Nigeria Content Online

Two days to the
special national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, a
presidential aspirant on the platform of the party, Atiku Abubakar has
vowed to demystify the incumbency factor by beating President Goodluck
Jonathan during the exercise. He was quoted as stating this while
inaugurating a 150-member Atiku Campaign Organisation Special
Convention Committee. Messrs Abubakar and Jonathan are among the four
presidential aspirants gunning for the ticket of the ruling party in
the 2011 election. Mr Abubakar said that history is replete with
instances where incumbency was rubbished in both Nigeria and other
African countries, adding that he would do same on Thursday during the
convention of the PDP.

“History has shown
that incumbency has never been a deciding factor both at home and
abroad. All those who have tried including Obasanjo had failed and his
present protégé will suffer similar fate,” he said.

He stressed that
Mr. Jonathan, like other incumbents before him is a beatable and
charged member of the committee to go into the race with that mindset.

“We will defeat the incumbent. I am very confident that we will give him a hiding like those before him,” he said.

The PDP
presidential aspirant said that there is no going back in his quest to
clinch the ruling party’s presidential ticket and therefore charged the
committee members to go out and give them (opponents) a knockout.

According to him,
“I don’t know how to pull back. Even if the convention is managed by
Jonathan’s camp, I am not the least disturbed by our chances of beating
them.”

The committee has
subcommittees such as Election, Strategy & Rapid Response,
Mobilisation, Accommodation & Transport, Security, Secretariat and
Media.

Media War

However, Sully Abu,
director, media and publicity, Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign
Organization in a stement said that Mr Abubakar’s campaign group “is
increasingly resorting to desperate measures and deliberate falsehood
to foul the atmosphere and prepare the ground for them to dispute the
inevitable outcome.”

Mr Abu alleged that
in the past several days they “have resorted to copious advertising in
the media of a document which they falsely claim was authored by the
director of strategy of our campaign organization, Mike Omeri.”

He claimed that the unsigned and undated published document
attributed to Mr. Omeri “is obviously a rigged document by the known
past masters in rigging.”