progressive Youth Forum of Northern Nigeria (PYFNN) endorsed the candidature of Buhari on Wednesday, just as the man was laying out his final argument at a rally in Abuja.
A statement issued by PYFNN General Secretary, Godwin Terwase, said Buhari is the only candidate with the credential that will move Nigeria forward, going by his antecedent, including his battle against corruption.
On the other hand, Terwase argued, “Jonathan cannot be preaching against corruption and still be surrounded by corrupt personnel in his government. The virus that is destroying Nigeria’s economy today is corruption.”
However, Jonathan himself has headed up North to ward off the backlash over zoning, stoked by some of the region’s leaders, particularly the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), chaired by Adamu Ciroma.
Jonathan has visited some of the leaders himself or invited them to the Villa, and has sent emissaries from all over the country with influence in the North to plead on his behalf.
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