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Oronto Douglas, the special assistant to the president on strategy,
expresses optimism that his boss has done enough to win.

Why Jonathan deserves the votes of Nigerians

Because his story
is one that most Nigerians can relate to. It is also one that best
illustrates the positive attributes of this nation. He never had
opportunity of shoes when he was going to school, just like millions of
Nigerians. He had no school bag to put his school notes in. He had to
trek kilometres to get to school. Yet he never despaired, in his words.
He showed fortitude, like millions of ordinary Nigerians. There are
problems besetting Nigerians, but they continue to strive to better
their individual lots. So a man of that pedigree, who did not allow the
circumstance of his youth to stop him from achieving his goals in life,
represents the best aspiration of Nigerians. Of course, he also enjoys
the support of God, without which most of his achievements would not
have been possible.

There has been a visible hand of God in Jonathan’s
life. I think 99.9 percent of Nigerians can identify with that. He is a
president that every household can look up to and be filled with hope,
that their child who is today selling akara or carrot can tomorrow be
president of the country. Mr. Jonathan has also promised to make sure
that the infrastructure that will make that possible is put in place in
the next four years that he will be in power. His emergence has
rewritten the story of who can lead Nigeria. He has shown that Nigeria
is a nation for all, rather than for a section or a clique. I also
think if you give Nigeria to people who will sell the destiny of the
country, then we will be in bigger trouble. The president has
consistently said all he has is in Nigeria. He schooled in Nigeria and
his children are being schooled in Nigeria. This is not to disparage
those who schooled abroad, but it is where your heart is that you will
defend at all cost. So in terms of commitment, I can confidently say
there are few Nigerians as devoted to this country as President
Jonathan. I respect all the other presidential [candidates], but we are
saying at this time in our history, this man that has been in office
for the past nine months and has laid out plans to rescue the nation is
best placed to execute the plan and that man is President Jonathan.

Friction within the PDP following the primaries

The PDP is seen by
many as a party whose ticket is halfway to getting to office. But
people should know that this is a new PDP, where the most popular and
competent candidates are picked to run elections. However, in places
where there are constitutional issues, the strategy that President
Jonathan and the PDP are adopting is dialogue. I can tell you that with
respect to Ogun State, there was a time the president did not sleep for
two days. He held meetings with the Jubril Martins Kuye and Gbenga
Daniel groups and, at a point, brought all of them together at the
Villa. The president is a man of peace and always tells people, “I have
no enemies to fight. I want all of us to work together.” You remember
that after presidential primaries, which he won, he still went out of
his way to drive to Adamu Ciroma’s house to have a discussion with a
view to keeping the party together. His view was that a statesman of
Ciroma’s stature cannot be ignored. He also wants to be president of
all, not president of a section or region.

Criticism of president’s ‘rascal’ comment

In the statement,
the president praised southwesterners for their sophistication and high
level of education. If a statement regarding that is being taken out of
context and used for political purpose, it is unfortunate. The
President, as a true statesman would came out to say, ‘I take
responsibility for this statement, I offer my sincere regrets in this
regard, that what I meant is to celebrate the excellence, greatness and
leadership of South-West people. It is unfortunate that one or two
individuals are appropriating it and pushing it to mean insulting the
most educated and sophisticated people. The president will never insult
his elders and leaders. If you knew the president well, he always
answers ‘sir’ to anyone who is older than him. He will never insult the
elders, leaders and people of the South-West. Take note that the
president is educated, he did his NYSC in the South-West, has friends
from the South-West and is one person who never forgets. Some of those
he did youth service with from the South-West are now working with him.

The scanty crowd at the presidential Kaduna rally

My observation is
that the crowd in Kaduna had been sitting there from 7am. As at the
time the President and the dignitaries arrived, people were very tired.
Take note, they were zonal rallies and most of the people had to return
to their homes. People came from Sokoto, Kebbi and Kano and I believe
that in a place like that, it is like what happened in Port Harcourt,
when the occasion ended, people wanted to go back to their buses and
travel. So, if the day is getting dark, you will want to get back home.
The zonal rally was organised by the zonal coordinator who is from
Kastina. The president won 53 percent of the votes of the North-West
delegates at the PDP rally. He may have lost in some states, but he won
with 53 percent over all, meaning that he had overwhelming support of
the people. Democracy is about majority. At the election proper, what
the president needs is 25 percent and he got more than that in majority
of these states. Ordinary people in the North-West love Jonathan. Why
would they not love him? He relates with them.

Challenges of the northwest for PDP

Every other
candidate has work to do in every zone. Buhari has work to do in the
South-West. He has work to do in the South-East, South-West and in the
North-Central, North-East and North-West. Is it everybody in the
North-West that loves Buhari? Nuhu Ribadu has work to do in every
single zone. So, the challenges are challenges that are not restricted
to one person. Let me just say that we have a lot of people who will
like to identify with the president, his history and all that.

Alleged poor performance of the PDP in the last 12 years

The president came
to transform Nigeria. We believe the place to start is transforming the
PDP and the president has started that work. The PDP as a party has
been in office for close to 12 years. There are perceptions about the
PDP that may not be salutary to Nigerians. However, the determination
of President Jonathan is to transform all aspects of our lives. The
opposition has been very careful not to attack President Jonathan as a
person. So they have been attacking the PDP. Well, if I was working for
the opposition, I would probably adopt that strategy because Jonathan
is popular with the Nigerian people. So he is fully aware that the PDP
will be attacked and at some point the opposition will also attack him.
Look at the statement he made in Ibadan, for example, that was blown
out of proportion. I am a beneficiary of Obafemi Awolowo’s free
education. If I am advising the president, would I tell him to do
anything against the South-West? The president did his NYSC in the
Southwest and has a lot of friends in the zone. Would he now do
anything against the people?

The alleged mismanagement of the economy by the federal government

The President has
been in the office for nine months. He promised what we call the three
Es. He looked at Electoral reform, Electricity and Energy security. He
believed there cannot be good government if you do not have
constitutional and robust process for selecting the leaders who will
govern the country. In practical terms of electoral reforms, he
decided, ‘let us practicalise what we are preaching.’ When the first
bye-election came up in the Edo Central, he said it was one of the
first test of free and fair elections. He told INEC and security
agencies that what he wanted was one man, one vote; one woman, one
vote; one youth, one vote. The president insisted on free and fair
election and the ACN won. Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole flew
from Benin to Abuja to congratulate and thank the president for
standing on the rule of law and insisting on free and fair election.
That is the benchmark for this election.

On energy security, it is
important that we note that before now, people stay on the queue for
hours, while some people sleep overnight in filling stations. People
were sleeping three days, three nights in filling stations. Now, that
is a thing of the past. Secondly, the same amount you pay for a litre
of fuel you buy in Lagos is what you are going to pay if you buy in
Maidugiri. There has also been improvement in power generation and this
will continue to be improved upon over time.