Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has said that the coming polls is not about any candidate, be it President Goodluck Jonathan or Gen. Mohammadu Buahri (rtd.), it’s about national stability.
Okupe emphasised that northern politicians have miscalculated because if Gen. Buhari wins the elections, he won’t be able to contest for another term and the north will lose out.
Okupe, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, said “The North has always had partnership in the South; in the South-West, South-South and South-East.
“But somehow, the North miscalculated this time around because they assumed wrongly that Bola Tinubu was the leader of the Yoruba race, and that if they can strike a deal with him, they have got the South-West.
“While doing that, they left their former allies that included Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (retd.), Richard Akinjide, Omololu Olunloyo and others.
“Even if Buhari wins this election, which is impossible, he cannot do a second term. So, when the second term comes, why would other people not contest against him? He is a Northerner and if he cannot run for election again, then, the thing should go back to the South. So, would the North be satisfied with only four years?
“These are the issues. That is why I am saying this 2015 election is beyond Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. It is a matter of national stability.”
He added that if Jonathan is re-elected and he completes his second term in 2019, the north has a chance of presenting a candidate.
Meanwhile Rivers State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Davies Ikanya has said that Peoples Democratic Party is not ready for elections because they are actively looking for ways to ruin the elections.
Ikanya reportedly said “The rejection by the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan of the card reader machines which INEC has successfully tested and intends to use for the March 28 and April 11 general elections did not come to us as a surprise because the PDP as a party has not prepared well for the polls.
“It (the PDP) had hoped to rig its way to victory as usual and has purchased and hoarded the PVCs of many Nigerians but has been frustrated by INEC’s ingenuity in introducing the card reader machines, which has disorganised its rigging plot.
“We can now understand why 14,000 PVCs of the Rivers State electorate have been declared missing by INEC as these are some of the cards stolen by the PDP in its bid to rig the elections.”